From panic responses to sustainable practices of refugee education — Participation, support, and inclusion of students from crisis areas (KOTI)

KOTI project, funded by Kone Foundation, investigates the possibilities and limits of refugee students' education in Finland

We challenge the notion of refugee education as an emergency measure and view refugee students not as temporary visitors but as integral members of the community. KOTI explores what a theoretically defined, functional refugee education looks like in the everyday reality of Finnish classrooms and how the voices of students, teachers, and families can be best considered.

The need for forced migration is not expected to ease in the near future, as for instance the bombings in Palestine, war in Ukraine and prolonged crises in Afghanistan and Syria show. Many families fleeing conflict have come to stay, and Finland can play a leading role in promoting their integration. Schools are crucial in welcoming newcomers, and with thoughtful pedagogical practices, they can provide safety, stability, and the necessary tools for learning to children fleeing war, while also conveying to families that investment is being made in their children and their future.

The aim of the KOTI project is to develop, based on new researched knowledge, a refugee education tradition that has been missing in Finland

Another objective is to create a bold and respectful language regarding refugees and to bring this language, along with art, into both societal and educational discussions.

Our perspective is practice theoretical. We perceive school practices as interwoven, enabled by contextual conditions tied to time and place. We examine and transform practices through participatory action research. We interview the families of refugee students and implement a series of interventions with teachers and students. In these interventions, participating students are invited to communicate the produced information through their chosen art form. The generated knowledge allows us to shift Finnish refugee education practices from temporary panic responses toward more sustainable approaches.