When our children started their socialization in the Finnish-speaking environment I was a big fan of S2 or Finnish as the second language support. It felt very helpful and supportive for children who do not use Finnish in their families. 6 years later I feel differently. I challenged the school our children attend because it labels children with multilingual backgrounds as “different” and in need of language support, even if this is not true anymore.
I still think that the main idea behind S2 support is great. Many kids need language support and it is wonderful that they will get it in case of need. The issue is that they cannot automatically need language support their whole study lives because they do not speak Finnish at home.
My expectation was, that the S2 support would end when there was no need any more for an extra treatment. But it is not so easy… Once you are part of the system, the system does not let you go. Why is it so? I guess it is money.
Our daughter is 11 and she is a bookworm. She reads regularly at least for 2 hours daily and when the library truck comes to our street, the librarians recognize her immediately. Her Finnish is great. Finnish is the only language she has been learning properly and uses most of the time. Even though she speaks great Slovak, she writes with many mistakes, she doesn’t know the grammar and sooner or later her vocabulary will be limited.
When our daughter was as a first grader still put into the S2 group I did not question it. I genuinely believed it was temporary. She is smart, her Finnish was already very good and for sure, she will be transferred to the regular group soon. At the end of the first grade, the special education teacher informed us, that our daughter does not need to attend the S2 lesson, because her language skills are now sufficient to continue in the school without any special support. To my surprise, on her school certificates remained Finnish as the second language evaluation for the next 2 years. My question for the teachers was why?
The answers that I and other parents with similar issues collected varied from (1) because she does not have Finnish as the mother language, (2) because it is easier for her and she will not be evaluated so strictly as the native speakers, (3) because we do not want her to be under too much pressure, (4) because it is not possible to change it…
What the system does is keep perfectly capable children in the group of “those in need” even when they do not get any additional support in the school and even if they do not have any special treatment when it comes to the evaluation of their work. Does this make any sense? Does this help anyone? Well, it does not help the children.
Despite their capabilities, they are still labelled as “the others”. The school system limits their options by default because their parents do not use the Finnish language at home. What does this mean? Aren’t children able to learn Finnish after spending their whole education years in a Finnish-speaking environment? Of course, some of them might not and they deserve to be helped. But many of the children are doing just great, so what is the matter?
When our daughter started her 4th grade, I contacted her teachers again and asked them how I could remove her from the S2 group. At that point, I was quite annoyed, because when you are as a parent assured all the time, that your child’s language skills are great and she has not been receiving any support for the last 2,5 years, it is very difficult to understand why she remains in the S2 group.
It ended well for us because I was persistent. I also complained to the authorities. We signed the official request to remove her from S2 education which would be reflected in her school certificates. It is always good to check if the school makes changes everywhere, so you can have a look at your and your children’s studies here: https://opintopolku.fi/konfo/fi/sivu/oma-opintopolku
In the last 4 years, I have been speaking with other parents about this issue and they are furious. Many schools do not allow them to change their children’s status and the children are being kept forever as the S2 students. What is the logical explanation behind this, I have no clue. Suppose the famous Finnish education system cannot provide children born and socialized in Finland with sufficient language skills to be considered native speakers. In that case, the system is doing something wrong, don’t you think? Or the answer is much simpler – more children in need, more money for the school to “integrate” them.
Based on this experience, I complained to the principal of the school as well as to the education unit of our municipality. And that is exactly what you should do when facing obstacles in the school. Finns love to follow guidance without questioning them, but if something does not help any more, it discriminates. Because discrimination is nothing else than unfair and prejudicial treatment of people. This is what has been happening to many children with a different mother language than Finnish: unfair and prejudicial treatment.
Update made on 8.4.2024: After I published this blog post on social media, Dušica Božović pointed out the guide for the parents that she wrote for the City of Helsinki regarding S2 education. Wonderful piece of information! You can find it here and even though it serves only the inhabitants of Helsinki, it provides you with the framework for dealing with S2 education in your municipality. You can refer to it when you need an argument. And I also encourage the municipalities to prepare similar brochures for parents.
