Promoting Intercultural Competences in Collaboration between Police and Social workers

1. Promoting Intercultural Competences in Collaboration between Police and Social workers Turku 11.11.2011 Mira Ojalehto, Education planner Turku University of Applied Sciences

2. Immigrants, Police and Social work • Experiencesarebased on Immigrants, Police and Social work (IPS) project • Project aimed at promoting the integration of third-countrynationals in the EU countriesby • Identifyinggood and promisingpracticesin cooperationbetweenpolice and social work • Developingappropriateprofessionalworkingmethodswith participatory and empoweringaspects • Project wasimplemented in Finland, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands and Great Britain 12/2009 - 5/2011 • Co-financed by the EU under European Integration Fund Community Actions for 2008

3. Three Outcomes • In a delicatesubject the IPS projecthadquiteambitiousgoalswhich the projectconsortiummanaged to achieve 1. Comparativeresearch of good and promisingcollaborationpracticesbetweenpolice and social work • Bookpublished in March 2011 2. Professional developmentprogram for social workers and policeofficers • Jointpilotcourses for the professionals in spring 2011 3. Production of jointeducationmodel for futhereducation • Onlinemanualpublished in May 2011

4. Pilot Courses • The course aims at promoting intercultural competences in cooperation between Police, Social work and Immigrants • Objectives of the course are to • Promote integration and active citizenship in the multiculturalsociety • Developinterculturalcompetences of the keyprofessionals • Enhance collaboration between police and social work in the multicultural contexts

5. Approach • The added value of the course is to train the two professional groups together by including perspectives of the immigrant communities • Interculturality • betweenpeople in the society and in the communities • betweenprofessionals and theirclients • betweendifferentprofessions • Understandingthat my experiences, thoughts and expentationsaredifferentfromyours

6. Learning Outcomes The course aims at enhancing the work competences of the practitioner. On completion of the educationmodule the participant • has developed his or her awareness of integration as a two-wayprocess • has developed skills to communicate, interact and negotiate with diverse client groups in the interculturalsettings • has developed skills to work in multi-professional networks and to seek joint solutions and practices between police and social work

7. Key questions In the beginning we asked ourselves… • What kind of cultural competent practices and competences do social workers and police-officers need when working with immigrants? • What challenges do we face in training police officers together with social workers? • What is common and what differs in the way the two professions work with immigrants? What are their roles and responsibilities?

8. Pilot course in concrete Wehad common framework for the pilotcoursebuteachimplementationwasunique and adapted to national context. Course structure • Extent of the course: 6 ECTS • 3-8 contact days in a period of three months • Discussions and independent learning assignments Differentoptions for implementation • Open accesscourse • Local or area based course • In-housetraining

9. Pilot course in concrete Composition of pilot groups • In Finland we had 18 students of whom 10 were police officers and 8 social workers. • In the Netherlands they had 14 students of whom 7 were police officers and 7 social workers. There were also 5 participants with non-western background. • In Sweden course was organized for local group of community police and social workers who already had some cooperation. • In Spain course was a process consisting of several seminars

10. Contents and methods In the contents two learning themes were linked together • Multi-professional collaboration • Intercultural competences Collaboration • Understanding professional roles • Legislation and responsibilities • Common clients but different view points • What are the possibilities and limitations of the professional? • Tensions between the two professions • What goes well and what doesn’t work?

11. Contents and methods • Start with “ice-breaking” exercises which do not need to be related to the theme of the course but create a positive atmosphere. This helps to generate a good and confidentialgroupatmosphere. • Begin by introducing the two professions and the professional roles and responsibilities of the participants. The participants are curious to learn more about each others’ professions. • It is important to give the participants an opportunity to share their thoughts, experiences and expectations about the professions of others.

12. Contents and methods Intercultural competences • Becoming more knowledgeable about diversity, culture, and intercultural work • Finding tools for a better connection between the professional and client (e.g. how to persuade without sanctions) • Attitude and skills in the work place: • Open mindedness • Recognizing prejudice / assumptions • Communication

13. Contents and methods • Give participants rehearsals which are confusing and have complicated instructions. This may lead to change: we need to look actively things from the migrants point of view. • Focus not on cultural differences but on looking for ways of improving the police-officers´ and the social workers´ ability to work productively in intercultural settings. • Professionals usually already have knowledge and skills (interaction, negotiating and networking) that are important in intercultural work. Sharing tacit knowledge through discussions with peer professionals is important.

14. Challenges Some challenges according to our experiences… • Involving immigrants in the planning and implementation processes to bring in the input of the different multicultural communities • Invite immigrants as educators, participants and representativesof the immigrantcommunity. • Confidential information in different organizations • There are limitations in sharing information and the limits are not always completely clear. Participants can be afraid to share information. • Responsibilities, resources and power

15. Reflections • Three days of training with some independent learning assignments is only a starting point for bringing about a joint reflective discussion on the intercultural competences attached to the work • Intercultural competence can be a fairly new topic for the participants. Even professionals with extensiveworkingexperiencemight need time to process knowledge, skills and attitudes related to these topics

16. Reflections • Manageriallevelshouldbeengaged. Also the superiorsneed to acknowledgethattodayworkhas new challenges and employeesneed to updateorconfirmtheircompetences. • As educatorsweneedto respect the experience of the professionals. Participantsneedtimefor discussions and for sharingtheirthoughtstogether. • Course canoffervaluabletime for selfreflection and networkbuildingwhichwouldn’tbepossible in workplace.

17. More information www.ips-project.fi • Educational material produced in the project Halttunen, Lundqvist, Ojalehto, Tuominen & Vanhanen. (2011) Working Together for Better Integration - A joint professional development course on intercultural competences and cooperation for police and social work. Online manual. • Download the manual: http://www.ips-project.fi/en/documents-and-publications.php • Publication of goodpractices Heikkilä, Danker, CómezCiriano, McLaughlin & Reubsaet (edit.) (2011) WorkingTogether for BetterIntegration - Immigrants, Police and Social Work. Migration Studies C18.Institute of Migration: Turku. • Download the webreport: http://www.migrationinstitute.fi/pdf/webreports.htm#Muut

18. Contact information Turku Univeristy of Applied Sciences Educationplanner Mira Ojalehto mira.ojalehto(a)turkuamk.fi Turku Univeristy of Applied Sciences Project manager Sari Vanhanen sari.vanhanen(a)turkuamk.fi University of Turku Educationcoordinator Kia Lundqvist kia.lundqvist(a)utu.fi