Justifying the position and implementation of English language education in Finland: ‘ Circling around hot porridge’?

Abstract

This paper addresses ‘distractions’ in the way English language education is discussed and practiced in one of the most debated systems of education in the world today: Finnish primary education. Distractions are considered as ‘makers of disturbance’ in educational ideologies by the authors. Examining the 2014 National Core Curriculum and positionings in relation to languages available in schools through an inductive textual as well as a dialogical discourse analysis, this paper shows that English dominates Finnish primary education under the influence of different economic-political and global reasons. Contradictions around the values of, e.g. equality, justice and access to knowledge are identified. Focusing on ideologies (‘orders’, ‘agendas’ and ‘windscreens’), the polysemy and ‘fuzziness’ of many of these ‘unquestionable’ values and expected outcomes associated with both education and English are found to also represent major distractions in Finland. By urging pupils to focus on themselves, their ‘community’ and culture, the media and (marginally) the market, important problems posed by the omnipresence of English are ignored such as neo-colonialism and a lack of epistemic diversity. English also seems to be presented as ‘problem-free’, a-political, a mere tool for communication, thus reinforcing the status quo.

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