Response to interpellation 2023/24:567 on the investigation into mother tongue instruction
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L initiated the investigation to see if mother tongue instruction negatively affects integration or knowledge development 1 and argues that the investigation was needed as there are few studies on the area 1 2. L argues that the investigation is necessary to address problems with the Swedish language and that newly arrived children need a tailored curriculum 3 as well as that the investigation is part of obtaining answers to fundamental problems in the Swedish school 4. S argues that mother tongue instruction gives children security in their background, contributes to a strengthened Swedish identity 5 6 and that a proficient mother tongue provides linguistic capital that facilitates second language learning 5 7 6 8 9. S considers that the proposal to phase out mother tongue instruction is signal politics that sends a racist signal to people born abroad 8. SD wants to phase out mother tongue instruction as they consider that it does not provide clear effects on language learning 10. SD argues that mother tongue instruction has primarily been about cultural identity and that the cognitive argument for it supporting second language learning is too weak 11. SD wants to investigate whether the state funding of 2.4 billion can be used better to support children's development in Swedish 11 and argues that the resources should be used to strengthen students' knowledge in Swedish 10.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! Lawen Redar has asked the Minister for Education what reasons underlie the Minister's decision to investigate the issue of instruction in the mother tongue. Lawen Redar has also asked whether the Minister considers that instruction in the mother tongue weakens integration and how the Minister intends to act based on their standpoint on the issue. The interpellation has been handed over to me.
The Government appointed the Inquiry on the introduction of basic Swedish and the review of mother tongue instruction in December 2023. The inquiry's mandate is to review so that mother tongue instruction does not negatively affect integration or the students' knowledge development in the Swedish language (dir. 2023:175). The inquiry's mandate is also to review the subject Swedish as a second language in order for the subject to better meet the needs of both students who lack basic knowledge in the Swedish language and students who have progressed further in their second language development. By December 6, 2024, the inquiry shall report on its mandate.
The background for the commission being appointed is, among other things, that there are few studies on mother tongue instruction in Sweden. Therefore, more knowledge is needed in the area. The investigator shall analyze if, and if so how, participation in mother tongue instruction affects students' integration. I look forward to receiving the proposals from the commission.
Lawen Redar (S)
Madam Speaker! During the school year 2022/2023, 312,648 pupils in Swedish primary school were entitled to instruction in their mother tongue, of which more than 178,000 participated in some form of mother tongue instruction.
All research shows that the person who has a rich mother tongue, linguistic capital, will find it easier to learn a second language. And the person who develops their second language will simultaneously develop their first language. In this way, language learning in the second language can alternate with language development in the mother tongue.
That language instruction in the mother tongue would have a negative impact on students' second language learning and integration is the thesis that the government is driving when it now wants to investigate the issue. This is clearly evident from the government's directive to the commission and from what the minister explained here in the rostrum.
This one-dimensional way of viewing humans, identity, and language should involve deep grounds of concern for a liberal party and for liberal cabinet ministers. It has surely never been a liberal idea to limit people's knowledge of languages?
Madam Speaker! Language is not just words and definitions of concepts. Language carries knowledge of culture and identity. To ensure children with foreign-born parents an opportunity to learn their mother tongue properly provides education and learning about their background. It gives the human being a sense of security, a security in their background, which will contribute to it becoming easier to also strengthen their Swedish identity.
What, on the other hand, counteracts integration is if children have a weak mother tongue and therefore cannot exchange this for the Swedish language. The children and young people who clearly fall behind are those who rarely have an age-appropriate language in any language and who are not compensated for this, whether in preschool, primary school, or the social environment. This is unfortunately a fact when we live as economically and ethnically segregated as we currently do in Sweden.
What hinders integration is EBO, meaning that newcomers in our country are allowed to choose to live with relatives and kin, which increases overcrowding in already vulnerable areas. What hinders integration is what EBO has led to – the situation where preschools have a student composition where no student has Swedish as a mother tongue. In many preschools in Sweden, it looks this way.
What counteracts integration is the market school model, which separates and segregates our children. It results in us having over 550 schools in our country where the majority of students have a foreign background and the opposite, that is, we have over 960 schools in our country where the number of students with a foreign background is fewer than ten students in the entire school. This is a snapshot of how alarming the segregation is and which those who seriously want to promote integration must tackle.
My question to Minister Lotta Edholm is: What reasons underlie the Minister's decision to investigate the issue of education in the mother tongue?
