Mandatory Swedish
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Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
is a mandatory school subject for
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
-speaking pupils in the last four years of
primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...
(grades 6 to 9). This ''other domestic language'' is also mandatory in
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s,
vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...
s, and
vocational universities A university of applied sciences (UAS), nowadays much less commonly called a polytechnic university or vocational university, is an institution of higher education and sometimes research that provides vocational education and grants academic d ...
. Furthermore, all university graduates must demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in Swedish (the so-called ''public servant's Swedish''). Altogether, 89% of Finnish citizens are native Finnish speakers, whereas 5.3% of the population report Swedish as their
mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
. It is currently possible for Finnish citizens to report a different mother tongue for themselves as many times as desired by submitting a form to the Population Register Center. According to the
Finnish constitution The Constitution of Finland ( fi, Suomen perustuslaki or sv, Finlands grundlag) is the supreme source of national law of Finland. It defines the basis, structures and organisation of government, the relationship between the different constitutio ...
, both
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
are national languages. The employees of the national government and the bilingual municipal governments are required to be capable of serving citizens in Swedish. The official term for both mandatory Swedish and Finnish is ''the other domestic language''. The requirement to study Swedish is often referred to as ''pakkoruotsi'', a somewhat charged term in Finnish meaning "mandatory Swedish", or "forced Swedish," and similarly, Finnish as a mandatory school subject for native Swedish speakers in Finland is sometimes referred to as " mandatory Finnish" or "enforced Finnish" (''tvångsfinska''). In Sweden, the study of the Swedish language in Finland or elsewhere is referred to as educational Swedish or Swedish as a school subject (''skolsvenska''); Finnish talk of "mandatory Swedish" is seen as a bizarre phenomenon.


Overview

The status of Swedish as a national language in Finland is defined by the Finnish constitution. During the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, Swedish-speaking peasants migrated to some Finnish coastal areas. Finland was ruled by Sweden at this time, and the Swedish language became part of the culture in those coastal areas, as well as the language of the ruling classes. The Finnish and Swedish languages were denied official status until the period of Russian rule (1809–1917) began in 1860. In
Mainland Finland Mainland Finland ( fi, Manner-Suomi, sv, Fasta Finland) is a term used in statistics and in other contexts to describe the continental parts of Finland, an area which excludes Åland. In legal contexts, the relation between the mainland and Åland ...
, both Finnish and Swedish are mandatory subjects in
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and
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schools. The Swedish
Matriculation Examination A matriculation examination or matriculation exam is a university entrance examination, which is typically held towards the end of secondary school. After passing the examination, a student receives a school leaving certificate recognising academi ...
was made voluntary in 2004, although all university graduates must demonstrate that their skills in the other official language meet the standard required of all academically educated public servants. This means the completion of a so-called ''public servant's Swedish'' ''test''. The autonomous territory
Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...
(pop. 26,000, 95% Swedish, 5% Finnish) have only one official language, Swedish, and the speaking of Finnish between employees is forbidden in some public services. Protection of the Swedish language is one of the main agendas of the
Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a list of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority ...
, which has been a minor partner in most cabinets since Finland's independence, and in all cabinets between 1972 and 2015. Supporters of Mandatory Swedish argue that the policy brings Finland closer to the
Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...
, since Swedish is part of the larger Scandinavian dialect continuum and
mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
with both
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and
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. On the contrary, Finnish belongs to the unrelated
Finnic language The Finnic (''Fennic'') or more precisely Balto-Finnic (Balto-Fennic, Baltic Finnic, Baltic Fennic) languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 mi ...
group. The Scandinavian languages have over 25 million speakers in the Nordic region and are the largest languages by far. They are also the working languages of the Nordic political bodies (the
Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomou ...
and the
Nordic Council of Ministers The Nordic Council of Ministers is an intergovernmental forum established after the Helsinki Treaty. The purpose of the Nordic Council of Ministers is to complement the Nordic Council and promote Nordic cooperation. Structure The governme ...
), and are spoken in all the Nordic countries as majority, official or second languages. Due to this, proponents of mandatory Swedish regard Finnish citizens' knowledge of Swedish is as essential for Finland's ability to be included in Nordic cooperation and maintain its Nordic identity. Supporters argue that knowledge of Swedish gives Finnish citizens access to the culture and labour market of Scandinavia, a region four times the size of Finland. They also believe that it gives Finnish citizens access to Finland's own history, as for 600 years, Swedish was Finland's sole language of prestige and government, used as the medium of administration, the judiciary and higher education. Lastly, they argue mandatory Swedish is necessary to ensure that Swedish-speakers can interact with governmental institutions and get service, such as health care, in their own mother tongue.


