National Board of Education director not worried about deterioration of children’s Swedish-language skills

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Timo Lankinen, Director-General of the Finnish National Board of Education, does not feel that the perceived weakening of Swedish-language skills of Finnish comprehensive school pupils is anything very dramatic.
      “This is not the absolute truth about knowledge of Swedish. It only gives the general direction”, Lankinen said on Tuesday, commenting on a report put out by the National Board of Education on the subject.
      He also did not say how knowledge of Finland’s second official language might be improved.
     
There have been proposals for increasing the number of hours devoted to Swedish in a week at Finnish-language schools, or starting Swedish studies earlier than the seventh grade, as is now the case. There are also increasing calls to make the subject an elective.
      “Answers to these matters will be sought in the spring”, says Lankinen, the head of a working group in charge of reforming the comprehensive school curriculum. A proposal is expected by May.
     
Swedish-language skills among ninth-graders have declined in both listening and reading comprehension, and in mastery of the grammar from 2001 to 2008.
      One out of four girls taking the test got poor marks, as did nearly half of the boys.
      Average Swedish-language skills at the end of comprehensive school are at a level equivalent to the numerical grade 7 on the Finnish grading scale in which 10 is the highest grade and 4 is a failure.
      More than 60 per cent of pupils were at the 6-8 level in their Swedish skills.
      The most positive attitudes toward Swedish were among girls who were planning to go on to upper secondary school (lukio) and the most negative attitudes were among boys planning to go to vocational school.
     
“On the basis of this evaluation, there needs to be more listening comprehension and speech exercises”, says Dr. Eeva Tuokko, who conducted the study.
      “There is a clear failure in achieving the syllabus goals in speech when pupils are not able to introduce themselves in Swedish after six mandatory courses”, Tuokko explains.


Links:
  English strengthens position as first foreign language in Finnish schools (9.2.2006)

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