The Learning of and in Sami in the Norwegian School Education

In the minority policy of Norway there was a nationalistic period (approx. 1860-1950) when learning and teaching in and of Sami, the use of Sami were strictly prohibited. The measures of this assimilative policy caused that only a small part of the Sami population has proficiency in Sami. After the Second World War the minority (language) policy of Norway changed, and the Sami undertook their ethnic-linguistic identity. In this process the international ideological tendencies played an important role. In 1989 the Sami Law came into force in Norway and it also provided linguistic rights to the North, Lule and South Sami. In addition, the law on the primary and secondary education regulates the Sami education in Norway. On the basis of the research conducted in Troms in 2009-2010 and a Norwegian survey (Samisk Sprkunderskelse. NFrapport nr. 7/2012) the aim is to present the possibilities and goals of learning in and of Sami in the school education in Norway nowadays. It will be possible to observe as well how these support the bilingualism among the Sami children.