Finland is increasingly a multilingual and multicultural society, but this is still only weakly reflected in higher education. People with migrant background are clearly underrepresented in Finnish higher education compared to the other Nordic countries (Airas et al., 2019). Societal polarization and ethnic and socio-economic segregation are growing challenges in Finnish society (Bernelius & Huilla, 2021; Rajavuori, 2024; Ndomo, 2024). Particularly in the fields of education and training, there is a strong demand for teachers to be native speakers, based on nationalist ideology (Autere & Länsisalmi, 2024). However, in the field of applied linguistics, the concept of “native speaker” has long and widely been problematized: language skills are always situational and partial and being 'native' is neither a guarantee nor a prerequisite for being a good teacher (see e.g., Mahboob, 2005). On the contrary, there is a vital need for multilingual and multicultural experts, particularly in education and teacher education. This is one way to dismantle inequality, and ethnic and socio-economic segregation.

This timely challenge is being addressed in this study which focuses on teacher education and examines how teacher educators orient toward incoming migrant background students. The University of Jyväskylä is the first university in Finland to introduce a dedicated admission pathway for students with a Finnish as a second language background to early childhood education and primary school teacher education, starting in autumn 2026. As a teacher education community, we have proactively prepared for these incoming students through implementing a professional development pilot as well as by systematically researching and reflecting on our own processes of change during the training. This research is connducted in collaboration with Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) and Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK), which have extensive experience in this field.

In this presentation, we present preliminary findings on how teacher educators critically examine the cultural assumptions and values embedded in educational structures, practices and materials, and how they develop their pedagogical and supervisory practices to meet the opportunities and challenges of linguistic and cultural diversity.

The recent research on higher education indicates that university staff lack sufficient competence in language- and culturally aware teaching practices and in guidance of building students’ self-confidence, expert identities, and academic literacy skills (Makrooni, 2022; Leskinen, 2024; Virtanen, 2024). Obviously, teacher educators are not sufficiently aware of the white normativity of education and racialising practices (Souto & Lappalainen, 2024). Also, the ability to operate in multilingual and multicultural interactional contexts (Layne & Theng, 2022) and to jointly explore diverse ways of knowing, knowledge construction, and worldviews together with students needs to be developed (Ennser-Kananen et al., 2024). Clearly, the increasing diversity of students requires rethinking teacher education programs. 

The data have been collected from an eight-month staff development program using a co-research approach (Kulmala et al., 2023). During the academic year 2025–2026, twenty teacher educators in early childhood and primary school education participated in six workshops and reflective activities. Each workshop had a specific theme that was presented by an expert and deepened with recent research on the topic. The workshops were interactive: the participants were invited to share their experiences, questions, and knowledge of language and culturally aware practices. Discussions of the sessions were audio-recorded. Furthermore, participants completed future-oriented and development-focused SOAR analyses (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results; Cole & Stavros, 2019) in the beginning and the final phase of the data gathering. Also, interviews of eight participants were conducted and written reflections collected. Teacher educators’ reflection during the training period is examined using a nexus analysis strategy (Scollon & Scollon 2004), as it enables a multidimensional examination of change in social action. Drawing on key concepts of nexus analysis, we investigate teacher educators’ linguistically and culturally aware competences at the intersection of three dimensions: 1. Historical body, referring to teacher educators’ experiential histories, including their multilingual and multicultural competence, attitudes, experiences, and aspirations brought into discussions during the training. 2. Interactional order, referring to the roles, expectations, and forms of interaction constructed and enabled during the training and in the academia. 3. Discourses in place, that is, the discourses constructed and negotiated during the training concerning the resources, challenges, and support needs of Finnish as a second language background students, Finnish educational culture, and what is required from a competent teacher. The discourses may reflect current dominant societal discourses or stand in tension with them. We also use discourse analytical method (Heller, 2001) to examine spatial and temporal discourses among the participants, and the broader, deeply rooted discourses in society which are brought up during the process. Narrative methods (De Fina, 2015) are used to analyse the experiences and incidents described by the participants. In our study we aim to develop our pedagogical culture and identify socially and culturally more sustainable and just practices in collaboration. Therefore, the teacher educators have the option of acting as co-researchers, and we, as researchers and members of the community, also critically reflect our competence while taking an engaged stance. This approach is in line with nexus analysis that is fundamentally participatory and orient towards change (Scollon & Scollon 2007).

Our study aims for sustainable scientific, pedagogical, and societal impact. Research on language and culturally aware practices in higher education, and how to prepare teacher educators to engage with diversity, is urgently needed. Regarding the pedagogical impact, we expect this collaborative development work to support our staff to feel better prepared for the upcoming students and have gained additional pedagogical practices and tools to support learning and provide guidance for students. We anticipate that the reflective activities and discussions conducted during the training have developed teacher educators’ awareness of their own attitudes and beliefs as well as the systemic understanding of building and sustaining a supportive and inclusive work community. On the other hand, the process may also increase uncertainty by raising awareness of the gaps in one’s competence. Material on language and culturally aware practices is compiled for use in staff training, and thus, the results will be utilised across all university faculties to inform staff training and university pedagogy. Further, the funding received from Teacher Education Forum requires that the results will be implemented for the benefit of the other Finnish teacher education institutions as well. Regarding the societal impact, we expect this study will contribute to building a more just and sustainable society.

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