The Discourse on Multicultural Education in Finland: Education for Whom?

Overview & Synopsis

Finland is experiencing increased immigration and therefore increased cultural diversity in its schools. This paper examines the multicultural education discourse in Finland by analysing the national and municipal curricula for the comprehensive school, educational policy documents and teacher education curricula. The focus is on how multicultural education is talked about and whether it is aimed at all students or only at immigrant students. The analysis shows that the existing diversity associated with bilingual students, two national churches and an indigenous population is not considered as part of multicultural education. Instead, cultural diversity is seen narrowly as ethnic, immigrant language and immigrant religious diversity. Multicultural education is therefore only intended for immigrant students.