History

The area that today is Finland was an integral part of
Sweden proper Sweden proper ( sv, Egentliga Sverige) is a term used to distinguish those territories that were fully integrated into the Kingdom of Sweden, as opposed to the dominions and possessions of, or states in union with, Sweden. Only the estates of t ...
from the Middle Ages to the end of the
Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic ...
in 1809. Swedish migrants settled in coastal areas, and the language of administration was Swedish. This prompted many Finnish-speakers to learn Swedish in hopes of improving their social status, with some switching to Swedish altogether. Following the Finnish War, Sweden ceded Finland to
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, and the Russian tsar established the autonomous
Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...
. Although a Governor-General was installed by the Russians as the highest authority within the Grand Duchy, much of the political system remained the same: Finland was allowed to keep its ”laws, religion and language” from the Swedish time. The tsar wanted to avoid trouble in the new territory, and also used former Swedish upper class to further modernization in Russia; Finnish could not be used as an official language at this time because the administration did not know Finnish well enough and the language was undeveloped regarding such use. When Finland became autonomous, there was a big interest in the mostly Swedish speaking upper class in creating a new national identity and exploring the Finnish language and Finnish culture. At some point, the
Fennoman The Fennoman movement or Fennomania was a Finnish nationalist movement in the 19th-century Grand Duchy of Finland, built on the work of the ''fennophile'' interests of the 18th and early-19th centuries. History After the Crimean War, Fennoman ...
movement arose, arguing that the country should be a united
nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
, with only one language. As a reaction, the Svecoman movement began and grew in strength, representing fears that abandoning Swedish would lead to
slavicisation Slavicisation or Slavicization, is the acculturation of something Slavic into a non-Slavic culture, cuisine, region, or nation. To a lesser degree, it also means acculturation or adoption of something non-Slavic into Slavic culture or terms. Th ...
or worse. However, during the 1860s, under Tsar Alexander II, legal equality between Finnish and Swedish as languages of administration gradually began to be introduced. Thus, since the late 19th century, Finnish has been a co-official language of administration in Finland. Modernizations typical for the era were introduced, boosting the status of the Finnish-speaking majority: the special rights of the higher
estates of the realm The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...
were abolished, and a modern parliament based on
universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
was introduced 1907. Eventually, in 1917, Finland became independent. The current form of mandatory Swedish was implemented as a part of the modernization of the
educational system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...
in the 1970s. Previously, a Swedish test had been compulsory on university level and in ''oppikoulu'', a secondary school that was a prerequisite to matriculation to a university, but not in the common ''kansakoulu''. The introduction of the ''peruskoulu'' (student ages 7–15), compulsory for all children, introduced a course in Swedish compulsory to all pupils, while Swedish courses and standardized tests at higher levels remained mandatory. This was primarily motivated by the possibility that any student could become a public official, and would thus be required to know Swedish.


Current situation

A compulsory introductory course to Swedish for all pupils in
primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...
was introduced in the 1960s as a part of modernization of the primary education system, at the same time the nine-year school (''peruskoulu, grundskola'') was made universally compulsory. Until then, there had been mandatory courses only in
secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...
and
tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...
. Since the end of the 19th century, administrative services have been offered in both domestic languages; therefore, employees are proficient in both Finnish and Swedish. The reform was based on a political ambition to strengthen ties with
the Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
through Scandinavia, and to show that Finland was a part of the
Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...
, not an
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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 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 their mother tongue (e.g. immigrants and those studying
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...
). Finnish speakers take Swedish, and vice versa. According to
Statistics Finland Statistics Finland ( fi, Tilastokeskus, sv, Statistikcentralen) is the national statistical institution in Finland, established in 1865 to serve as an information service and to provide statistics and expertise in the statistical sciences. The in ...
, practically all the students take
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
, either as a compulsory or an optional language. There is also a possibility to take one or more extra foreign languages. Despite Finland being a neighbour of
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
,
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
is not taught in most schools of Finland, and only 1.5% of Finns know some Russian. Due to relatively little cultural exchange between the Finns and Russians in the 20th century and Finland's hostile relations with the Soviet Union following the
Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...
(1918) until
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
(1939–1944), tensions persist between Finland and Russia. The arrangement of "mandatory Swedish and practically-mandatory English" has been criticized as reducing 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 The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK, fi, Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitto, sv, Finlands Näringsliv) is the largest employers' association in Finland. It was formed at the beginning of 2005 when the two employers' associations ''Palvelutyö ...
that keeping Swedish compulsory directly prevents choosing other languages.


