Integration Or Discrimination : opportunities and Barriers to Appropriate Paid Employment for Healthcare Professional Refugees in Finland
Markkanen, Sanna (2007)
Markkanen, Sanna
Siirtolaisuusinstituutti
2007
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20201217101204
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20201217101204
Kuvaus
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: THE FINNISH CONTEXT
1.1 Finland – A Short Introduction
1.2 Contextualising Diversity in Finland
1.3 The Finnish Labour Market
1.4 Migration and Migration Policy
CHAPTER 2: THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Migration
2.2 Integration
2.3 Discrimination
CHAPTER 3: REFUGEES IN FINLAND
3.1 ‘Forced’ Migrants in the Finnish Context
3.2. Refugees in Finland – Introducing the Largest Refugee Groups
3.3 Relations between Refugees and the Host Population
3.4 Refugees in the Finnish Labour Market
CHAPTER 4: EMPLOYMENT AND INTEGRATION
4.1 Employment in Finland’s Immigration and Integration Policy
4.2 Ethnic Discrimination and Inequality in the Labour Market
4.3 Ethnic Communities
CHAPTER 5: METHODOLOGY
5.1 Refugees as the Focus of a Research Project
5.2 Theoretical and Methodological Foundations
5.3 Qualitative Research: Why and How?
5.4 Data Generation
CHAPTER 6: BARRIERS TO QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION
6.1 Help and Advice from the Integration Services
6.2 Language Training
6.3 Qualification Recognition
CHAPTER 7: OVERCOMING THE BARRIERS
7.1 Training Opportunities
7.2 Learning by Doing- the Benefits of Practical Training
7.3 Informal Interpersonal Support
CHAPTER 8: BUILDING A NEW LIFE IN FINLAND
8.1 Return to Medicine – Doctors’ Experiences
8.2 Finding New Career Paths? – Nurses’ experiences
8.3 Working in the Finnish Healthcare Sector
CONCLUSION
APPENDICES
REFERENCES.
CHAPTER 1: THE FINNISH CONTEXT
1.1 Finland – A Short Introduction
1.2 Contextualising Diversity in Finland
1.3 The Finnish Labour Market
1.4 Migration and Migration Policy
CHAPTER 2: THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Migration
2.2 Integration
2.3 Discrimination
CHAPTER 3: REFUGEES IN FINLAND
3.1 ‘Forced’ Migrants in the Finnish Context
3.2. Refugees in Finland – Introducing the Largest Refugee Groups
3.3 Relations between Refugees and the Host Population
3.4 Refugees in the Finnish Labour Market
CHAPTER 4: EMPLOYMENT AND INTEGRATION
4.1 Employment in Finland’s Immigration and Integration Policy
4.2 Ethnic Discrimination and Inequality in the Labour Market
4.3 Ethnic Communities
CHAPTER 5: METHODOLOGY
5.1 Refugees as the Focus of a Research Project
5.2 Theoretical and Methodological Foundations
5.3 Qualitative Research: Why and How?
5.4 Data Generation
CHAPTER 6: BARRIERS TO QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION
6.1 Help and Advice from the Integration Services
6.2 Language Training
6.3 Qualification Recognition
CHAPTER 7: OVERCOMING THE BARRIERS
7.1 Training Opportunities
7.2 Learning by Doing- the Benefits of Practical Training
7.3 Informal Interpersonal Support
CHAPTER 8: BUILDING A NEW LIFE IN FINLAND
8.1 Return to Medicine – Doctors’ Experiences
8.2 Finding New Career Paths? – Nurses’ experiences
8.3 Working in the Finnish Healthcare Sector
CONCLUSION
APPENDICES
REFERENCES.
Tiivistelmä
This thesis looks at the opportunities and barriers to appropriate employment for healthcare professional refugees in Finland. Moving beyond a simplistic dichotomy between employment and unemployment, this study seeks to identify the factors that may inhibit, or potentially enhance, healthcare professional refugees’ ability to re-establish their careers in Finland. This research is built on a notion that a strategy enabling more effective integration of healthcare professional refugees’ skills into the Finnish workforce could benefit both refugees and Finnish society.
Previous research suggests that a profession is often the main axis of highly educated refugees’ identity, and being forced to abandon one’s profession thus means a loss of identity as well as a loss of income and social status. Although paid labour market participation is now widely recognised as one of the main factors that facilitate successful resettlement and social integration, the requirements set by the Finnish authorities make formal recognition of overseas qualifications difficult to achieve. In the case of refugees, this problem is exacerbated by the ‘victimisation’ of refugees and integration practices that do not meet the needs of highly educated refugees. Approaching the topic from a constructivist standpoint, this thesis focuses on healthcare professional refugees’ personal accounts of their experiences. In addition to 13 interviews with healthcare professional refugees, 10 interviews were conducted with key respondents from relevant professional associations and the institutional sector.
Previous research suggests that a profession is often the main axis of highly educated refugees’ identity, and being forced to abandon one’s profession thus means a loss of identity as well as a loss of income and social status. Although paid labour market participation is now widely recognised as one of the main factors that facilitate successful resettlement and social integration, the requirements set by the Finnish authorities make formal recognition of overseas qualifications difficult to achieve. In the case of refugees, this problem is exacerbated by the ‘victimisation’ of refugees and integration practices that do not meet the needs of highly educated refugees. Approaching the topic from a constructivist standpoint, this thesis focuses on healthcare professional refugees’ personal accounts of their experiences. In addition to 13 interviews with healthcare professional refugees, 10 interviews were conducted with key respondents from relevant professional associations and the institutional sector.