"You're Supposed to Feel Safe, You're Supposed to Feel Respected, You're Supposed to Feel Heard": Lived Experiences of Racism in the Finnish Education System

Lyons, M ORCID: 0000-0002-9553-9767, Mkwesha, F and Zacheus, T (2026) "You're Supposed to Feel Safe, You're Supposed to Feel Respected, You're Supposed to Feel Heard": Lived Experiences of Racism in the Finnish Education System. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. ISSN 0886-2605

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Abstract

Individuals who are racialised as ethnic minorities often report a host of adverse experiences during their educational careers. There has been some research on direct experiences of racism in education, but mostly in English-speaking countries. As racism can be manifested in diverse ways depending on the context, we cannot generalise from one country to another. In this pilot study, we explore lived experiences of students in Finland, a country that has a world-famous education system that is supposed to be equal for all learners. We interviewed nine university students who identified as ethnic minorities. We constructed three overarching themes, utilising an inductive thematic approach. These themes were (a) experiences of racism in the education system, (b) student actions and institutional and staff responses to questioning racism, and (c) consequences and impacts of racism for students. We discuss the results in the context of Finland and give recommendations for future practice.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	bullying; college/university; race/ethnicity; race/ethnicity; college/university; bullying; bullying; college/university; race/ethnicity; 5203 Clinical and Health Psychology; 44 Human Society; 4402 Criminology; 52 Psychology; 4409 Social Work; 4 Quality Education; 1602 Criminology; 1607 Social Work; 1701 Psychology; Criminology; 4402 Criminology; 4409 Social work; 5203 Clinical and health psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races L Education > L Education (General)
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Sage
Date of acceptance:	6 September 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	12 October 2026
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2026 12:41
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2026 12:41
DOI or ID number:	10.1177/08862605261480161
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29655

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