Tobias Pötzsch

I was born in East Germany, grew up in Canada, and have since 1997 been living in Finland, where I integrated myself in Swedish. My education includes a Masters of Science in Social Work from Gothenburg University in Sweden and a Bachelors of Education from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I have been employed as a Senior lecturer & program coordinator responsible for curricula development in the International Degree Program in Social Services at Laurea University of Applied Sciences since 2000. My areas of expertise include theory and ethics in social work, multicultural and crtical social work theory including anti-oppressive and anti-racist practices, client counseling and qualitative research methods.

In 2015, I commenced my PhD studies in social work at the University of Helsinki's Swedish school of Social Science (Soc.& kom.). I have also been accepted as a researcher at CEREN (Center for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism)

The purpose of the doctoral dissertation, Critical Social Inclusion: An anti-oppressive perspective on integration programs for adult migrants is to carry out a multiple case study of integration educations for adult migrants in Finland and Canada. The research focuses on the contestations and practical interpretations of social inclusion within these programs as seen through the theoretical lens of Anti-Oppressive Practice (AOP). It investigates the integration education’s aims and foundational ideologies, how these are practically realized and how those who work and participate in the programs experience them.

The Finnish case studies are represented by the recently introduced SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) integration program at Arbis (Arbetarinstitutet) in Helsingfors and its corresponding education program at Medis (Medborgarinstitutet) in Mariehamn, Åland. As a counterpoint, they were juxtaposed with the case of Norquest College in Edmonton, Canada. The Canadian perspective was deliberately chosen in order to provide an example of a country with a long history of immigration and integration strategies, such as AOP, and one whose emphasis on multiculturalism in national discourses on inclusion differs from integration traditions in Nordic welfare states.