The Minister answers here today that there are few studies on the issue and that it is good to have the matter investigated. At the same time, the Minister is clear that mother tongue instruction has a negative impact on children's integration opportunities, as it appears from the investigation directive. Therefore, I would like to ask the question: Does the Minister himself consider that instruction in the mother tongue weakens integration, or is this investigation a concession to the party in the Swedish Riksdag that ideologically has a one-dimensional view on language development, identity, and culture?
Anders Alftberg (SD)
Madam Speaker! In 1975, the Riksdag made the decision that Sweden would become a multicultural country. Our immigrants were no longer to be assimilated into Swedish society and Swedish culture. Instead, Sweden and the Swedish people were to adapt to the new population that came to our country. A billion-roll of tax money went towards promoting and preserving the immigrants' culture and language.
Our politicians almost entered a mental fog of naivety and pure stupidity. An unspoken promise was given to the immigrants who came to our country: You can continue to live as you do and did in your home country and retain your values, no matter how foreign they are. And keep your language, for God's sake! Everything will be fine. We pay.
Madam Speaker! It has now been almost 50 years since this decision, and we can with heavy hearts see the result of the multicultural paradise that was promised: ghettoization of our suburbs, clan societies, parallel structures, honor oppression, genital mutilation of young girls, Islamization, religious fundamentalism and, as we have become increasingly accustomed to, gang crime, shootings and explosions. A heavy responsibility rests on the other politicians in this chamber.
Madam Speaker! An important component in the multicultural project is the tax-funded mother tongue instruction. The claim that students who read in their mother tongue perform better has long been asserted as an argument for mother tongue instruction. This can, however, be explained by the fact that many of these students are more motivated to study from the beginning, which Skolverket also noted in its 2008 report.
In Denmark, mother tongue instruction was phased out in 2006, because the result showed that mother tongue instruction did not provide any clear effects on the students' language learning in Danish.
If the tax-funded mother tongue education were the miracle cure that our political opponents claim, it is strange that reality looks the way it does. Knowledge in Swedish has plummeted over decades, and so has reading comprehension. About one-fifth of our students do not even reach what Skolverket calls a basic level in reading comprehension.
Madam Speaker! The state and municipalities spend more than 2.4 billion of our tax money on mother tongue instruction. That is more than double what the state invests in continuing education for teachers and preschool teachers, three times more than what is invested in teaching materials in the entire school system, and half of the resources that we generally invest in raising teachers' salaries. We Sweden Democrats are convinced that these billions can be used in a better way to strengthen our students' knowledge and learning in the Swedish school.
Madam Speaker! Our students do not need to learn more Persian, Arabic or Somali, but more Swedish. That is the way forward.
Linus Sköld (S)
Madam Speaker! I sat in the bench and listened to Anders Alftberg and recoiled at how gravely he has missed the point.
There is a compelling amount of research stating that second language learning is facilitated by having a strong first language. This means that those who wish to facilitate second language learning also need to work on the development of the first language. Then it interacts, just as Lawen Redar said, so that the language development in the second language also strengthens the position in the first language.
The former State Secretary Erik Nilsson used to liken this to capital and currency, i.e., that language development and language skills are comparable to a capital that an individual carries. Then one can exchange this capital into different currencies. It doesn't matter, so to speak, whether you withdraw it in Swedish, Danish, or Arabic currency. You still have the capital with you, so all language development for the individual is beneficial when one is to withdraw their capital in a new currency.
The report that Alftberg refers to formed the basis for the decision in Denmark. It is actually about Copenhagen's schools. What is stated in the report is that it is not comprehensive enough to be used to determine whether mother tongue instruction leads to better school results or not. It is this report that the Sverigedemokraterna usually return to when they want to find something to hold onto and say that there is research supporting that mother tongue instruction hinders integration. This is, therefore, what is in the mentioned report.
The investigation that is currently underway is appointed to look at the external purposes of mother tongue instruction. But the purpose of mother tongue instruction must be that the students should become better at their mother tongue, not that they should become better at Swedish or mathematics. The purpose of mother tongue instruction is also not that one should be integrated or that the parents' position on the labor market should be strengthened, but the purpose of mother tongue instruction, as it is stipulated in the curriculum that the previous Alliance government drew up, is that the students should develop their knowledge in and about their mother tongue. This investigation does not have a mandate to review that purpose, but this investigation has a mandate to review the extra-curricular purpose.
