Swedish is a mandatory school subject for Finnish-speaking pupils in the last four years of primary education (grades 6 to 9). This other domestic language is also mandatory in high schools, vocational schools, universities and vocational universities. Furthermore, students graduating in Finnish-language must demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in Swedish (often called "public servant's Swedish"; it works in the opposite way for Swedish-language graduates). Altogether, 89% of Finnish citizens are native Finnish speakers, whereas 5.3% of the population report Swedish as their mother tongue.Swedophone population 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 and Language Act, both Finnish and Swedish are national languages, and employees of the national government and the bilingual municipal governments are required to be capable of serving citizens in both languages. 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).Tikkanen, Riitta (2005). Kulttuurikasvatuksella luovuuteen : Hankekartoitus 2003–2004, Ministry of Education and Culture (Finland) As Finnish is a much more prevalent language across the country, the inclusion of Swedish as a mandatory subject is especially a controversial topic. As an autonomous region, Åland is exempt from the bilingualism requirement and remains exclusively Swedish-speaking.
In 2019, the Finnish Swedish People's Party almost succeeded in restoring compulsory Swedish in university entrance examshttps://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/opetusministeri-haluaa-pitaa-ruotsin-yo-kokeen-vapaaehtoisena-pettynyt-rkp-n-puheenjohtaja-haluaa-lisata-toisen-kotimaisen-kielen-oppitunteja/8453758. In the same year, it proposed lowering the level of Finnish required for Swedish-speaking civil servants and organizing a campaign in other Nordic countries to get students to study in Swedish-speaking institutions in Finland entirely in Swedish.https://sfp.fi/en/ In 2025, the party proposed introducing compulsory Swedish teaching for Finnish-speaking children under school age.https://yle.fi/a/74-20141342
History
The area that today is Finland was an integral part of Sweden proper from the Middle Ages to the end of the Finnish War 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 finn-speaking specially in Uusimaa switching to Swedish altogether.
Following the Finnish War, Sweden ceded Finland to Russia, and the Russian tsar established the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. 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 an autonomous Grand Duchy, 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 movement arose, arguing that the country should be a united nation, with only one language. As a reaction, the Svecoman movement began and grew in strength, representing fears that abandoning Swedish would lead to slavicisation 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 were abolished, and a modern parliament based on universal suffrage 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 in the 1970s, on the initiative of the Swedish People's Party and Johannes Virolainen. 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. The requirement was extended from last three years of primary education to four in 2016, and since 2022 there are three Swedish lessons a week.
According to education experts, English should have been made a mandatory subject in comprehensive schools (previously, foreign languages were generally not taught at all in Finnish comprehensive schools), but at the last minute, the mandatory foreign language for all Finnish speakers was changed from English to Swedish at the insistence of the Finnish-Swedish interests party, the Swedish People's Party, against the wishes of education experts.
Current situation
A compulsory introductory course to Swedish for all pupils in primary education was introduced in 1972–1981 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 and tertiary education. 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 through Scandinavia, and to show that Finland was a part of the Nordic countries, 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 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). 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. Despite Finland being a neighbor of Russia, Russian is not taught in most schools of Finland, and only 1.5% of Finns know some Russian.
The arrangement of "mandatory Swedish and practically-mandatory English" has been criticized as reducing the diversity of the language skills of the population. Hult, F.M., & Pietikäinen, S. (2014). Shaping discourses of multilingualism through a language ideological debate: The case of Swedish in Finland. Journal of Language and Politics, 13, 1-20. 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.
In politics, the role of the Swedish language is mostly represented by the Swedish People's Party.
Surveys + The share of respondents in favour of voluntary Swedish according to a series of surveys by Taloustutkimus Year In favour1990 66%1991 66%1997 72%1999 71%2001 67%2003 67%2007 63%2013 63%Yli 60 prosenttia suomalaisista haluaa ruotsin kielen vapaavalintaiseksi kouluaineeksi, Yle 24 August 2013, accessed 22 December 2014 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 questions 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, 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) 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.Valittujen Palojen tutkimus 2000
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.IEA/Civic Education Study: Nuorten käsityksiä Ruotsista ja ruotsalaisuudesta
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.Vårt land, vårt språk – kahden kielen Kansa. rapport 35.
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 in 2014 indicated that 74 percent of Finnish speaking respondents agreed with the statement "The teaching of the Swedish language should be voluntary".Tutkimus kartoitti suomalaisten mielipiteitä ruotsin kielestä, Åbo Akademi 22 December 2014, accessed 22 December 2014.
Opinions