Effective and meaningful upskilling of immigrants
Af camilla / December 15, 2021
E-asylearn is a digital learning platform, which makes it possible for the users to access KHRS Academy’s learning modules via an app.
It makes a connection between the teaching, which takes place at KHRS Academy and the digital learning platform, which the app supports.
The learning takes place in the form of 24 industry directed modules, which are meant to upskill the participants of the course in KHRS Academy, to be able to handle blue-collar jobs. The learning is made more accessible, because the modules are built up as games, which makes the learning easier and motivating for the users of the app.
The app should be seen as a universal tool, which can not only be used in KHRS Academy, but for training, upskilling and integration in a broad sense.
This is completely in line with KHRS Academy’s ambition of promoting integration and to make the transition to the Danish labor market easier, for citizens with a non-western background, by identifying their resources and potentials.
We help citizens out of a passive client role and towards an active citizenship.
In the ´system` these citizens very often end up as clients who is ´passivated and parked´ in the cash assistance system without any possibility of participating in the society on equal terms like everybody else. It is these systems thinking and passivation of citizens that we want to do away with.
vWhat have we done to promote the integration of non-western immigrants?
The political and public debate about integration in Denmark is often very negative and one sided, while there to a greater extent is a focus on what is not going well and whether it is viable or not. It is not a secret that a poor integration action has great socioeconomic consequences and vice versa.
KHRS Academy’s existence became a reality, as a result of many successful integration projects we have worked with since “Gribskovmodellen” point 44” in 2006. This was a teaching model specially targeting non-western immigrant women, with linguistic, health related and social limitations in relation to getting a job. The employment effect where in this case 60%. The point 44 model later on was developed to what is now called “branchepakkemodellen”, which today used in a number of municipalities for upskilling and integration of unskilled refugees on the labor market.
Thus, for a long time we have had a goal of turning the negative development of the integration action, and to show that with the right action and upskilling positive results can in fact be made. People that in the system and in the society are excluded, but who with the right actions have become active participants on the labor market. As an example, one can look at Amna, who after 17 years in Denmark got her first employment contract after a 12 week upskilling course at KHRS.
Can society be satisfied that so many citizens are left behind and are not given the opportunity to become active participants on the labor market or in society. Isn’t it better that they are given a place on the labor market with the economical stability, dignity and recognition which comes with it.
In the end an active participation and in society maybe contribute to reverse the flow and the negative focus on integration in the media and among politicians in a more positive direction. What have society gained by maintaining people on public benefits for years, instead of doing a real effort to promote a successful integration.
The effect of our own actions – a great need of recruitment and a relatively large rate of unemployment!
KHRS have since 1981 shown that with the right action can we succeed in turning integration into something that is valuable, both for the individual person and for the cohesion in society.
Numbers from KHRS’ own projects targeting immigrant women with non-western origin, shows that the number, who obtained ordinary employment, after completing a program at KHRS were 90 out of the 171 immigrant women that began a program at KHRS or 53 percent , while the number for immigrant women from The Philippines, China, Thailand and Vietnam are higher, since that 33 women out of 51, who began a program at KHRS or 65 percent.
This trend underpins, the general statistics, which shows that immigrants from these countries to a larger extent are integrated on the Danish labor market compared with immigrants from the NENAP- countries and Turkey, who generally have larger integration challenges, than immigrants from other non-western countries. However the number of immigrant women from the MENAP- countries are larger in KHRS’ projects, why the difference of the two groups of immigrant women are not significant.
KHRS has for many years focused on the group of immigrant women from non-western countries, because this group has special challenges in relation to being integrated in the society. And on the Danish labor market. Therefore, this group are obvious candidates for KHRS Academy, which combines teaching of industry directed Danish with a continuous support from bilingual mentors and peer to peer training in a company.
Currently KHRS are running a recruitment campaign to get labor from Malmö. In the period from June till October 2021 KHRS managed to get 17 women and 10 men with a non-western origin in ordinary employment. KHRS thus continues our success in recruiting, educating and upskilling citizens with a non-western origin with the aim of getting them in ordinary jobs. At the same time KHRS are solving a challenge to get qualified labor to The Copenhagen Area, while at the same time there is a high unemployment rate in Malmö.
