Mandatory Swedish

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In Finnish schools, Swedish is a mandatory school subject. Due to Finland having two national languages, the Swedish language is mandatory in the Finnish-speaking schools, and the Finnish language is mandatory in Swedish language schools. The native Finnish speaking population is however dominant with 92% of the population.

The Finnish name for both Mandatory Swedish and Mandatory Finnish is "toinen kotimainen kieli", literally "the second domestic language". For Mandatory Swedish, some Finn students use the name pakkoruotsi which literally means "forced Swedish".

1 Overview
2 History
3 Students' opinions
4 See also
5 External links

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Overview

In Mainland Finland both domestic languages, Finnish and Swedish, are mandatory subjects for pupils in primary and secondary schools (although not compulsory in the final exams). The status of Swedish as an official national language in Finland is protected by Finland's Constitution, and the Swedish People's Party has successfully been a minor partner in most Cabinets since Finland's independence.

The autonomous Åland Islands (pop. 26,000) have only one domestic language, Swedish, and international treaties to some degree grant it the right of remaining exclusively Swedophone.

The official reasons are that both languages are official languages of Finland, due to the history of Sweden-Finland empire, which makes both languages part of the Finnish culture. (See further Finland's language strife)

A compulsory Swedish may also bring Finland closer to the Nordic countries, since Swedish is quite similar to both Danish and Norwegian, while the Finnish language belong to the vastly different Finno-Ugric languages group. For this reason, supporters maintain that Mandatory Swedish improves learning of other Germanic languages, such as English and German. Lastly, they argue, Mandatory Swedish is necessary to ensure that all citizens can interact with governmental institutions in their own language.

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History

Swedish teaching for all pupils in primary education was introduced in the 1970s, until then it had only been required in secondary and tertiary education. Governmental service is, since the end of the 19th century, offered in both domestic languages; therefore employees must be proficient in both Finnish and Swedish. The reform was based on a political ambition to strengthen the ties with the Western world through Scandinavia, and to show that Finland was still a part of the Nordic countries, and not an Eastern Bloc country. It also sought to improve social mobility by ensuring that a bad decision on language in the early school years should not become an obstacle for applicants to the civil services.

In the upper secondary general school all the students learn at least two foreign languages, one of which is the other domestic language (Swedish or Finnish). The Finnish speakers take Swedish, and vice versa. Practically all the students took English, either as a compulsory or an optional language. There is also a possibility to take an extra foreign language; 44 per cent took German and 21 per cent French. [1]

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Students' opinions

In many cases, pupils have negative expectations towards learning Swedish which may contribute to foster a negative attitude towards the Swedish language and Sweden as a country. This behaviour is claimed to reflect back to the time when Finland was a part of Sweden. (See Sweden-Finland).

There has also been a lot of criticism of the methodology used to teach Swedish and the lack of competence among many of the teachers.

Sentiments toward mandatory Swedish vary. Many prominent politicians (both Finnish- and Swedish-speaking) whole-heartedly support mandatory Swedish in schools, while others oppose it. There have been numerous petitions and other similar campaigns arranged by some dedicated grassroot organizations to pressure the lawmakers, but to date, they have had no significant impact on the established policy and have not attained a great deal of momentum. Thus, while the ongoing national debate is often heated and passionate, the backing of the compulsory Swedish in schools still remains strong enough for the government not to consider a change of policy.

It is noteworthy that mandatory Swedish is supported by the main political parties in Finland, the National Coalition party, the Centre, the Social Democrats and the Left Alliance. However, the Centrist government recently dropped the requirement to take Swedish (or Finnish for the 6% Swedish-speaking) as part of the high school final exams.

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