OmaPolku peer tutors Hope and Samah see how valuable the group sessions are to parents and would recommend many more immigrant parents to attend. Parents of primary school children should attend, because the earlier on the parents can support their child, the better it is to guarantee the children an equal standing at school. Good decisions early on carry a long way, Hope says.

OmaPolku project has nine peer tutors who gather together a group of parents who speak the same language. The peer tutor then explains about the specificities of the Finnish education system and speak from their own experience. These group sessions can also be attended by study counsellors, teachers, and other school staff. There is an opportunity to pose questions and discuss together. The goal is that the parents have enough information about the education system that their children are in and that they have the tools to support their child, when she or he is choosing their education path after primary education.

Hope and Samah both emphasise the role of knowing the language and understanding the culture as what makes the OmaPolku peer groups so special.

Samah, from Moniheli member association Mirsal, tells that she has been to university in both Palestine and in Finland says that it is beneficial to be able to explain the differences and the similarities. She is thankful for the excellent education system in Finland but also always emphasises to the parents that they need to be active and be in contact with the school to support their child.

On the other hand, Hope from Moniheli member organisation AFAES ry, has children who are about the same age as the parents and this project is very close to her heart. She can speak from her own experience of supporting her own children. She says that OmaPolku peer groups would have been useful for her too, but she had to find all the information all by herself. She is certain that this activity also supports the parents’ integration.

They both say that even though the session is only for two hours and there are a lot of things to cover, it is so much more accessible to the parents in their own language. Because they also have experience of tutoring, they know what to emphasise and where the most common misconceptions lay.

Thanks to their own experience of immigration to Finland, Samah and Hope both know some key characteristics about the Finnish school system that they need to highlight. For example, that children in Finland are free to choose their own study paths and parents do not dictate them.

Good discussions are always rewarding, the peer tutors say. The parents have always their own background stories. There is not always enough time to have deep discussions, but it is nice for the peer tutors, too, to meet people with the same background.

The elements of peer learning and exchanging experiences are important to the parents. Hope says that sometimes the parents are better at answering each other’s questions. The parents often gain so much useful information and the sessions help them so much that their excitement is really inspiring to OmaPolku tutors.

Samah and Hope wish to encourage parents to come to these meetings, to have the tools to support their children’s studies in Finland from an early age.