When schools should be ringing out with “Now the Noble Summer’s Come,” the annual debate on the organisation of religious and ethics education instead erupts on online discussion boards. The statements on these forums are, for the most part, made without any real understanding of how the teaching is organised or what the law says, and are often opinions based heavily on assumptions and emotions. The loud, principled opponents of religion are usually very active on these forums. Now, after Midsummer, the strongest emotions have already subsided at least a jetty’s length away, and it is a good time to look at what this is really about.
The “Turku Disease”
In Helsinki, religious education was still organised excellently just over ten years ago. Since then, the standard of organisation has dropped significantly. This is not due to the many head teachers who take responsibility and act in an exemplary manner. Behind it is the principled aim of certain individuals and authorities either to reduce the role of religion in public life altogether, or to reduce the study of worldviews to one general worldview subject. Unfortunately, due to the challenges of organising teaching, this idea has also won over some head teachers – which is understandable. Joint teaching sounds appealing and is easy from a timetabling perspective.
This way of thinking has long been strong in Turku, which is held up by proponents of joint teaching as an example of a successful strategy. But it does not comply with minority rights under current legislation.
In the 1970s, there was a widespread mindset in which old, architecturally durable and aesthetically beautiful buildings were torn down without hesitation to make way for something new and modern. Many intact and beautiful buildings were demolished and replaced with structures designed to last perhaps only 60 years, often less pleasing to the eye. In Finland, this was called the “Turku Disease” because the city of Turku was exceptionally active in doing this. That “disease” is now raging again.
For years, the city of Turku has maintained a model in which a well-functioning existing system has been deliberately weakened and replaced by a practice that is not only short-sighted but also highly illegal. The city has organised joint worldview teaching for several years, even though, recently – once again – the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southwest Finland (AVI) has, in response to a complaint regarding the worldview education of 7th graders, stated that the teaching method violates the Basic Education Act and endangers pupils’ right to education.
The Education Department of the Diocese of Helsinki has worked together with the Education Committee of the Finnish Ecumenical Council and the USKOT Forum for Interfaith Dialogue to prepare and support statements and complaints that have been made both in Kirkkonummi and Turku by the teachers’ trade union OAJ and by active families, due to abuses in religious education.
In Kirkkonummi, the education provider changed the practice to comply with the law on teaching pupils’ own religion. In Turku, no changes have been made despite the authority’s remarks.
How is this possible? This is because the authorities that issue the remarks – AVI or the Finnish National Agency for Education (OPH) – do not have the power to impose sanctions in Finland; that is, they cannot punish an education provider that violates the law.
There are several illegal joint teaching experiments in our country. Only the joint teaching at Kulosaari School in Helsinki is organised entirely in accordance with both the letter and the spirit of the law. Other joint teaching arrangements are at least in a legal grey area, if not outright illegal.
Unfortunately, some social movements would prefer to remove religion from the public sphere altogether, confining it behind the doors of private homes – if even there. There are also individual, influential officials responsible for organising education and for teacher training who believe that moving towards a single worldview subject would be preferable to teaching each religion’s own syllabus.
Light at the End of the Tunnel
Both the Education Committee of the Finnish Ecumenical Council and the Education Committee of the USKOT Forum have made several statements and published numerous responses in the Finnish media in support of organising the teaching of pupils’ own religion in accordance with the law.
Our diocesan Education Department participates in many activities related to worldview education, from early childhood education to upper secondary and university studies. We contribute to curricula at the National Agency for Education, which every religion teacher must follow. We have been present at meetings with authorities and politicians where the future of religious education is decided. We have been invited as experts in a spirit of good will, because we have demonstrated our expertise and shown an ability to cooperate.
The most important channels of influence, alongside personal contacts, are SEN and the USKOT Forum, through which we can be present as a group even when a representative of each religion is not physically on site.
This spring we have received good news at various levels. In early childhood education, long-term cooperation in Vantaa has borne fruit in the form of new activities in Espoo. In an ecumenical spirit, the religions presented themselves with great success to several preschool groups during the Week of Mutual Understanding. The event was an excellent success and we were invited to expand the cooperation on worldview education even further. The good news spreads.
The most significant good news came from the Finnish National Agency for Education. For 2022–2024, OPH appointed a working group for the development of worldview subjects. The establishment of the working group was preceded and recommended by a report (2022) commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture on the current state and reform needs of worldview education. The development group included experts from the National Agency for Education, the Ministry of Education and Culture, organisations, religious communities, and various authorities. The working group’s final report was published on 5 March 2025.
The members of the USKOT Forum’s Education Committee, including the Catholic Church, are pleased with the report’s conclusions, which support the visibility of religious diversity in schools and promote the perspective of minorities. As the representation of different religions increases in Finnish society, education should be developed in a more diverse direction, and minority voices should not be diminished in the discussions. Religious literacy will become increasingly important in our society, especially in the school system, as the religious landscape becomes more varied.
From a Catholic perspective, the most important conclusions in the report concerning religious education are the continuation and development of teaching each pupil’s own religion. The working group did not recommend joint teaching – contrary to the position of an influential body that has publicly advocated for it – but rather the continued development of each religion’s syllabus. The working group’s proposal to grant Islam the right to its own matriculation examination is also a step towards the same for the Catholic syllabus. For us, it would now be important that, with the growing number of students in the Catholic syllabus, the number of matriculation examinations also increases. It is also essential that qualified teachers are trained.
The working group also proposed ending the substitute teaching provided by religious communities. While this will challenge communities in places where teaching is not reasonably available in schools, it is important to understand that it also challenges the education authorities to develop and support religious education in schools. Education providers would, on the basis of this guidance, have to strengthen the conditions for religious education in schools and improve teacher training to meet the growing need.
Unfortunately, the working group’s proposal on measures concerning worldview subjects in vocational education cannot be seen as promoting religious literacy. The absence of a representative with expertise in vocational education from the working group was regrettable.
From the perspective of implementing teaching, the working group’s proposal to give the supervisory authority the power to impose sanctions is very important. This would mean that an education provider would have to implement statutory teaching of pupils’ own religion – or face consequences. That would apply in Turku as well.
Through Difficulties to Victory
The discussion on worldview education will continue and is likely to make the headlines at least once a year, often both in autumn and spring. For some groups in our diverse society, questioning the teaching of one’s own religion is an almost existential matter. But we must not be provoked, and certainly not fall into despair. We are, in the Nordic context, exceptionally blessed with religious education in schools provided by the authorities, and even in accordance with our own Catholic syllabus and curriculum. Removing this right would require changes to the law and governments, as well as a parliament, willing to push through such a long process. Such a scenario is not currently on the horizon, despite sensational headlines.
In any case, the process would take years to pass through the necessary legal stages and procedures. There are several reasons why our society’s decision-makers are not, in general, willing to make such changes now, or likely in the near future. The majority of authorities have clearly expressed their support for preserving and further developing the teaching of each pupil’s own religion. Proponents of joint teaching are certainly loud, but the world has room for many voices. Moreover, their most influential lead advocates are soon to leave the stage. Of course, we do not know what tomorrow will bring (James 4:14), but that is precisely why we must live in hope – especially in this Jubilee Year of Grace 2025. We must continue to defend the teaching of our own religion in ecumenical cooperation, and in every parish and family. Maintaining our own culture and the Good News begins at home.
Osmo Vartiainen
Director of Education