ProHarkka Northern Finland

– Guidance on language and culture awareness training in the social and health care sector

The project aims to develop language- and culture-aware guidance for practical training in the social and health care sector and creates a uniform operating model for clinical supervision in the Northern Finland region.

In nursing practice, proficiency in the Finnish language is essential for successful communication, patient education, assessment of the need for treatment, interprofessional collaboration, and documentation. Language skills are closely linked not only to patient safety but also to the development of professional identity and the formation of social relationships in the workplace.

In Northern Finland, the number of nursing students with foreign language backgrounds has increased, which has simultaneously heightened the demand for suitable clinical practice opportunities. This development requires clinical supervisors to guide students in a linguistically and culturally responsive manner. At the same time, supervisors need stronger competencies to support the learning and professional growth of multilingual students.

Objectives

The project develops language- and culture-aware guidance for practical training in the social and health care sector. Furthermore, the project aims to establish a uniform operating model for the guidance of multilingual students across the Northern Finland cooperation area, in collaboration with educational institutions, welfare areas, and social and health care providers. A regional expert network will be created to facilitate the sharing of the expertise needed to guide the practical training of multilingual students.

Target group

The primary target group of the project consists of social and health care practice placement supervisors who guide multilingual students during their practical training. In addition, the project reaches managers responsible for developing guidance practices, as well as other staff members involved in the clinical placement process. The indirect target group includes multilingual degree students in social and health care programmes at Universities of Applied Sciences.

Implementation

The project will establish a regional expert network that enhances collaboration and enables the sharing of good practices and continuous development across the Northern Finland cooperation area. In addition, the project will strengthen the guidance competencies of clinical supervisors and support work communities in encountering diversity, as well as in developing linguistically responsive and culturally sensitive supervisory practices through training, workshops, and other joint development activities. The project will produce a shared uniform operating model for the implementation and supervision of clinical training for multilingual students and support its integration into the everyday practices of participating organizations.

This project is part of the national ProHarkka project entity, through which five regional projects collaborate to develop a national model for supervising the clinical training of multilingual students.

The project is implemented as a group project of the following project participants:

• Centria University of Applied Sciences
• Kajaani University of Applied Sciences
• Lapland University of Applied Sciences
• Oulu University of Applied Sciences