Surveys

A number of studies into opinions regarding mandatory Swedish have been made with various results. The large differences between studies exemplifies the problems in conducting a neutral and broad study without asking
leading question In common law systems that rely on testimony by witnesses, a leading question is a question that suggests a particular answer and contains information the examiner is looking to have confirmed. The use of leading questions in court to elicit test ...
s on the subject. Furthermore, some of the studies have been commissioned by organizations that have politically partisan views on the subject of mandatory Swedish. Between 1990 and 2003, Taloustutkimus Oy conducted more than ten surveys for Suomalaisuuden liitto, an organization opposing mandatory Swedish. According to these surveys, 66–72% of Finns were "in favor of voluntary Swedish education or against mandatory Swedish education". Suomen Gallup's 2003 survey concluded that while a small majority supported "compulsory second domestic language studying", it was opposed by 42% of Finns, and 25% did not want both Finnish and Swedish to be official languages of Finland. This study was commissioned by
Yle Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...
, the Finnish publicly funded national broadcasting company. The question posed to those surveyed was very verbose in comparison to the Taloustutkimus surveys on the same subject. The question did not include the word "Swedish". In 1992, a study by ''Valitut Palat'' (the Finnish edition of ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'') concluded that 90 percent of parents of third to fourth grade pupils "supported a reduction of compulsory languages" (only Finnish and Swedish are compulsory). When ''Valitut Palat'' did a new survey in 2003 it found 64% opposed mandatory Swedish, and 25% did not desire two official languages. An IEA study (2000) revealed that 67% of young people studying in Finnish-speaking schools wanted to make Swedish a voluntary subject. The most politically aware youths were the most critical against Swedishness in this study. A study conducted in 1997 by Folktinget, an official consultative organization representing Finland's Swedish-speakers, concluded that 70% of the Finnish-speaking population considered "Swedish a vital and important part of Finnish society." This study also indicated that the most negative opinions about mandatory Swedish were found among those with academic degrees. A study conducted by Taloustutkimus for Yle in 2013 indicated that 63 percent of respondents were opposed to mandatory Swedish. Further, the study indicated that among the supporters of the different political parties, only supporters of the Swedish People's Party and the Green League favoured retaining mandatory Swedish teaching. A majority of supporters in all other parties wanted Swedish teaching to be voluntary – the supporters of the Finns Party and the Social Democrats were most heavily in favor of making Swedish voluntary (76 and 73 percent respectively). A study conducted by
Åbo Akademi Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city and former Capital city, capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura (Archipelago Sea), Aura River, in the region of Southwest Finland, Finland Proper ...
in 2014 indicated that 74 percent of Finnish speaking respondents agreed with the statement "The teaching of the Swedish language should be voluntary".


