Developing Multicultural Competence in Social and Health Care Higher Education : A Case Study from two Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland
Tarvainen, Johanna (2014)
Tarvainen, Johanna
Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu
2014
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014120618781
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014120618781
Tiivistelmä
Practical placement is an essential part of the social and health care higher education studies. Apart from the national students, there are an increasing number of English-taught degree programmes in European Higher Education Institutions (HEI) which attract foreign applicants from all over the world. In addition to foreign degree students, a vast number of Erasmus students do their exchange mobility period as practice in social and health care organizations. However, teacher- and clinical supervisors’ competence in guiding multiculturally diverse students varies widely in European countries, and most of the supervisors do not have enough competencies and skills in guiding foreign students. Nevertheless, the guidance skills of the supervisors play a major role in the success of the students’ learning experience.
This master’s thesis, which was a case study from two Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) in Finland (Jyväskylä UAS and Lahti UAS) and their working life partners, was carried out as a part of Erasmus Life Long Learning (LLP) project “Soulbus” to find out what are the good practices already in use in when supervising multicultural social and health care higher education students in clinical settings and what are the main needs challenges for the supervision practice. The method of the research was a qualitative case study where two group interviews consisting of teacher supervisors, clinical supervisors and students were arranged. The data were analyzed both inductively and deductively.
On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that multicultural students’ supervision brings many kind of challenges for teacher- and clinical supervisors. The challenges are seen in communication in English and Finnish languages as well as in non-verbal communication skills. Furthermore, these data support the view that there should be more discussion and interaction on multicultural supervision issues between the HEI and working life both on organizational and individual level. On the other hand, there are already good practices and organizational structures at the HEIs which support the supervision of multicultural social and health care higher education students’ clinical studies.
Key words: Multicultural competence, clinical supervision, social and health care, higher education internationalization
This master’s thesis, which was a case study from two Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) in Finland (Jyväskylä UAS and Lahti UAS) and their working life partners, was carried out as a part of Erasmus Life Long Learning (LLP) project “Soulbus” to find out what are the good practices already in use in when supervising multicultural social and health care higher education students in clinical settings and what are the main needs challenges for the supervision practice. The method of the research was a qualitative case study where two group interviews consisting of teacher supervisors, clinical supervisors and students were arranged. The data were analyzed both inductively and deductively.
On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that multicultural students’ supervision brings many kind of challenges for teacher- and clinical supervisors. The challenges are seen in communication in English and Finnish languages as well as in non-verbal communication skills. Furthermore, these data support the view that there should be more discussion and interaction on multicultural supervision issues between the HEI and working life both on organizational and individual level. On the other hand, there are already good practices and organizational structures at the HEIs which support the supervision of multicultural social and health care higher education students’ clinical studies.
Key words: Multicultural competence, clinical supervision, social and health care, higher education internationalization