Research

To analyze the Nordic School through political planning, pedagogical discourses, and family school choices, the project draws on a conceptual framework that views language and education policy as processes operating across multiple spatial dimensions, including official discourse and policy statements, shared ideologies, and everyday language practices, as well as the physical spaces in which Swedish-language and bilingual education is organized. The project examines the ideological foundations and policy conditions that made the establishment of a bilingual school possible.

The research is conducted through three work packages:

• work package 1 explores the political and media debate on bilingualism and the Nordic School
• work package 2 investigates the school’s pedagogical model and language practices
• work package 3 focuses on family school choice, both in the Nordic School and in other language immersion programs in Helsinki.

The empirical material includes media texts, municipal policy and planning documents, observations, and interviews with policymakers, education administrators, school staff, and parents. The project is carried out in collaboration with staff, pupils and parents at the Nordic School.

Preliminary findings are expected to highlight a relatively rapid societal shift in attitudes toward bilingual education, though the extent to which these shifts extend beyond discourse into material and social practices may remain limited.