"Mun tehtävä on tukea ja esittää kysymyksiä ja kulkea rinnalla": Asiantuntijoiden näkemyksiä maahanmuuttajataustaisten nuorten siirtymisestä toiselle asteelle

The educational transitions of immigrant youth are considered challenging. In this article we analyze how school officials view the structural possibilities and obstacles, agency, and time perspective that frame the transitions of children with an immigrant background to secondary education. The study is based on ten thematic interviews with study counsellors, principals and education administration officials, which were analyzed using a phenomenographic approach. The theoretical setting consists of the concept of the Finnish universalistic transition regime, where individual educational paths are possible and study counselling is an institutionalized part of education. According to the results, different actors often guide the transitions from their own perspective, and the transition as a whole has not been thoroughly considered. The structural elements of the transitions rely on the assumption that students have attained the skills that the Finnish comprehensive school is expected to provide. Immigrant students' choices can, however, be restricted by their insufficient knowledge of the Finnish education system or limited proficiency in the Finnish language, for example. Furthermore, the counselling is focused around the short phase between the comprehensive school and upper secondary education, and is not built as a continuum from one institution to another. In order to enable smoother and more accessible educational pathways for immigrant youth, a more systematic consideration of their diverse needs is required in terms of the structures of the transition system as well as the possibilities and time perspectives involved.