Nordic Languages

The party programme wants to see close cooperation among the Nordic countries and a school with broad mission and broad knowledge during upbringing. More space for Nordic language understanding and exchanges with neighbouring countries is a reasonable expression of the two commitments together. The documents, however, say nothing about the curriculum's content in this part, so the conclusion is weakly supported.

• close Nordic cooperationdecisive»Vi vill se ett tätt samarbete mellan de nordiska länderna och ett gott« (party programme ↗)“We want to see close cooperation among the Nordic countries and a good,”
• school with broad mission»Vi vill se en skola med ett brett uppdrag« (party programme ↗)“We want to see a school with a broad mission”
• investment in education»Vänsterpartiet vill satsa på hela utbildningssystemet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The Left Party wants to invest in the entire education system.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

Both the election manifesto and party programme highlight Nordic cooperation as central and want to develop it further, and the programme sets high quality requirements for all education. More room for Nordic language understanding in teaching and exchanges with neighbouring countries can be derived from these commitments. However, the plan says nothing about the curriculum's content, which makes the assessment uncertain.

• developed Nordic cooperationdecisive»Vi vill utveckla det nordiska samarbetet« (party programme ↗)“We want to develop Nordic cooperation”
• Nordic cooperation is central»Också det nordiska samarbetet är centralt, liksom samarbetet med de baltiska staterna« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Nordic cooperation is also central, as is cooperation with the Baltic states”
• quality in education»Hög kvalitet är det grundläggande kravet på all utbildning« (party programme ↗)“High quality is the fundamental requirement for all education”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The party programme explicitly says that the Greens should be strongly driving in improving Scandinavian language comprehension and safeguarding Nordic cooperation. Giving teaching in Nordic languages more space in the curriculum and creating exchanges with neighbouring countries follows directly from that. The plan also presupposes that language comprehension needs to improve, which meets the committee's reasoning that the course plans already suffice.

• better Nordic language comprehensiondecisive»även i Norden, förbättra den skandinaviska språkförståelsen och nationella minoriteters rättigheter« (party programme ↗)“also in the Nordic region, improve Scandinavian language comprehension and national minorities' rights”
• Nordic cooperation»Vi vill värna det unika samarbetet i vårt närområde, mellan de nordiska staterna.« (party programme ↗)“We want to safeguard the unique cooperation in our region, between the Nordic states.”
• language as a resource»Andra modersmål än svenska ska ses som fördelar« (party programme ↗)“Other mother tongues than Swedish should be seen as advantages”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The plan highlights the importance of Nordic co-operation and sees education as a central part of the democratic project, which speaks for better Nordic language understanding. At the same time, the plan makes academic results and basic skills a main priority and says nothing about the curriculum content in Nordic languages. Support is therefore derived and uncertain.

• Nordic co-operationdecisive»Det nordiska samarbetet, som överbryggar många europeiska konstellationer, spelar en viktig roll.« (party programme ↗)“Nordic co-operation, which bridges many European constellations, plays an important role.”
• the value of education»Bildning breddar våra horisonter, ökar vår frihet och egenmakt, stärker den demokratiska grunden för samhället och möjligheterna till livslångt lärande.« (party programme ↗)“Education broadens our horizons, increases our freedom and autonomy, strengthens the democratic foundation of society and opportunities for lifelong learning.”
• focus on academic results»Att förbättra skolresultaten måste vara en huvudprioritering.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Improving school results must be a main priority.”
• basic skills first»Att tidigt ge grundläggande färdigheter - som att kunna läsa, skriva och räkna - måste prioriteras« (party programme ↗)“To provide basic skills early — such as the ability to read, write and count — must be prioritised”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan says that language skills become increasingly important in an open world, that curricula shall be revised and that teaching time in, among other things, Swedish shall be expanded, and that pupils' exchanges with foreign countries should increase. Nordic language understanding is not directly addressed, but Nordic cooperation and work against border obstacles are a stated line. The stance is therefore derived from general principles.

• the importance of language skillsdecisive»Språkkunskaper blir allt viktigare i en öppen värld.« (party programme ↗)“Language skills become increasingly important in an open world.”
• revised curricula»Läroplanerna ska revideras och få ett större fokus på fakta och kunskap.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Curricula shall be revised and get greater focus on facts and knowledge.”
• more exchanges with foreign countries»Gymnasieelevers möjlighet att studera utomlands ska öka.« (party programme ↗)“Upper-secondary pupils' opportunity to study abroad should increase.”
• deepened Nordic cooperation»fortsätta att gå före och riva gränshinder snabbare än andra« (party programme ↗)“continue to lead and remove border obstacles faster than others”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan prioritises the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic in primary school and gives schools a large degree of freedom to themselves design teaching so long as they follow the curriculum. To micro-manage the curriculum with more space and concrete lesson plans for Nordic languages goes against that freedom and that prioritisation. The plan certainly requires knowledge of languages, but leaves the design to the school.

• basic skills are prioritiseddecisive»Prioriterade områden i grundskolan ska vara bas« (party programme ↗)“Prioritised areas in primary school shall be basic”
• school's freedom to design teaching»denna utgångspunkt, följer läroplanen och lever upp« (party programme ↗)“this starting point, the curriculum follows and meets”
• politics should not micro-manage»Politiker måste motstå frestelsen att i onödan« (party programme ↗)“Politicians must resist the temptation to unnecessarily”
• knowledge in languages»skap i språk samt samhälls- och naturorienterande ämnen.« (party programme ↗)“skill in languages and society and nature-oriented subjects.”

The plan says nothing about teaching in Nordic languages. Its school policy line is instead to concentrate the curriculum on measurable factual knowledge and to reduce the burdens on teachers, which argues against adding new content elements with concrete lesson plans and exchanges. The plan's commitment to deeper Nordic cooperation concerns security and regional collaboration, not curriculum content.

• concentrated knowledge curriculumdecisive»Fokusera på mätbara faktakunskaper, med inspiration från Finlands läroplan« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Focus on measurable factual knowledge, inspired by Finland's curriculum”
• Nordic cooperation»Verka för ett fördjupat samarbete i norra Europa« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Work for deeper cooperation in northern Europe”
• prioritisation of state's tasks»Politiken har en viktig uppgift att prioritera och välja bort« (party programme ↗)“Politics has an important task to prioritise and choose not to”

The plan explicitly commits to strengthening the Nordic language and cultural community and that measures for Nordic language understanding and cultural exchange are needed. It identifies Scandinavian language understanding as a building block where ambitions can be raised. More space for Nordic languages in education and exchanges with Nordic countries thus directly follow from these commitments.

• Nordic language communitydecisive»Stärk den nordiska språk- och kulturgemenskapen« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Strengthen the Nordic language and cultural community”
• measures for language understanding»därför krävs också både gemensam forskning och teknikutveckling samt insatser för nordisk språkförståelse och kulturutbyte« (2022 manifesto ↗)“therefore both joint research and technology development as well as measures for Nordic language understanding and cultural exchange are also needed”
• higher Nordic ambitions»Med viktiga byggstenar som den skandinaviska språkförståelsen och gemensamma värderingar kring välfärdsstaten och sociala skyddsnät så vilar ett utvecklat nordiskt samarbete på en stabil och trygg grund, men det finns utrymme för högre ambitioner.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“With important building blocks such as Scandinavian language understanding and shared values regarding the welfare state and social safety nets, developed Nordic cooperation rests on a stable and secure foundation, but there is room for higher ambitions.”
• clearer curriculum objectives»Läroplaner ska kompletteras med tydligare kunskapsmål.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Curricula shall be supplemented with clearer knowledge objectives.”