Measuring confessionality by the outcomes?: Islamic religious education in the Finnish school system
Confessionality is a term which is seldom defined but often used. One of its meanings is enhancing the religiosity of pupils. In Finland, pupils are provided with religious education in their own religion. Does this produce more religious young people than a neutral or multi-religious education woul...
| Published in: | British journal of religious education |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
[2016]
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| In: |
British journal of religious education
|
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Finland
/ Islam
/ Religious education
/ School
/ Confessionality
|
| IxTheo Classification: | AX Inter-religious relations BJ Islam KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBE Northern Europe; Scandinavia |
| Further subjects: | B
Higher Education
B Islamic Education B Religious Education B Islamic Religious Education |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Confessionality is a term which is seldom defined but often used. One of its meanings is enhancing the religiosity of pupils. In Finland, pupils are provided with religious education in their own religion. Does this produce more religious young people than a neutral or multi-religious education would produce? Interviews with 15-16-year-old Muslim pupils at three different Finnish comprehensive schools are examined in order to answer this question. The young Muslims themselves usually regarded their families as the most important factor in their religious identity, although they also acknowledged and valued the impact of school. For them, knowledge of Islam was an important asset. Some peer group influence could also be detected, although the interviewees stressed the fact that their faith was a matter of individual choice. Islamic religious education certainly provides an arena for developing religious attitudes and models of behaviour, but other factors determine whether these models are received or not. The focus of defining the degree of confessionality should be shifted from the outcomes to the process of teaching, and in particular the question as to whether the religious education class can be seen as a safe space for every pupil. |
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| ISSN: | 0141-6200 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: British journal of religious education
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2014.984582 |