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Published: 14 December 2010

Subject choices of completers of upper secondary general school education in 2010

According to Statistics Finland, nearly all completers of the full upper secondary general school syllabus in 2010 had studied English, and Finnish or Swedish during their attendance of upper secondary general school. German had been studied by 26 per cent, French by 17 per cent, Spanish by 14 per cent and Russian by seven per cent of the completers of upper secondary general school education. The proportions of those having studied other, more unusual foreign languages remained at four per cent or below. They also vary considerably between genders in several languages.

Language choices of completers of full upper secondary general school syllabus 2010

Studied language Compulsory A-languages Compulsory language B1 Elective language B2, at least six courses Elective language B3, at least six courses Elective language, fewer than six courses Total Share of completers of full upper secondary general school syllabus, %
English 30 497 29 12 4 0 30 542 99.1
Swedish 2 524 25 475 3 5 48 28 055 91.0
Finnish 2 045 50 16 21 1 2 133 6.9
French 634 35 915 1 334 2 445 5 363 17.4
German 1 804 7 1 485 1 608 3 032 7 936 25.7
Russian 171 5 46 613 1 191 2 026 6.6
Sami 3 - 4 3 15 25 0.1
Latin 0 - 23 86 440 549 1.8
Spanish 11 - 56 1 510 2 671 4 248 13.8
Italian 0 - 15 246 826 1 087 3.5
Other 0 - 1 18 310 329 1.1

The completers of upper secondary general school studies had mainly taken English, Swedish or Finnish as a compulsory language subject. German, French, Spanish, Russian and other foreign languages had been mainly studied as an elective language. A total of 30,829 students completed the full upper secondary general school syllabus in spring 2010. 12,948 of the completers were men and 17,881 were women.

In spring 2010, 43 per cent of all completers of the full upper secondary general school syllabus - 36 per cent of female students and 53 per cent of male students - had taken the long syllabus in mathematics.


Source: Education 2010. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Irma Suovirta (09) 1734 3280, Maija Sikanen (09) 1734 2292, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (225.2 kB)

Tables

Appendix tables


Updated 14.12.2010

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Subject choices of students [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-1056. Subject choices of completers of upper secondary general school education 2010. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 29.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ava/2010/01/ava_2010_01_2010-12-14_tie_001_en.html