Religious and Non-religious Diversity and Religious Education Curricula in Nordic Countries

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this Special Issue is to address recent developments of religious education in Nordic countries. All countries have recently revised their national curricula or are in the process of doing so. Here, challenges and possibilities related to the diversification, pluralisation and secularisation of societies are addressed in educational practice. We explore the influences of these societal changes on religious education practice but also how research and policy developments play into the picture. This includes questions like how religious education curricula have been influenced by and address the increasing diversity of the Nordic national states, how diversity is represented and what is expected to be the outcome of teaching and learning about this, what are the challenges in terms of an inclusive religious education and what is the role of knowledge about religions, worldviews and ethics in this respect?

A comparative Special Issue on religion in the public education of the Nordic countries is an interesting topic for many reasons. The Nordic countries are often considered to be similar in terms of political and economic systems and to share cultural traits. The comprehensive public educational systems were initially designed by absolutist Lutheran states. Their modern history is shaped partly by corporative elements in the economy where state, private sector and unions cooperate. They are also welfare states with relatively strong trust towards a big public sector. Culturally, the Nordic countries have all been influenced by Lutheran Christianity, but today all are increasingly secularised, albeit to a different degree. All Nordic countries have religious education, but in different forms and shapes, from separate subjects for all, to religious education as part of larger subject areas, but also parallel models, depending on students' background. Across the board, religious education, as a subject, has for past decades been attributed with aims related to religious diversity, social cohesion and multiculturalism, along with national heritage.

In this Special Issue of Religions, we present one study from each country. They build on earlier research and on reviews of religious education in each country. General overviews of the national systems and developments have been published quite recently and are not the priority here (see: Rothgangel, M., Skeie, G., & Jäggle, M. (Eds.). (2014). Religious education at schools in Europe. Part 3: Northern Europe. Göttingen: V&R unipress Vienna University Press.). Each article takes a distinct question as its starting point and brings together research findings to answer this, but all focus on interplay between curriculum, research and practice within a sociocultural context. The common interest is to identify some of the driving forces that seem to influence religious education policy and practice. The articles discuss this, taking into account national curricula and curriculum developments in an international research, societal and policy context. The Special Issue consists of 5 articles covering Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. An introduction explains the content of the contributions and concluding chapter draws the lines together and discusses some crosscutting issues.

The focus of the Special Issue is on developments in Nordic religious education with the purpose of capturing the present situation with new curricula in all countries. This will complement existing literature in the field, and give specific insights based on the distinct expertice of the contributors. It will also include comparative perspectives. 

Prof. Geir Skeie
Guest Editor

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• religious education
• diversity
• curriculum
• policy