In Finland’s increasingly multicultural and multinational society effective communication in intercultural and transnational contexts is of importance in various professions. Professionals in the justice system regularly engage with clients from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. For both police and criminal sanctions officers, effective communication is not a soft skill, not an additional skill, not extra — it is foundational to ensuring fairness, building trust, and upholding human rights. However, misunderstandings caused by language barriers, cultural assumptions, or insufficient communication skills can undermine entire client journeys and deepen feelings of marginalization.

Levels of Responsibility

There are various levels of responsibility in teaching and learning intercultural communication skills for future professions. Individuals are, of course, responsible for directing their own studies and careers based on what they feel is relevant and important. National institutions in each society are responsible for carefully formulating the general guidelines -and providing enough funding to act on those guidelines- for ensuring sufficient and capable workforce for societal needs. This remains true now and even more so in the future, as the future directions of higher education remain at the mercy of national policies. However, there is a middle tier between individuals and national decision-making. It is the institution itself (Kovalainen 2022:119).

The responsibility for promoting professional communication competences is very much tied to institutional preferences -what do we as a higher education institution wish to promote? What are the skills we can teach versus the skills our graduates will need in their future professions? The communication skills we need to teach must be transferable to realistic working conditions (Kovalainen 2022:109).

We need to reinforce the shift from general, unilateral language and communication training to job-contextualized -and digitalized- communication education. As both (higher) education and several professions are taking place in virtual contexts at an increasing speed, creating work communities becomes more difficult than in face-to-face contexts and communities (Kovalainen 2022:97). What if our work takes place in a virtual setting with a client? What if there is no common language? What if the reason for the interaction is highly personal? What if the situation still requires a lot of crucial information to be shared and interpreted correctly?

Intercultural Communication Is Not Mere Language

In complex communication contexts related to highly sensitive and personal issues, effective and transparent communication is essential. But to know how to confront and overcome those possible communicative barriers, we must understand where they come from. One of the key components is language. Without a common language and words with a shared meaning communication is difficult, of course. But language is also a form of self-expression, a part of one’s identity (Kovalainen 2022: 86). Language skills or linguistic proficiency are not the same as intercultural or transnational communication skills, either, as there is a huge overreliance on English language skills in general (Kovalainen 2022:85) -without understanding that the mere language as such does not constitute as communicative proficiency (Kovalainen 2022:89).

We do not need to strive to create an equal third culture, a middle ground, between agents in a given communicative context, but we do need to understand the perspective of thirdness (Kovalainen 2022:97) in any intercultural or transnational communication context. We need to understand that there are, and always will be, differences in the ways in which we use language, see culture, can communicate, are emotionally involved, and what are our requirements and needs, may it be in the position of a client or an employee.

LAUREA UAS Working with POLAMK

Recognizing the challenges mentioned above, Laurea University of Applied Sciences initiated a collaborative project with the Police University College (POLAMK) that brought together students from both institutions during their English language courses. The project created a space for future police officers and criminal sanctions professionals to reflect on shared responsibilities in client communication — particularly regarding language use, cultural awareness, and professional communication strategies. The aim was to explore how a so-called third culture might be created in client encounters: one that is both procedurally effective and culturally sensitive.

A highlight of the project was a joint session at POLAMK’s training facilities, where Laurea correctional services students, studying for their Bachelor’s degree, participated in scenario-based discussions alongside their police counterparts. This experience provided a rare and valuable opportunity to view the justice system from multiple perspectives — and to identify communication as a shared, cross-institutional concern rather than a siloed skill.

Project Reflections

The project yielded a simple but important insight: the client journey transcends institutional boundaries. A person may first interact with a police officer and later work with a criminal sanctions professional. When communication fails at any point, it disrupts not only procedures but the client’s holistic experience of justice. This underscores the need for coherent intercultural communication practices that span institutional lines.

Although there is extensive research on intercultural communication, multilingualism, and procedural justice, there is a pressing need to study professional identity formation in the criminal sanctions field, where ethical practice is inseparable from communicative competence. Future professionals cannot fully anticipate the communicative contexts they will encounter — but they must be prepared for them. Communication is never a neutral act; it reflects how professionals see themselves and their role in society. Thus, intercultural and multilingual competence must be embedded in professional education, not treated as an optional add-on.

The project also revealed concrete development needs. Students identified gaps in structured, occupation-specific language training and challenges in working with interpreters under stress. Through role-play, plain language exercises, and critical reflection, students began to see communication not as a matter of individual skill, but as a shared responsibility requiring institutional alignment.

Final words

As migration, globalization, and digital mobility reshape our communities, the need for shared intercultural communication standards across justice institutions becomes increasingly urgent. While no single institution can define or enforce such standards alone, collaborative training efforts — such as this cross-institutional project — demonstrate how education can foster mutual understanding, professional readiness, and ethical clarity.

If the goal is a fair, transparent and client-centered justice system, then we must prepare future professionals to communicate not only across languages and cultures, but also across institutional borders.

More information Dr. Niina Kovalainen, Senior Lecturer Laurea UAS niina.kovalainen@laurea.fi

Reference

• Kovalainen, N. 2022. The role of intercultural communicative competence in transnational educational and occupational fields: Studies of higher education and virtual working environments [Doctoral dissertation, Tampere University]. Tampere University Publications. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-2323-4