Conference Program

My PhD project investigates the relationship between adult migrant students’ fostering of belonging and institutional practices in Finland; more precisely, how education mediates between migrants and broader societal structures thereby facilitating social participation and change.

The research engages with much-debated issues related to migration and societal dynamics in Finland. Frequent media discussions report on the tension between, on one hand, the need to attract workforce to fill in key employment positions and to support the national welfare system and, on the other, the structural barriers to the labour market that significantly impact migrants.

Although in integration policies adult education is promoted as a vector of economic inclusion, my interest lies in adult migrant students’ socio-economic participation and life design. This study draws on an intersectional approach to investigate how overlapping structures of power shape adult migrant students' lived experiences in Finland. Through qualitative analysis of school observations and interviews, it shows how intersecting inequalities manifest in the students' life design in different spheres of their experience, in relationship-building and career plans.

Theoretically, I adopted a Nordic postcolonial and intersectional framework to analyse social ties in relation to belonging (see Anthias 2008; Brah & Phoenix Collins 2019; Collins 2019; Keskinen 2019; Lähdesmäki et al. 2016; Yuval Davis 2006); and applied affect theory to examine the effect of institutional and affective practices on students' career plans (Ahmed 2004; Berlant 2010).

I carried out ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews in vocational education and training and Finnish language courses in general upper-secondary education. The study focussed on the participants’ educational and work trajectories, social connections and career plans. Teachers and career counsellors were also interviewed as part of the study.

By using an intersectional lens, I analysed adult migrant students’ social connections through school and employment. The data suggested that, from an institutional perspective, structural systems in adult education and the labour market often restrict opportunities for engagement with the majority population, thereby reinforcing segregation along racial and class lines. From an interpersonal angle, racialisation contributes to disconnection and exclusion. The interplay of race, nationality, and class defines who forms connections with whom, in what contexts, and with what outcomes.

Finally, I investigated adult migrant students’ life designs and affective practices, departing from the notion of hope as affect and result of contextual and institutional dynamics. The findings show that institutional promises of inclusion and career development remain unfulfilled, especially in the case of non-white and racialised students, from outside the EU, working in low-status jobs. Over time, students experience recurring cycles of hope, as this is continually produced, sustained, lost, and reconstructed.