The project examines policy discourses, planning processes, and everyday spatial practices in co-located Finnish- and Swedish-language schools in bilingual Finland. The aim is to increase understanding of the (dis)connections and between language and education policies, school architecture, and spatial practices. Finnish comprehensive education in the national languages is organized separately for both language groups, typically in their own buildings. However, co-locating Finnish- and Swedish-language schools in modern school centers has resulted in a paradigm shift in national language policy. By analyzing policy and planning documents, interviews with municipal administration, and ethnographic data of the planning processes and everyday practices at schools, this project provides insight into how educational governance travels through architecture to achieve language policy goals. The results will inform the planning and building of inguistically sustainable schools.

2026

2030