‘Act Like You Care’ : intercultural development in Finnish higher education using forum-theatre

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine how theatre-based workshops could be used effectively for intercultural training in Finnish higher education. The article introduces the current standing of Finnish higher education and how immigration and globalisation have affected the sector. The global trend of internationalisation of higher education is discussed as well as the effects of the process in Finland. The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture published guidelines for universities and research institutes regarding their targets for ‘internationalisation at home’. This research focuses on the experiences of students with regards to internationalisation at home and intercultural development at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Theatre-based workshops have long been used for community building around the world and they also could be utilised for intercultural training. Finland does not have a long tradition in either theatre-based workshops nor intercultural competence training, therefore this article presents a novel research in its context. This research utilised Augusto Boal’s forum-theatre for intercultural training. Four theatre-based workshops were conducted, and students were interviewed about their experiences. Their interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that the workshops positively affected students’ thinking and their ability to utilise their theoretical knowledge to solve culturally sensitive scenarios. The findings are discussed in conjunction with previous research and further research topics suggested for future studies in the field.