The short version
- 75,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to Norway in the last two years
- Language barriers are still a major obstacle to them finding work
- Psychologist and lawyer Valentyna Yemelianenko wants more Norwegian training to be able to work with people in crisis
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Yemelianenko is both a lawyer and a psychologist from Ukraine. Now she stands in front of the blackboard at St. Marie learning center in Sarpsborg and wonders if there is a double consonant in the word “easy”.
Norwegian is easy, she has written. It is a truth with modifications.
She finds pronunciation particularly difficult.
75,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to Norway in the last two years. Language barriers are still one of the biggest obstacles to them getting a job.
– I need more Norwegian training. In order for me to do my job well enough, it will probably take two years, says Yemelianenko to VG.
– Can you say it one more time, in short sentences, not long and difficult ones, she asks nicely when the conversation becomes too demanding.
Work quickly
This week came NOVA NOVA is one of Norway’s largest social science research institutes, with an emphasis on welfare research and studies of the life course from childhood to old age.with the report “Short program time i the introductory program»A program designed to help newly arrived immigrants adapt to Norwegian society, it often includes language training and information about Norwegian culture and social life.where they have collected the experiences from the training the Ukrainian refugees receive when they come to Norway.
With the new Integration Act, which came in 2021, the aim was to arrange teaching according to the refugees’ needs.
The term “short program time” was introduced. That means a six-month Norwegian course, with the option of extending it to one year, for those who needed it. Getting as many people into work as possible as quickly as possible has been one of the Government’s objectives.
– What we are worried about is that the refugees do not get to the level where they can get a job where they can speak Norwegian at work. When the labor market is not an arena where you can speak Norwegian, integration becomes a problem in the long term, says one of the researchers of the reports, Guri Tyldum
She points to Denmark, which many point to as a success, because so many Ukrainians have found work.
Guri Tyldum
– The challenge is that seventy percent of the Ukrainians who have found work in Denmark work in transport, construction, cleaning and hotels. There are industries where not much Danish is spoken, and where they are primarily regarded as cheap unskilled laborUnskilled labor: People who work without formal education or specialized training for the job they do.says Tyldum.
She fears the same thing is about to happen in Norway.
– Successful integration is not something we measure by how quickly you get the refugees into work. The real test is how many people have a stable full-time job in the long term.
Waited a long time
Psychologist Valentyna has had a year of Norwegian lessons. It has been two years since she and her husband Dmytro packed the car and took their daughter Marie with them.
They fled from the Russian-occupied town of Berdjansk, near Mariupol.
Until then, she had worked as the mayor’s adviser on issues of women’s and children’s rights, and she had her own therapy groups. Dmytro was a lawyer with his own practice.
– I had a cousin in Oslo. It was she who got us to Norway, Valentyna explains.
The family spent the first eight months in Norway at reception in Rogaland. There were no lessons and Valentyna ached to get started.
Only when they were assigned Sarpsborg as their municipality did they get back to school. Now this spring it has been one year. Valentyna and Dmytro did not think they were trained and applied for more training. They got that.
– It has been absolutely necessary. I would like to work with people in crisis and need to speak a lot of Norwegian, Valentyna explains.
Dark thoughts
She has sneaked out of school. The man Dmytro is left to complete a Norwegian test. He has got a job at a refugee reception and balances his life between schooling and work.
– We have to have money to live on, Valentyna asserts.
She herself has created one sole proprietorshipA type of business where one person owns and runs the business alone. and has a short-term contract with the Crisis Center where she arranges meetings for Ukrainians.
On the introductory course, they have been concerned that the Ukrainians must get involved in Norwegian society. Valentyna has done that.
Together with other refugee women, she has started the organization Ukrainian Council in Sarpsborg and she is also a member of the Labor Party’s women’s group.
What gnaws at both herself and many other Ukrainians are mainly two things:
The thought of the future – and of how friends and relatives back home in Ukraine are doing.
Valentyna has brought the photo album with her and shows photos of the family. In a corner of the living room stands the shelf with books and icons she has brought with her from her home country.
Many will stay in Norway
In order not to dig too much into the dark, Valentyna also works with art therapy in the Ukrainian groups she is part of. There they paint, play psychological games, cook or just have conversations.
– The more time we are here, the more connected we become to Norway. Like most others, we are realistic in our view of the war. There won’t be peace anytime soon, many will probably stay here.
Researcher Tyldum is concerned that the Ukrainian refugees must receive an introductory course precisely with a long-term perspective in mind. She also thinks many will stay.
– I have worked with migration and return among refugees for fifteen years. That half of the Ukrainians return is the optimistic scenario, she says.
Future
Tyldum is concerned that the Ukrainian refugees should have the opportunity to work in the well-organized part of the Norwegian labor market.
The clear expectation of getting to work quickly can prevent this, she believes.
– Settlement in the municipalities is important, but you must also help the refugees to qualify for the skills-demanding labor market, she emphasizes.
What surprised her most about the work on the report were the large differences between the municipalities.
Some are very good with organized training and help to find good jobs. Elsewhere, the refugees receive little follow-up, says Tyldum.
She advises Valentyna to both take additional education and more Norwegian training. Norway needs manpower, she reminds.
More Norwegian
Valentyna knows that she has to reach a certain level in order to pass the Norwegian test that qualifies for work in a humanitarian organization or with social work.
That is why she is grateful for the extra half year of Norwegian that she has now been offered by the municipality.
The introductory courses contain both social studies and Norwegian. For Valentyna, it could have been more Norwegian, and less society. With an academic background, she is trained in familiarizing herself with systems.
After finishing the Norwegian course in the summer, the plan is to take private lessons. She is already looking for good teachers and good prices.
– Although many of us are used to sitting at school, I think it will take two years before I know Norwegian well enough to work in social work, she says.
