SCILLED – Strategies for Competence Integration and Lifelong Learning in European Destinations. The Case of Female Migrant Healthcare Workers in Scandinavia (NOVA)
Project background and relevance
Our contemporary society experiences a demographic shift, characterised by starkly decreasing fertility and birth rates, an aging population and a constantly increasing need for healthcare workers. By 2070, about 21% more people over 50 will be in need of professionally provided long-term care compared to 2020. In contrast to this stands the continuously shrinking labour force, around 40% of the current medical staff is already close to retirement and needs to be replaced.
Accordingly, we need strategies and measures on regional and national level to attract and retain healthcare workers to the labour market. Especially the retention of workers becomes increasingly significant, as recent data confirms that the dropout rate among healthcare workers is particularly high due to long working hours, demanding tasks and incompatibility of the working field with familial obligations.
In fact, the latter comes as no surprise if we consider that women make up 78% of workers in health and social care, but only 1 out of 3 female healthcare workers occupy leadership positions in the sector. A further central issue that must be considered in this context is the central role of foreign-born workers for the healthcare segment, which represents one of the major employment sectors for qualified migrants.
Norway employs currently 44% foreign-trained healthcare workers. They provide not only for a significant base of formal qualifications but also the rather informal “insider knowledge” on migrant communities (language, traditions, religious beliefs), which becomes increasingly responsive in our highly diversified society.
Project objectives
The SCILLED project ties in to these premises with an interdisciplinary approach combining gender, migration and educational studies and aims to investigate how female migrant healthcare workers are valorised in three Scandinavian countries, that are considered at the vanguard when it comes to (professional) adult education and upskilling: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
In particular the project is interested to investigate:
• how formal and informal qualfication of female migrant healthcare workers in institutions are recognised and valorised;
• what is done to train und upskill female migrant healthcare workers adequately to keep the work sector attractive for them and to facilitate a progressing in their career.
The SCILLED project has started in august 2025 and will have a duration of 2 years.
Methods
To elaborate these two main research concerns the project builds on a mixed-methods research approach.
•Quantitative data collection and analysis: we will send out a survey to approximately 1000 healthcare institutions (clinics, hospitals, specialized clinics) to inquire information on how (migrant) healthcare workers are hired, trained and upskilled.
•Qualitative data collection and analysis: approximately 50 female migrant healthcare workers will be asked about their personal experience and professional integration in the local labour market of the host country, with regard to the application and recruitment process (recognition and valorisation of qualifications) and the working and education context (training opportunities and engagement).
•Project findings will be published in scientific publications, at international conferences and in the SCILLED podcast series, that will be co-produced by research participants.
Potential thesis themes
•Healthcare systems in Denmark, Norway and Sweden
•Literacy, Numeracy and Problem-solving competences of adults in Scandinavia
•Professional training and upskilling in healthcare institutions:
-Assessment of training needs
-Development and design of training courses
-Implementation and promotion of professional trainings
-Employee engagement
•Labour market integration of female migrants in Scandinavia
-Recognition of skills and formal qualifications
-Career progress in the host country
-Acceptance, relationships and network in the local labour market of the host country
-Willingness and personally perceived opportunities to re-/upskill
•Strategies for attracting and retaining staff in the healthcare sector
Envisaged collaboration and possible tasks for students
•Desk research and comparative analysis of Scandinavian healthcare systems
•Assistance in the design and implementation of quantitative research instruments with more than 1000 healthcare institutions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden
•Assistance in analysis of survey results from healthcare institutions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden
•Assistance with qualitative data collection and analysis in semi-structured interviews and focus groups with female healthcare workers with migratory background
What we offer
•Master thesis supervision by experienced researcher in a pleasant and stimulating environment
•Skill development on the work cycle of applied research, in particular on:
-design, development and implementation of research instruments (assessment of research needs, pilot trial, field preparation and access)
-quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis (analytical framework development and testing)
•Joint publications, if feasible and in accordance with student competences and interests
•Active involvement in podcast production phase and possibility to co-host one episode of the podcast series (cfr. Methodological approach)
•Insights into European research project management
Contact
Tanja Schroot (tanja.schroot@oslomet.no) | NOVA – Norwegian Social Research, OsloMet
FURTHER PROJECT INFORMATION
https://www.oslomet.no/en/research/research-projects/migrant-lifelong-learning
https://www.linkedin.com/company/scilled-strategies-for-competence-integration-and-lifelong-learning-in-european-destinations/?viewAsMember=true