I and Lotta Edholm have debated this in the chamber a few times before. We know that the Liberals went to the election with a national assembly decision and a decision from the convention - whatever it is called - which states that mother tongue instruction is a prioritized integration policy measure. After the election, it was said that they would investigate whether this hinders integration. The only thing that has happened is that they have joined forces with the Sweden Democrats, who are complete deniers of knowledge in this matter.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! This investigation is now commissioned. The background to this is that we have a knowledge crisis in Swedish schools. We must turn over every stone to improve the knowledge results. This is a part of that.
There are few studies today on how Swedish mother tongue instruction works; I think Linus Sköld confirmed that picture. I believe it is never wrong to acquire more knowledge within an area. The investigation has been commissioned, and it must now do its job. Then we will see what it comes up with.
All speakers in this debate have, from slightly different starting points, painted a picture of that we have major integration problems. In that case, it is good to get an investigation that studies this thoroughly, so that we get answers to our questions. I look forward to eventually seeing the results of the investigation.
Lawen Redar (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Anders Alftberg to this debate. It has been prompted by the Sweden Democrats' influence over Swedish school policy, which is unfortunately being carried out by the Liberals.
In the presentation, nothing was mentioned about the Swedish inequality development over the last 30 years or how EBO has worsened the segregation that has resulted in that, according to the police's list, we today have 59 vulnerable areas where the majority of the population has a foreign background.
Nothing was said about the precision staffing we have in the preschools, which makes it impossible for educators and preschool teachers to take the time to develop themselves in the Swedish language and meet the student composition that exists in many of the preschools where no one in the student body speaks the Swedish language.
Nothing was said either about the market school, about how the Swedish language can be strengthened, or about the need for quality improvement in welfare. Instead, all effort was placed on mother tongue instruction.
Madam Speaker! Mother tongue is the language that parents speak with their child. First language is the language the child learns first, which is not always the language that the parents speak. I have myself asked myself what became my first language. Was it the mother tongue Kurdish, or was it Swedish, which is the society-sustaining language in my birth country Sweden? Today it is unambiguous that I have a rich linguistic capital in both. Probably I have received quality assurance both in the Swedish primary school and through the mother tongue instruction.
Mother tongue instruction gives Swedish children who cannot point to roots in this country the right to still feel pride in their background. For these children, the question of belonging is important, because they are met by it at some point during their upbringing since they have different circumstances than the majority society.
I am convinced that instruction in the mother tongue provides more than just a rich language and language progression. It meets the fundamental need every human being has to gain knowledge about their heritage and—in some way—contact with their roots. The right to instruction in the mother tongue is, I argue, a manifestation of the democratic society's empathetic and solidary ability to recognize our differences. I am, however, the first to welcome quality assurance when it comes to both mother tongue instruction and Swedish instruction in Swedish primary schools, preschools, and upper secondary schools.
As a previous speaker has said, mother tongue instruction was introduced in the 70s. At that time, the primary purpose was to facilitate the return to the old country. The students were to be given good conditions to retain their own language, to engage in cultural activities, and to maintain contact with the country of origin.
It is a different time now. In fact, peace has come to some places while wars have continued in others. This has caused people to acquire multiple identities over time. The parent generation may miss the homeland while simultaneously loving their new country. One can watch the children grow up in the new country and realize that their self-evident ethnicity, place, and future are here in Sweden.
Today, unfortunately, an ideological and political force is growing that attempts to attack what science says and claim that language development in the mother tongue would negatively affect students' second language learning. I want to appeal to the Minister not to deprive children in Sweden of the right to instruction in the mother tongue. Many grow up with difficult identity issues, but this process can be facilitated along the way. Feel free to attack the quality assurance and how the development of the Swedish language and mother tongue instruction can be strengthened in the Swedish primary school, but do not deprive the children of this right!
Anders Alftberg (SD)
Madam Speaker! This is not about banning children from learning their mother tongue, but we are talking about whether it should be state-funded with 2.4 billion. Can the money be used in a better way?
What has emerged here is that the introduction of mother tongue instruction was never about strengthening the student's ability to learn Swedish. This is a retrospective construction to legitimize that we maintain this type of instruction. Mother tongue instruction has always primarily been about strengthening linguistic and cultural identity, and we see what this has led to.
That all research shows that mother tongue instruction strengthens the learning of Swedish, as Linus Sköld claims, is not correct. The research results vary quite significantly, and most of it comes from abroad.
