Session Information
Contribution
Description: The overall aim of this study (Kovero & Londen) is to analyse minority school-children's conception of their linguistic and cultural identity as well as their awareness of active citizenship and democracy. The target group are children in years 5 and 6 (ages 11-13) in Swedish primary schools operating in pre-dominantly Finnish districts in the Helsinki City area. The sample consists of 252 children (129 girls, 123 boys).Finland is a bilingual country with Finnish and Swedish as the two national languages. The Swedish-speaking population is approximately 6%. The position of the Swedish language is, nevertheless, quite strong and marriages across the two languages groups are very common, resulting in many children growing up bilingually. The objectives of this study are (1) investigate 11-13 year old minority school-children's understanding of the concept democracy and the pupils' view on their possibility to participate in decision processes concerning themselves, (2) to analyse self-reported factors the pupils view as important for his/her well-being, and (3) to identify strategies that schools for children from a linguistic minority can implement in order to support the development of an active citizenship based on a strong linguistic and cultural identity and awareness in the pupils.
Methodology: Data was collected through a questionnaire consisting of 74 questions regarding etc. home language and linguistic background, knowledge of and attitudes towards the language situation in Finland, self-evaluation of achievements in school, understanding of the conceptc of democracy and culture as well as factors significant for their identity and well-being.The questionnaire is age-adequate and was given on hand during a lesson and the attrition rate was minimal. In addition to the 64 questions with fixed answering categories, ten open questions were included.
Conclusions: One finding is that the language use is very diverse and complex. Of the children participating in the study 72% come from bilingual Finnish-Swedish homes, 18% from monolingual Swedish homes, 5% from monolingual Finnish homes, and 5% from homes with another language in addition to Swedish and/or Finnish or homes with only another language. It is also clear that the linguistic and cultural identity among the Finland-Swedish children is very multifaceted. The pupils' highly value their mother tongue and their (possible) bilingualism even when the Swedish language is not strongly present in their everyday life. However, the pupils' awareness of, for example, the language situation in Finland and the concept of democracy point to a continous need of enhancing and implementing these issues, both at home and in school, in order for children belonging to linguistic minority to develop an active citizenship based on a strong,linguistic and cultural identity.The findings mentioned above will be presented, as will results regarding factors (e.g. family, health, friends, sports, internet) the pupils' report being signficant for their own well-being.
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