Language education policy

The language education policy team of TOVI investigates the current state of language teaching in Pirkanmaa through the project 'Language Teaching in Pirkanmaa: Language Education Policy Guidelines and Practice in the 2020s'.

Interest in language studies in Finnish schools has declined worryingly in the 21st century. Our era is marked by various educational cuts, structural and societal changes, a national entrance exam reform, and Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The aim of our research is to examine the current state of language teaching in Pirkanmaa.

We are particularly interested in the language education policy guidelines of the 23 cities and municipalities in Pirkanmaa as well as the views of municipal decision-makers on language teaching in schools. The research is conducted in collaboration with the University of Jyväskylä and is a continuation of the national Language Education Policy Municipal Survey II conducted by the University of Jyväskylä (2023).

Researchers:

Soili Hakulinen

Zea Kingelin-Orrenmaa

Stefan Smirnov

Aleksandr Zelenin

Collaborators at the university of Jyväskylä:

Teija Kangasvieri

Karita Mård-Miettinen

Contact person:

Zea Kingelin-Orrenmaa