Research Institute for the Languages of Finland Language

Research Institute for the Languages of Finland Language education policy and practice in Finland Pirkko Nuolijärvi London Efnil, October 26 th, 2011

Contents • Education system and content of basic education in Finland • Languages offered and studied in schools • Languages offered in universities and polytechnics; business students’ language choices as an example • Recent efforts to strengthen the selection of languages taught at different levels of education • Schools and programmes of multilingual education.

The Finnish curriculum • It is self-evident that people learn foreign languages • Everyone has the right to learn foreign languages • Everyone has other languages in their native country

The

Basic Education Act Section 11 Content of education The basic education syllabus shall contain, as enacted by virtue of Section 14, the following core subjects: mother tongue and literature, the second national language, foreign languages, environmental studies, health education, religious education or ethics, history, social studies, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, physical education, music, art, crafts, and home economics.

Language studies in grades 1– 6 2010 Optional Compulsory language A 1 language B 1 A 2 B 2 Grades Language % 218 458 13 365 - - 231 823 67. 1 Swedish 2 919 12 625 - - 15 544 4. 5 Finnish 14 016 1 086 - - 15 102 4. 4 French 2 164 4 439 - - 6 603 1. 9 German 3 076 9 042 - - 12 118 3. 5 Russian 843 810 - - 1 653 0. 5 1 210 - - 211 0. 1 253 626 - - 879 0. 3 English Grades 1 -6 Total Sámi Other

Language studies in grades 7– 9 2010 English Swedish Finnish Language studies in grades 7 -9 French Yhteinen kieli A 1 German Russian 170 345 14 252 310 100 185 007 Common language. A 1 1 856 12 786 156 747 7 171 396 Optional language. A 2 Common language. B 1 10 071 1 058 209 2 11 340 Optional language. B 2 Osuus 1 234 3 689 229 5 896 11 048 Vapaaehtoin Yhteinen Valinnainen vuosiluokkie Yhteensä en kieli A 2 kieli B 1 Total kieli B 2 n 1 -6 n 7 -9 oppilaista, % 1 659 9 038 391 8 513 19 601 % 99. 3 92. 0 6. 1 5. 9 10. 5 518 331 - 1 706 2 555 1. 4 Sámi 3 34 - 6 43 0. 0 Latin 0 0 - 342 0. 2 Other 27 269 - 2 267 2 563 1. 4

Language studies in the upper secondary school Language Optional Compulsory B 2, A language B 1 at least 6 courses Optional B 3, at least 6 courses Optional language, Total fewer than 6 courses % English 30 497 29 12 4 0 30 542 99. 1 Swedish 2 524 25 475 3 5 48 28 055 91. 0 Finnish 2 045 50 16 21 1 2 133 6. 9 French 634 35 915 1 334 2 445 5 363 17. 4 German 1 804 7 1 485 1 608 3 032 7 936 25. 7 Russian 171 5 46 613 1 191 2 026 6. 6 Sámi 3 - 4 3 15 25 0. 1 Latin 0 - 23 86 440 549 1. 8 Spanish 11 - 56 1 510 2 671 4 248 13. 8 Italian 0 - 15 246 826 1 087 3. 5

Bilingual education • Language immersion programmes: - Swedish immersion for Finnish-speaking children - English immersion for various groups - Showers in Chinese • Bilingual schools: Finnish-French school, Finnish-Russian schools, German school, International school (instruction in English)

Programmes to strengthen language learning • Language projects to strengthen different language choices in the comprehensive school in different parts of Finland: instead of English, supporting choices of French or Russian (Kielitivoli – Finnish Amusement Park) • Svenska nu (Swedish Now)

Government Decree on University Degrees 794/2004 Section 6 Language proficiency The student must demonstrate in studies included in education for a lower or higher university degree or otherwise that he/she has attained: (1) proficiency in Finnish and Swedish which is required of civil servants in bilingual public agencies and organisations under Section 6(1) of the Act on the Knowledge of Languages Required of Personnel in Public Bodies (424/2003) and which is necessary for their field; and (2) skills in at least one foreign language needed to follow developments in the field and to operate in an international environment.

The Language Centre of the University of Helsinki • Established in 1977 to provide language teaching in accordance with the degree requirements of all faculties at the University of Helsinki. • Elementary, intermediate, and specialized courses in 17 languages

Business students’ choices Language taken at university (n = 2663) English Swedish German Spanish French Russian Italian Japanese Other 92. 5% 79. 9 48. 0 28. 9 25. 1 13. 9 3. 1 3. 7 (W 31%, M 26%) (W 33%, M 15%) (W 5%, M 3%) Grasz, Sabine & Schlabach, Joachim (2011) Business students' choices of foreign languages

National Certificates of Language Proficiency • Intended for adults • Assessing language skills in practical situations • Available in English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Sámi, Spanish and Swedish

Current issues in public debate • How to increase people’s language skills in other languages than in English? • How to support bilingual education in Finland? • How to strengthen the immersion programmes in Finland? • How to build bilingual schools in Finnish and Swedish? • How to support the multilingualism of migrants in Finland?

Thank you for your attention!