Self-recognition of skills as a tool of empowerment
Keywords:
integration, immigrants, recognition of skills, empowermentAbstract
This study examines self-recognition of skills from the perspective of empowerment. The examination utilizes experiences between 2019 and 2020, retrieved from the From Home Towards Working Life project by the ViaDia association in Joensuu. The activities through the project were focused on immigrant women and reached around 40 participants regularly. From Home Towards Working Life implemented open and functional group and individual counselling sessions, which supported the Finnish language skills of the participants and helped them identify their strengths and determine their study opportunities in Finland. The purpose of the project was to support the participants’ resources, potential, growth, participation and agency on the basis of their starting points and needs. A socio-pedagogic framework can be seen as the background to these activities. The tools used for the recognition of skills were the University of Eastern Finland’s SkiLLfie, a toolset which helps in identifying and expressing one’s skills. SkiLLfie has been developed for the needs of immigrants in particular. In addition to the experiences logged during the time of the project, this examination utilizes an adult education Master’s thesis, written by workers from the project, that covers the effects of using self-recognition of skills tools from the Opinsauna project of the University of Eastern Finland. This study takes an approach to the self-recognition of skills through the core concept of empowerment.
