When migrant students enroll in a school in their new home countries, they start several simultaneous processes of adapting. If they study in a language that is not their home language, they start to acquire a new language of learning. If they have been schooled in another country, they adapt to a new curriculum and school system. If they have missed formal education, which is often the case for children coming from crisis areas, they need to catch up to their peers not only in several school subjects, but also in the routines of schooling. On top of these school-related challenges, their experiences of migration might make students vulnerable to emotional issues, such as stress of separation from their past networks. The new life might be a positive change for the family, but it can also bring with it loneliness and unfamiliar cultural and social norms. The feeling of being alone or lost is perhaps the greatest for migrant students who have recently arrived in their new host countries (Dryden-Peterson, 2016; Rodríguez-Izquierdo & Darmody, 2019). 

However these issues are not exclusive for recently arrived migrant students. Likewise, emerging multilingual learners, including those who may have been born in the country they live in but who identify more closely with a culture and language that is not those of the classroom, face similar challenges.  When learning a language, people are “doing things in language, through language, and with language” (Dufva, 2013, pp. 64). Consequently, when students are learning language and through the language simultaneously, teachers have to pay attention to how content and language are taught at the same time (Cummins, 2021). 

Equally important dimension of migrant students’ education is how they develop a sense of belonging, which is interlinked to students’ overall wellbeing. Building belonging is an ongoing process both for the individual child and for the other actors in their new social spaces, in this case the teachers and peers in their schools (McIntyre & Abrams, 2020). So, belonging is not only built in interpeer-relations, that is, among children and by children, but  the adult professionals also have a role in creating a welcoming, safe environment that fosters belonging. 

Our previous research  (Authors, 20xx) shows that Finnish teachers have a generally positive stance toward multilingual (including migrant) learners. Teachers find these students motivated to learn, and they find it rewarding to see the academic, social, and emotional successes of students studying in a foreign language. In our previous research, teachers have reported that cultural and linguistic diversity has a positive impact on the school community. Furthermore, working with diverse groups fosters the teachers’ own professional and personal development. Significantly, teachers with more experience working with multilingual learners found their work in diverse classrooms more rewarding. Yet while teachers value working with multilingual and multicultural student groups, they acknowledge the challenges of being able to adequately support the students’ learning, development and wellbeing. (Authors, 20xx, Authors, 200xx) 

In this article, we explore the experiences of multilingual learner who study Finnish as an Additional Language in Finnish comprehensive school. We consider what these students find challenging in school, and how teachers and other educational professionals can help them. Our focus is not only listing the challenges these students face; a large body of studies and reports do that already (Graham et al. 2016). Instead, our aim is to show how, and with the help of whom, students overcome those challenges. 

The article is based on a survey conducted by migrant-background, multilingual learners in comprehensive schools (grades 1-9) in or around two major cities in Finland in 2016 (347 responses ) and 2021 (291 responses). Some of the students are first generation migrants, others are born in Finland but have migrant parents. The group who answered our survey in 2016 included a large number of students who had arrived through forced migration. The 2016 data was collected in a paper-and-pen survey, and the other in a combined online and paper-and-pen survey in 2021. The survey was conducted during their school time, with assistance from the teachers. The data of the current paper consists of respondents answers to three open-ended questions: 1. What is difficult in school? 2. How do you cope with difficult tasks in school? 3. Who helps you in school? The open-ended questions were analysed and categorised. Then, frequencies for the different categories within the three different open-ended questions were calculated. As students could give more than one response to each of the three questions, the frequencies were calculated using the Multiple Response Set function. Finally, Chi Square tests, Cramér V values and z tests were performed in order to investigate whether the two datasets (2016 vs. 2021) differed from each other. In addition, Chi Square tests, Cramér V values and z tests were carried out to examine the respondents’ background factors were linked to their responses to the open-ended questions. Even though the participants were not asked to give multiple responses to any of the questions, some listed more than one answer. In order to run the statistical analyses, the items mentioned first were used.

Both in 2016 and 2021, the subjects that require reading were named as the most difficult, with over 60% and over 50% of the responses, respectively. Also, arts and crafts, language related issues, and school work generally were deemed to be difficult in some of the responses. Over 10% of the responses stated that nothing was difficult. When comparing the two data sets (2016 vs. 2021), there were no big differences. When investigating the possible differences based on the students’ background factors (gender, age group, living situation, length of residence in Finland, school area), we saw a significant difference between the genders: “school work in general” was named by girls as difficult more often than boys. There was also a significant difference between different age groups. Considering who help students with difficult tasks, it was not surprising that teachers were mentioned. Almost 60% in both the 2016 and 2021 datasets named the teacher as the person who helps them. Also, in over 20% of the responses, other students were stated to help the students. Less than 10% named some other person as someone helping them at school. Significantly, students who had moved to Finland less than a year ago rarely reported being helped by teachers, other professionals or peers. This highlights the need to pay attention to developing migrant background students’ support in the first stages of their arrival.

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