Ethical Autonomy at Religious Schools: Students’ Experiences at a Christian School in Norway, 1990–2015, Compared to Majority Schools

Abstract

In Scandinavia, religious schools are both rarer and more controversial than in many other European countries and the United States. Scandinavian politicians fear that these schools foster social division and undermine personal autonomy. However, researchers have not paid much attention to these political concerns. In this study, the ethical autonomy of students at religious schools is scrutinized and compared to the experiences of students at non-religious schools based on interviews with 35 recent and former Norwegian high school students. Deep ethical confrontations occurred regularly only at the religious school, but it paradoxically also had a stronger sense of ethical belonging.