Contextualising dialogue, secularisation and pluralism - Religion in Finnish public education

Imprint and Contents

Introduction to contextualising dialogue, secularisation and pluralism in Finnish public education (Martin Ubani, Saila Poulter & Inkeri Rissanen)

The governance of religious education in Finland: a state-centric relational approach? (Tuula Sakaranaho)

1. Introduction

2. The state-centric relational approach and five modes of governance

3. Governance via hierarchy: the Finnish system of education and educational acts

4. Governance via persuasion: the Finnish National Agency of Education and school curricula

5. Governance via markets: marketization of school books

6. Governance via community: variations of practice on the local level

7. Governance via associations: religious networks as pressure groups

8. Discussion

References

Religious education as a means of citizenship education in Finland (Saila Poulter)

1. Introduction

2. Conceptual and literature basis of civic religious education

3. The Finnish perspective on civic religious education

4. Mapping the future of civic religious and worldview education in Finland

References

Key challenges in supporting identity development in segregated instruction about worldviews (Harriet Zilliacus)

1. Introduction

2. The conceptualization and organization of segregated instruction for minority students

3. Students’ identity development in religious education and ethics

4. Aims of minority religious education and ethics

5. Main arguments for segregated instruction about worldviews

6. Critical issues related to students’ identities

6.1 Issues of structural inequality and challenges in the organization of instruction

6.2 Issues regarding lack of freedom of choice and autonomy

6.3 Issues of essentializing students’ identities

6.4 Issues of confessionality and commitment to particular identifications

6.5 Issues of exclusion and discrimination as obstacles for identity development

7. Conclusions and visions for a pluralistic education about worldviews

References

Developing integrative practices in a separative RE system: some Finnish perspectives (Vesa Åhs, Arto Kallioniemi & Saila Poulter)

1. Introduction

2. International and Finnish perspectives on integrative RE

3. Worldviews, RE and secular ethics

4. Finnish models of integrative WE: practical perspectives

5. Research data

6. Conclusions

References

Religion, multiculturalism and Finnish schools: the secularist-culturalist transition (Martin Ubani)

1. Introduction

2. Religion and multicultural schools

2.1 Culturalisation of religion in public schools

2.2 Group identification, religion and multicultural schools

3. Religious education and the secularist-culturalist transition

3.1 Isolationism of religious education and the secular outlook on religion

3.2 First signs of emerging dialogue education about religions in Finland

4. Concluding remarks

References

Inclusion of Muslims in Finnish schools (Inkeri Rissanen)

1. Conceptual and contextual framework

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Inclusion of Muslim identities in Europe

1.3 Muslims in Finland

1.4 Description of the empirical studies

2. What enhances and inhibits Finnish Muslims’ experiences of inclusion in school settings?

2.1 Inclusion of cultural and religious diversity in the national core curriculum

2.2 Religion-blindness vs. celebration of religious diversity as strategies to reduce prejudices and stereotypes

2.3 School-Muslim family collaboration and the role of cultural broker parents and teachers in enhancing Muslim inclusion

2.4 Islamic religious education as a space for the negotiation of citizenship and belonging

3. Discussion

References

Religion and secularity in school festivals – experiences and challenges from Finland (Pia-Maria Niemi)

1. Introduction

2. The Finnish context

3. Religious literacy in secular societies

4. Religion in the Finnish educational system

5. Empirical studies about school festivals in Finland

6. Discussion about current challenges

6.1 Inclusion through secularization?

6.2 Religious literacy

6.3 Inclusion through pluralism?

7. Conclusions

References

Encountering religion in a secular context: How do Finnish students perceive and encounter religions and worldviews in the classroom? (Anuleena Kimanen)

1. Introduction

2. Concepts and theories of inter-worldview encounters

3. Finnish teenagers and religion

4. Perceptions of the Other

5. Encountering the Other

6. Discussion

References

Intercultural and interreligious sensitivities in a Finnish educational context (Kristiina Holm, Elina Kuusisto & Inkeri Rissanen)

1. Introduction

2. Intercultural and interreligious sensitivities

3. The reviewed research data

4. The role of gender and geographical location in Finnish students’ intercultural and interreligious sensitivities

5. The role of religiosity in Finnish students’ and student teachers’ interreligious sensitivity

6. Finnish teachers’ tendency to cultural minimization and development of sensitivity to cultural and religious difference in teacher education

7. Concluding remarks

References

Key issues of religion in Finnish public education (Inkeri Rissanen, Martin Ubani & Saila Poulter)

1. The changing role of religion in Finnish society and schools

2. Inclusion of religious and worldview minorities in Finnish schools

3. The current issues and development of religious education in Finland

References

Discussion (Saila Poulter, Inkeri Rissanen & Martin Ubani)

About the authors