Finnish Pupils' Views on the Place of Religion in School

Abstract

This mixed method study examines Finnish pupils' (N = 825; age groups 12–13, 15–16) views on the place of religion in the public school. Religious landscape in Finnish society has changed significantly in recent years, as the `new' diversity (Vertovec 2015) has supplemented the `old' one. The role of institutionalized religion has diminished, whereas globalism, secularism and an interest in new religious movements have been on the rise. The traditionally strong Evangelical Lutheranism has become a more cultural, secular feature underlying societal history and nationalism. In this changing situation, it is important to obtain knowledge about how the pupils themselves see the position of religion in the public education system. In this article, we examine pupils' views on the place of religion both as a formal part of the National Curriculum and as a part of social interaction and physical environment, and whether background factors explain variance in their conceptions.

Notes

“Religion in Education. A Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies in European Countries.”

Interview participants represented variance in terms of age group, gender, and worldview background. Interviewees were chosen according to the recommendation of their teachers in order to ensure sample diversity in demographic background factors, in particular religious/worldview characteristics of their families that the researchers had no direct access to before analysing the (anyhow anonymous) survey data. Although teacher input may have caused some sample bias in terms of perhaps selecting for example more of those pupils who hold good verbal skills, this was not regarded very problematic as such matters were not under examination here. The main aim of the interview data was not to provide representative width as such but to gain “thicker,” deeper insight for complementing the quantitative data. Still, the interview sample saturation was regarded adequate.

Rather than comparing individual schools, we have examined the differences between the two cities as growing up contexts. The pupils may come to the school from a wider catchment area than the school neighbourhood. Thus, more detailed school demographics have not been included in the present analysis.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Arniika Kuusisto

Arniika Kuusisto is Adjunct Professor and University Lecturer, Saila Poulter is University Lecturer, and Arto Kallioniemi is Professor of Religious Education, all in the Department of Teacher Education at University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]