Opinions

In many cases, pupils have negative expectations and experiences of learning Swedish, which may foster a negative attitude towards the Swedish language and culture. This behavior is claimed to hark back to a time when Finland was a part of Sweden (see
Sweden–Finland Sweden–Finland ( fi, Ruotsi-Suomi; sv, Sverige-Finland) is a Finnish historiographical term referring to Sweden from the twelfth century to the Napoleonic Wars. In 1809, the realm was split after the Finnish War. The eastern half came to cons ...
), and Swedish was the language of prestige while Finnish was looked down on by the government. Negative opinions towards studying Swedish are also grounded in the fact that mandatory Swedish is taught throughout the country, even though there are few Swedish-speakers in
mainland Finland Mainland Finland ( fi, Manner-Suomi, sv, Fasta Finland) is a term used in statistics and in other contexts to describe the continental parts of Finland, an area which excludes Åland. In legal contexts, the relation between the mainland and Åland ...
outside the coastal area by the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. This fact can make the policy of bilingualism seem artificial, but the basic curriculum remains the same for the entire country. According to a study published in 2002, students are interested in the Swedish language, and find it an important part of education, but they perceived the compulsory nature of Swedish language education lessened their motivationLammi, Kati. ''Kielisalkku motivoi ruotsin kielen opiskeluun.'' (''Language portfolio as a tool in promoting motivation in the study of Swedish at senior high school: student and teacher views and experiences.'') Dissertation at
University of Jyväskylä The University of Jyväskylä ( fi, Jyväskylän yliopisto) is a research university in Jyväskylä, Finland. It has its origins in the first Finnish-speaking Teacher Training College (the so-called Teacher Seminary), founded in 1863. Ar ...
, 2002
Announcement in Finnish and abstract in English
(this argument has been made very frequently in the public debate). The experiment of making the Swedish test voluntary in the matriculation examination (the completion of which is a ''de facto'' requirement for university enrollment) was declared successful and has been made permanent. The percentage of students taking the Swedish test has since been constantly dropping and was 67% in 2009 (less than 50% of boys). There has also been a lot of criticism of the methodology used to teach Swedish and the lack of competence in many of the teachers. This has contributed to students' lack of motivation to study Swedish, and many may not learn to speak the language beyond a very basic level. Some students argue that they will never need Swedish, as its utility in the Finnish job market is limited to a few fields. Moreover, the rationale of mandatory tuition in Swedish and other subjects is to give the students a more general knowledge base, and not to train them for a specific field. In addition to the direct costs of the tuition, some argue that mandatory Swedish effectively replaces elective courses in languages such as
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
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and Russian, which these persons argue are more important than Swedish in a globalized world. University students are required to not only master their selected field, but also to study at least two languages beside their mother tongue, one of which is obligatorily Swedish for Finnish-speakers. As study material is often in English, this effectively removes the free choice; the two "voluntarily chosen" languages must be Swedish and English. Additionally, very few Finns speak Estonian (which is not taught in most schools), a language of the same Finnic language group as Finnish, and national language of Finland's southern neighbor
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
(although Finnish is popular in Estonia). Sentiments toward mandatory Swedish vary. Many prominent politicians (both Finnish- and Swedish-speaking) wholeheartedly support mandatory Swedish in schools, while others oppose it. There have been numerous petitions and other similar campaigns arranged by some small but dedicated organizations to pressure lawmakers into abolishing mandatory Swedish; however, to date, they have had no significant impact on the established policy. Thus, while the ongoing debate is often heated and passionate, the support for mandatory Swedish tuition remains strong enough among politicians for the government not to consider a change of policy. Mandatory Swedish is supported by most political parties in Finland, like the
National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...
, the Centre Party, the
Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
and the Left Alliance. The
Finns Party The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...
opposes mandatory Swedish, and so does the youth wing of the
National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...
. In 2013, the
Confederation of Finnish Industries The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK, fi, Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitto, sv, Finlands Näringsliv) is the largest employers' association in Finland. It was formed at the beginning of 2005 when the two employers' associations ''Palvelutyö ...
came out in favor of making Swedish teaching voluntary. They referred to a study which indicated that, in the future, Swedish will only be the tenth most important language to Finnish companies. According to
Hufvudstadsbladet ''Hufvudstadsbladet'' (abbr. ''Hbl'') is the highest-circulation Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Its headquarters is located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name of the newspaper translates approximately into "Journal of the Capi ...
, the Confederation has subsequently changed their stance and no longer favors making Swedish voluntary, while maintaining the need for learning other languages.


In the Finnish Parliament

In the 2000s, the government dropped the requirement to take Swedish (or Finnish in the case of the Swedish-speaking minority) as part of the high school
matriculation examination A matriculation examination or matriculation exam is a university entrance examination, which is typically held towards the end of secondary school. After passing the examination, a student receives a school leaving certificate recognising academi ...
. In 2014, a citizens' initiative demanding an end to mandatory Swedish teaching on all levels of education was brought to the Finnish Parliament. In 2015, the MPs voted (134 to 48) to keep mandatory Swedish. In another vote, the MPs voted (93 to 89) to demand that the government should examine whether a regional experimentation—where another language would be taught instead of Swedish—is possible.Ruotsi säilyy pakollisena – Itä-Suomeen mahdollisuus kielikokeiluun?
YLE 6 March 2015, accessed 6 March 2015.


See also

*
Finland's language strife Finland's language strife ( sv, Finska språkstriden, lit=Finnish language dispute) ( fi, Suomen kielitaistelu, lit=Finnish language struggle) was a major conflict in mid-19th century Finland. Both the Swedish and Finnish languages were commonly u ...


Sources


External links


IHT: In Finland, a battle of the tongues

The Language Choice Society

The Finnish Alliance
* Finlex
Government regulation on classification of municipalities according to language
{{Swedish language Linguistic rights Swedish-language education Languages of Finland Finland Swedish Education in Finland Language education in Finland Language policy in Finland Majority–minority relations Linguistic controversies Education issues