Role of Linnasmäki College in creating “ICEX” culturally sensitive sexual education package
Linnasmäki College is one of the largest folk high schools in Finland, offering study programmes in various educational fields, upper secondary vocational qualifications and training, preparatory education for an upper secondary qualification (TUVA), and basic education for adult immigrants with low educational background as well as integration training for diverse immigrant groups.
As a learning environment, Linnasmäki College is both multicultural and diverse, with nearly one thousand students of different ages and various educational backgrounds. Each year, students from more than 50 countries study at Linnasmäki College.
Regionally, Linnasmäki College is a significant educational provider for migrants, well-known in its field for its wide learning material database for basic adult education and integration training. These qualities make Linnasmäki College an apt partner for the ICEX-project, which aims to create culturally sensitive learning materials to promote knowledge of sexual health amongst adult migrants and professionals working with them.
Accessible materials for diverse learners
Receiving accurate and reliable information about sexual health is a basic human right. However, to achieve the sought outcome – which is to promote sexual health and sexual rights among the migrant population – impactful sexual health education also needs to be culturally sensitive, and take into consideration the wide age range and diverse educational, cultural and religious backgrounds of the target group.
Sexual health education aims to provide knowledge through which individuals can make informed choices about different aspects sexual health e.g. family planning, sexual hygiene and intimate relationships. One part of the sexual health education in the ICEX-project is also to provide country-specific information about sexual health care services as well as laws concerning sexual rights and e.g. sexual abuse, age of consent, and abortion.
However, access to knowledge does not in itself guarantee that education is accessible – providing teachers with culturally sensitive tools enhances the likelihood of fostering beneficial results. That is why, in addition to the ICEX-learning material directed to adult migrants, a toolbox for professionals will be created. The toolbox will offer additional information about sexual health and offer a culturally sensitive framework for sexual health education, addressing possible challenges that may arise when offering sexual health education.
Free e-learning package underway
Starting from April 2024 each partner organisation has been working on creating learning materials to be piloted in each country during the fall. The ICEX team at Linnasmäki College is busy preparing study materials that include exercises, flashcards, quizzes as well as illustrations and animations. Emails are frequently exchanged and local project meetings with TUAS team arranged. Regular meetings with the international project team are also held to ensure that material is created with the project’s objectives in mind.
The materials created in each partner country will be compiled into an open online learning package, suitable for use in all the partner countries and beyond. The prospective users are migrant adults regardless of their language or cultural background. The material is designed to be used by e.g. teachers, refugee centres, and other organisations that offer services to the migrant population, as well as offer an online platform for self-paced learning to anyone interested.
The methods, tools and information provided in the ICEX package have been selected based on focus group interviews carried out in the spring of 2023. Focus group interviews were implemented in all partner countries. The participants were migrants with diverse educational and cultural backgrounds and professionals such as teachers, social workers and health care workers. The focus groups were asked how they wished sexual health topics to be discussed and what kinds of methods and tools they wanted to be used. The Finnish focus group interviews were carried out at Linnasmäki College.
The focus group interviews affirmed that there is a need for the kind of material the ICEX project aims to create. The focus in creating material that is concrete and based on active engagement.
Before the ICEX material will be made public in 2025, it will be piloted in each partner country and revised based on feedback collected from both migrants and professionals on its content, learning methods and overall usefulness. Pre- and post-assessment of the pilot group’s knowledge of sexual health, the ICEX team will also gain insight into the effectiveness of the material.
The online learning material will be piloted at Linnasmäki College as part of the adult basic education curriculum, directed at migrant students with little to no previous educational background. In the other partner countries, the ICEX material will be piloted in non-profit organisations working with migrants. This makes Linnasmäki College the only organisation in the project that offers formal education to migrants.
The material will be targeted to learners of diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. Linnasmäki College is a good fit for the piloting efforts due to its diverse the student-base: Finnish as second language learners that start from learning reading and writing skills, student have who little to no previous educational background, as well as those with university degrees or students in vocational training.
The ICEX-team:
Eliisa Savola is the project coordinator of the ICEX operations and Finnish as a second language teacher. She is responsible for the administration of the project activities at Linnasmäki College and carrying out the Finnish project activities together with the Finnish ICEX-team.
Eva Lähteenmäki is a Finnish as a second language teacher at Linnasmäki College. She has a long track record in teaching migrants with low educational backgrounds and varied experience working in both national and EU-funded projects. She is responsible for carrying out the project activities together with the Finnish ICEX-team.