Let me take an example. The Swiss language professor Raphael Berthele has long researched multilingualism and recently conducted a large research project on mother tongue instruction in Switzerland. Above all, the argument was examined that mother tongue instruction supports the learning of other languages, which we have indeed heard claimed here in the chamber. It could be stated that the support for this is far too weak for one to even have a policy on the issue. It was further stated that while there are indeed good ideological reasons to maintain mother tongue instruction, the cognitive argument does not hold.
There are surveys from Aarhus in Denmark that show the same things, as well as large surveys that have been conducted in Belgium. Therefore, it is appropriate that we investigate whether these 2.4 billion can be used in a better way to support children's development in Swedish.
Linus Sköld (S)
Madam Speaker! What I said, Anders Alftberg, was that it is well-researched how second language learning takes place and that strong knowledge in the mother tongue facilitates the learning of the second language.
How mother tongue instruction works was well investigated during the last parliamentary term. If one wants to strengthen mother tongue instruction, one can look at the prepared proposals that are on the government's table, but that is not what is wanted. Instead, one wants to implement the Sweden Democrats' idea to phase out mother tongue instruction.
The idea of phasing out mother tongue instruction is, just like the withdrawn right to an interpreter in healthcare and the reporting laws for public employees, Sverigedemokratisk signal politics. The signal that the Sverigedemokrater want to send to people who are born abroad is: You are not welcome here. I can only regret that Lotta Edholm helps the Sverigedemokrater send this racist signal.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! This debate is about different things. It is about mother tongue instruction and the investigation that has been appointed and which must be allowed to work. It also seems to be about a lack of education in the Swedish language. Lawen Redar is right that we have huge problems with the Swedish language among many people in Sweden, both children and young people as well as adults, and these problems we really must address.
An important part of this investigation concerns exactly this. It is incredibly important that newly arrived children and young people learn Swedish as soon as possible, and therefore the investigation shall review the possibility of developing a Swedish curriculum adapted to newly arrived students who do not know any Swedish. Today we have Swedish as a second language, but there is a big difference between having Swedish as a second language when one is born in Sweden and has another mother tongue and being newly arrived. To review this possibility is therefore included in the investigation.
The questions are connected. Good language development and good teaching in the Swedish language and in other languages, including mother tongues, can obviously support each other. The investigation is intended to review how this works in Sweden, because there is quite little knowledge here. There is a huge amount of research but not specifically on how it works in Sweden, and that is because Sweden has chosen a path when it comes to mother tongue teaching that many other countries have not chosen. That is the background to the investigation, and I look forward, as I said, to taking part of it eventually.
Lawen Redar (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for the answer, and thank you to everyone who has participated in the debate!
For me, it is clear that there are ideological differences in how one views this issue. According to the Sweden Democrats' view of humanity, one cannot have different language developments as a human being, and children and young people should not be given the guaranteed right they have today to develop their knowledge regarding language and identity and thus, with this in their luggage, acquire a strong Swedish language development and a strong Swedish cultural identity. At the same time, the Liberals describe this as wanting to investigate the issue because there is a lack of knowledge about how mother tongue instruction functions in today's Swedish society.
Now we have received a combination of these two, that is to say, an investigation directive stating that mother tongue instruction can have a negative impact on children's integration opportunities. It is clear to me that the cooperation that occurs in both the budget work and the preparation of the investigation has a ring to it that the Sweden Democrats would like to hear, that is to say, that the state should not be involved in financing children's and young people's right to develop linguistically in their mother tongue. I regret this, Madam Speaker.
I mean that all language development in children and young people is important, and if children and young people with foreign parents are assured of this in their own language and their own identity, it is also to the benefit of their Swedish identity and development. I may be a little biased in this matter. I do not perceive that my Swedish language was hindered by the fact that I received mother tongue instruction. On the contrary, it strengthened my knowledge, my Swedish identity, and my sense of a strong ethnic belonging to Swedish society, and I wish the same for all Swedish children who grow up in our society.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! I assume that we will return to the debate when the investigation is presented. I think it is important to have facts in the case before decisions are made, so also in this case. I look forward to eventually being able to review the investigation. It has been commissioned because we see major problems in Sweden, including with the Swedish language but also with other things. For example, it is not only students with immigrant backgrounds who have difficulty learning to read. Swedish schools have large, fundamental problems, and this investigation is part of getting answers to various questions. I believe that knowledge is never wrong.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.