Mandatory Swedish - Current Situation

Current Situation

A compulsory introductory course to Swedish for all pupils in primary education was introduced in the 1960s as a part of modernization of the primary education system, where the nine-year school (peruskoulu) was made universally compulsory. Until then there had been mandatory courses only in secondary and tertiary education. Administrative services have, since the end of the 19th century, been offered in both domestic languages; therefore, theoretically employees should be proficient in both Finnish and Swedish. The reform was to some extent 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 decision on language in the early school years would not become an obstacle for applicants to the civil service.

In the upper secondary general school all the students learn at least two languages besides their mother tongue, one of which is the other domestic language, except for people studying some other language as mother tongue (e.g. immigrants and those studying Sami). Finnish speakers take Swedish, and vice versa. According to Statistics Finland, practically all the students take English, either as a compulsory or an optional language. There is also a possibility to take one or more extra foreign languages: 44 percent take German and 21 percent French. Despite Finland being a neighbour of Russia, Russian is not taught in most schools of Finland, and only 1.5% of Finns know some Russian. The hindrances are cultural and political, as there has been relatively little cultural exchange between the Finns and Russians in the 20th century, and Finland's relations with the Soviet Union were hostile from the Finnish Civil War (1918) until World War II (1939–1944).

The arrangement of "mandatory Swedish and practically-mandatory English" has been criticized, because it reduces the diversity of the language skills of the population. The EU target is to teach two foreign languages. As English is an overwhelmingly popular choice, it has been suggested by, for example, the Confederation of Finnish Industries that keeping Swedish compulsory directly prevents choosing other languages, such as Russian.