Heinola councillor Harri Salonen (Finns) has proposed removing two pages from a textbook used by Upper Secondary School students. The pages contain information about the parties represented in Finland's parliament.
Salonen claims that the party descriptions are politically charged.
"In the book, parties' central values are presented," said Salonen. "For example equality is only presented as a value important to green-left parties. The Finns Party is the only party named as a populist party."
Salonen said it was especially blatant that the welfare state is described in the book as a creation of the Social Democrats.
"As if the welfare state wasn't a joint effort and common goal for the people," said Salonen.
He has proposed that the pages in question be marked with a label saying "this page is not approved learning material according to the provider of education, the municipality of Heinola".
"Those pages can't be ripped out of the book, but there should be some way to state in the teaching that these pages are not accepted learning materials," said Salonen.
Salonen does not see a problem with politicians starting to interfere with schools' learning materials.
"This is just a discussion starter," said Salonen. "I am not deciding anything on my own. I just want the books not to contain anything political."
Yle asked the Finns Party secretary Harri Vuorenpää if the initiative was consistent with party policy. He said via text message that questions should be directed at the author of the proposal and would not comment further.
No previous feedback
The book in question, Forum Social Studies 1, is published by Otava. There has not previously been any feedback about the section in question, according to Otava Education's director of content, Eeva Lahdenmäki.
Lahdenmäki contacted the book's authors after hearing about the proposal from Yle. She said that the texts were not the authors' own.
"Those pages have things that the parties themselves put forward in their party programmes or published elsewhere," said Lahdenmäki. "That's the background to how this double page spread was born."
Lahdenmäki says that small parts of the book should not be divorced from the surrounding pages and the context they provide.
"Around that spread there is information about changes in the party system, for instance," said Lahdenmäki. "The student is directed to seek information from other sources, perhaps from the party's own material."
Lahdenmäki emphasises that learning materials can be treated critically by the teacher in charge of the class.
"Learning material is not a simple encyclopaedia, where there are facts that are either true or not true," said Lahdenmäki. "Your own opinion can of course be moulded."
Otava asks for feedback during the writing stage from students, teachers and experts. The feedback helps the publisher ensure that erroneous interpretations don't make it into the final version.
One goal for textbooks is objectivity. Lahdenmäki says that textbooks can never be totally neutral, however, because their authors are human. The times in which we live can also affect the texts.
"But of course we try to ensure that the materials are useful across Finland, in different schools and situations," said Lahdenmäki. "In that sense we try for neutrality, so that the text does not represent one extreme viewpoint on any one issue."
Salonen demanding authors' party affiliations
Salonen has also demanded in a local newspaper that school text books' authors' party sympathies be made visible.
The National Agency for Education said in response that school books are not pre-censored in Finland, and that education providers decide which materials they use. In practice subject teachers choose the books they use.
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EDIT 10.10.2024: Salonen's quote was originally translated as "The Finns Party is only named as a populist party." He actually said "The Finns Party is the only party named as a populist party."