Project information:
Official name of the project: ProHarkka Western Finland – Guidance on language and culture awareness training in the social and health care sector
Duration of the project: 1.1.2026 - 30.6.2028
Project coordinator: Turku AMK
Project partners: VAMK, SAMK, Novia
Funding: ESF+
Budget: 113 809 €
Contact person in VAMK:
Kirsi Lehtola, Senior Lecturer (School of Health Care and Social Services)
tel. +358 207 663 527, kirsi.lehtola@vamk.fi
Project description
The project strengthens the capacity of health and social care organizations to support international students by developing language and culture aware practical training guidance. It provides supervisors with materials, digital training modules and workshops that enhance their skills and harmonize guidance practices across the region. In addition, the project builds regional networks and creates a unified supervision model for Western Finland to support students’ linguistic and cultural development. The overall aim is to improve the quality of practical training and promote equal opportunities for students in the field.
Goals
The project aims to develop uniform language and cultureaware supervisory practices for the Western Finland region and to support the development of training placements into effective learning environments for Finnish and Swedish. The goal is to improve the supervisory skills of practice instructors working with foreign-language social and health care students, increase supervisors’ language and cultural awareness, harmonize supervisory practices, create regional networks, and produce a guidance model that supports student supervision.
The project aims to:
- Strengthen social and health care organisations into multilingual, multicultural and attractive work communities and environments.
- Develop and implement a training package for the guidance counsellors of foreign-language speaking students and other staff in the social welfare and health care sector, as well as for teachers supervising practical training.
- Develop a uniform guidance model for the Western Finland cooperation area to strengthen the Finnish and Swedish language learning of foreign-language students in connection with practical training that promotes professional skills.
Results
The project provides language and cultureaware materials and guidance, strengthening the competence and professionalism of student supervisors. The developed unified guidance model supports foreign-language social and health care students in learning Finnish and Swedish, as well as developing cultural understanding, and it promotes cooperation between the public and private sectors. Improved supervisory practices facilitate access to training placements and reduce staff workload. A network of practice instructors enables discussion and the sharing of good practices.
