Helsinki seeks to curb English dominance as Swedish grows

More Helsinki pupils are choosing Swedish as their first foreign language, with 116 first-graders beginning Swedish this autumn, Yle reports. New Swedish-language groups opened at five schools.

At Herttoniemenranta Primary School in Helsinki, two groups began studying Swedish as their A1 language this autumn. An A1 language is the first foreign language pupils start learning in first grade.

Across the city, about 120 pupils in grades two to nine study Swedish as their A1 language. Swedish can be chosen as an A1 language at 20 Helsinki schools.

The city has worked to strengthen Swedish through a project called Helsinki Learns Swedish, funded by the Finnish National Agency for Education. It has also held language sessions in kindergartens and information evenings for parents of children about to start school.

Helsinki schools offer nine A1 languages: English, French, Swedish, Spanish, German, Estonian, Russian, Northern Sámi and Chinese. City education development director Marjo Kyllönen said Swedish and French were especially popular choices this autumn.

English remains the most popular option, chosen by 83.5 per cent of first-graders this year, down from 88 per cent in 2025. The city’s language education strategy aims to encourage more pupils to choose a language other than English and for all Helsinki schools eventually to offer at least two A1 languages. About a third of schools currently offer only English.

Kyllönen said the city wanted to prevent pupils’ language skills from narrowing to English. Helsinki is a bilingual city, she said, and Swedish is one of its national languages.