Pisa survey | “It’s good that this is getting attention” – Pupils whose school speaks 38 different languages ​​are now speaking

Länsimäki 38 different mother tongues are spoken at the school in Southeast Vantaa. Unlike a study published on Monday saysLänsimäki’s ninth graders do not feel that it would affect academic success.

“It doesn’t matter,” say the 15-year-olds almost unanimously Lady Trang, Sofia Chepelev, Elias Kallioniemi and Armin Ebrahiminazi and a 14-year-old Kimathi Mwangi. The students describe their own certificate on a rather large scale: there are only scores and “below average” performances.

of the University of Jyväskylä and the Ministry of Education and Culture (OKM) research according to that, the school success of students with an immigrant background is lower in schools where there are many of them. According to the study, native Finns were not affected by the large number of young people with immigrant backgrounds.

“I don’t think it will have a huge impact on schooling,” says Chepelev, who speaks Russian at home. “I’m pretty good at everything.”

Trang says that she performs excellently in school, but knows that the situation is not the same for everyone. Trang herself speaks Finnish at a native level in addition to Vietnamese and Chinese, but she has relatives whose Finnish language skills are not as strong.

“[Sukulaisella] there are a few difficulties with all the subjects, because they require the Finnish language as a basis.”

Fresh the study analyzed the 2022 Pisa results. Pisa exams are taken at the age of 15, i.e. usually in the 9th grade of elementary school in Finland. The study found that two out of three second-generation immigrants have poor or skimpy reading skills. For first-generation immigrants, the share was more than 80 percent.

There was also a difference in mathematics and natural sciences compared to students who do not have an immigrant background, although the differences were not as great as in reading.

With the exception of Kallioniemi, the young people interviewed by HS in Länsimäki are second-generation immigrants. Some of them find mathematics easier than reading subjects, while others find it more difficult.

“Language does not affect how difficult some subjects are,” Ebrahiminazi feels. He himself says that he speaks Kurdish at home and with many of his friends both at school and outside.

“Sometimes subjects where you have to talk a lot are difficult if you can’t (present) your ideas clearly,” reflects Mwangi. English is spoken in his home and sometimes Swahili is also spoken.

Young people do not take it upon themselves that the school success of immigrants is discussed publicly and studies are conducted.

“It’s good that this is getting attention,” says Mwangi.

Language skills moreover, the school success of students with an immigrant background can be influenced by socioeconomic status. The socio-economic status of families with an immigrant background is on average lower than that of families belonging to the normal population.

Bullying or a feeling of insecurity at school or on the way to school can also affect success at school. The students of Länsimäki School say that they have experienced racist bullying or that they have heard about it from others.

“There have been many words that should not be used, but they are shouted in the corridors. For example, the n-word. I myself have heard everything here at school, there are so many different countries here. Nobody is interested in anything,” says Ebrahiminazi.

He doesn’t feel that even the school is interested in tackling the problem or looking for a solution: “It’s just forgotten.”

Part young people feel that they are treated differently at school than native Finnish students or that they are not encouraged to succeed. Mwangi says that she wants to go to media high school and then to video editing, but she doesn’t feel that school would encourage her to do so. According to him, teachers do not expect as much from young people with an immigrant background as others.

“Sometimes I’m slower in Finnish, and the teachers think I’m slow.”

In Ebrahiminaz’s opinion, teachers point out to students with an immigrant background more sensitively about things that are not pointed out to native Finns.

“If a white guy does something, nothing is said to him,” describes Ebrahiminazi.

Chepelev himself says that he has avoided unequal treatment of teachers, but he is aware of it. Kallioniemi also says that he notices a difference in treatment.

“If I speak, Armin might be blamed more for it,” says Kallioniemi.

However, none of the students say that they missed going to school because of teachers or other students, even though the situation is annoying. At least some of them feel that school is meaningful and helps them move forward in life.

Although the students do not consider a large number of young people with an immigrant background to be a problem for actual academic success, in their opinion it affects the school’s atmosphere in general. Students from the same language and cultural background may, for example, click together, that is, form their own groups and start arguments with other groups.

“It seems to me that there are a bit too many immigrants here at the school. When it’s the same group, we start to riot,” says Ebrahiminazi.

According to Kallioniemi, the school generally has too many students. Länsimäki school offers classes in grades 5–9, and there are a total of 631 students. Almost half of them, 314, have studied Finnish as a second language.