I completed the last developmental internship in my community pedagogy studies at the settlement of Aurala. The training started in January and lasted eight weeks until March. The training was mainly carried out remotely due to the prevailing corona situation, but I was able to visit the place whenever I wanted. I worked during the internship in the Basic skills training - effective support for employment (OKM 2020-2022) project. The project's target group is adults who have moved to Finland, and the goal is to promote the customers' basic skills and thus their ability to cope in Finnish society. The purpose of the teaching and guidance offered by the project is not for the employees to do things for the customer, but under the guidance of the employee, the customer learns the basic skill in question and thus manages independently in everyday life more smoothly.
The tasks of the internship were very versatile and extensive, and I got to do a lot of things. The days consisted of customer meetings, meetings and administrative work. I got to plan and implement group activities for women of Afghan background, implement a survey for 2021 clients and do modeling for the final project report. In addition to all this, I participated in various seminars and trainings as well as joint development days. I also got to know the literature of the field during my internship.
In the first week, I was able to join the client meetings with my instructor, which was very great. From the beginning, I felt that I was welcome and I had no negative experiences during the entire internship. E.g. tough and difficult topics can occasionally come up during customer meetings, and these can continue to trouble the employee. However, you have to remember to separate work and free time so that you don't end up thinking too much about things alone. In addition, it is good to discuss issues and experiences among other colleagues, so that you can get peer support and in a possible difficult situation you can figure it out together and not be left alone. I have learned this in Aurala.
From the very first day, I was warmly included and I was not treated as an independent intern, but from the beginning I was a member of the work community. This signals that the working atmosphere is excellent and every new employee is welcomed with joy. The orientation was also very good and comprehensive. Throughout the first week, I was told about Aurala's activities and I acted more as a listener, but I also got to do various tasks independently. It was nice to just listen and be present in the midst of all the new information.
The goal of a developmental internship is, in addition to the usual work tasks, to find development targets arising from the internship, which can be tackled during the internship. I didn't have one big development task, but I got to participate in several development work. Together with a colleague, I developed a group activity for women of Afghan background. My second development task was to participate in the modeling and the third task was to prepare a survey for the customers of 2021. The purpose was to get feedback from them on what kind of service they received from Aurala and how they experienced the service. I prepared the basis for the survey myself and used questions from an earlier survey as a help, so that the results of different years can be compared. I conducted the survey over the phone and transcribed the answers into an Excel file.
The work development orientation was strongly visible during my internship. In addition to the weekly meetings, joint development days are used to reflect on the issues that still need to be worked on in Aurala. After the Ukrainian crisis started, we held a development morning where we thought about how we can help Ukrainian refugees better and how we are prepared to receive them and offer help in Aurala. We also had safety training, where an external company gave us training on how to act in the workplace during a threat situation. At the beginning of the training, there was a theory section, after which detachment was practiced in practice. In my opinion, all joint development meetings are of paramount importance in terms of workplace development, and I am satisfied that I was able to participate in all of them. It was great that I could participate in such versatile things during training.
The training was very rewarding and I am very satisfied that I made it to Aurala. Corona made it difficult to find an internship and several places canceled the internship, but luckily I found Aurala. I also received a job offer from Aurala and stayed at work right after the internship ended. This was a nice surprise and it was great that I had the opportunity to continue working with Aurala. I work in the same project doing the same tasks until the end of the project. I am also doing my thesis in Aurala and the subject is the development of volunteer work.
Riad Jakupovic
The author is a student of community pedagogy at the Humanist University of Applied Sciences and, in addition to his studies, works in the Basic competence training - effective support for employment (OKM 2020-2022) project
