Muslim Religious Education and Muslim Teacher Education

Abstract

In Finland, religious education (RE) in public school is currently religion-based. Thus, pupils are enrolled in RE classes, according to their religious affiliation. There is usually one RE lesson a week in comprehensive school (age 7 to 16). RE is not a confessional subject. The RE curriculum, like that of other subjects, is prepared by the Board of Education. In recent years, Finnish society has changed considerably, becoming increasingly pluralistic and diverse. The number of immigrants and refugees has also increased, e.g., there are currently more than 60,000 Muslims, who represent heterogeneous ways to practice their faith. The number of pupils who participate in Islamic RE is continuously increasing. Today there are more than 9,000 pupils enrolled in Islamic RE. There is a lack of Islamic RE teachers and no established pedagogical practices. There has been an extensive societal debate in Finland as to how RE should be organized in public schools with very different approaches regarding Islamic RE perspective. It has been stated that Islamic RE enables pupils to form their own identity and that it fails to teach pupils common values of society. The chapter consists of two different parts. The first part analyzes the Finnish Islamic RE curricula and studies its development (aims and contents) over the past 20 years (1994, 2004, and 2014). The second part focuses on the challenges that Islamic RE teachers experience in their work, drawing on analyses and interpretations of theme-focused interviews with teachers. It concludes with a summary of recent Islamic RE development work and an investigation of the available Islamic RE teacher training options and the types of competencies that Islamic RE teacher training should encompass.