Religious Education in Secularist Kindergartens? Pedagogical Leaders on Religion in Norwegian ECEC

Abstract

According to the legal framework, religion forms a certain part of Norwegian early childhood education in publicly owned kindergartens. As the only Scandinavian country where this is the case, the object clause (statement of purpose) for Norwegian kindergartens defines basic values in the Christian and humanist heritage and tradition as the value foundation for the institution. In this article we explore the impact of the processes of secularization and pluralization on the pedagogical content of early childhood education, and how some pedagogical leaders understand the religious elements. Empirically, the article is partly based on qualitative interviews targeting seven public kindergartens in the counties of Oslo and Agder, and partly on interpretations of their planning documents, of which many are publicly available. The pedagogical staff express loyalty to the legal framework regulating early childhood education but seem to be more concerned with religious diversity and religious minorities than with majority religion and religion as an expression of Christian heritage and traditions.

Pemahaman Guru tentang Makna Pendidikan Agama bagi Anak Usia Dini

“…Diskusi tentang pendidikan agama AUD di publikasi internasional sangat terbatas (Garcia et al, 2017;Mata-McMahon, 2016;Polemikou & da Silva, 2022;Stoyles et al, 2015), karena memang praktik memasukkan pendidikan agama pada pendidikan prasekolah di negara barat bukan sesuatu yang umum. Norwegia menjadi salah satu negara Nordik yang memasukkan pendidikan agama di tingkat Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini (PAUD) (Hovdelien & Sødal, 2022). Seperti negara Nordik lainnya, Norwegia telah mengalami proses sekularisasi terutama sejak akhir Perang Dunia Kedua.…”

Identification, Silence, Separation, and Imagination: Children’s Navigations of Christmas in a Religiously Diverse Norwegian Kindergarten

“…Following Klassen and Scheer, this holiday can be described as simultaneously inclusive and assimilatory. Christmas challenges and defines borders of difference and belonging, resulting in regular struggles and conflicts around the holiday in increasingly diverse societies [1] (p. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Based on ethnographic data, this article will analyze how Christmas in a religiously diverse Norwegian kindergarten is managed by its participants.…”

“…The Kindergarten Act states that "the kindergarten must be based on fundamental values in the Christian and humanist heritage and traditions", before adding that these values "also appear in different religions and beliefs and are rooted in human rights [7]. The role of Christian and humanist heritage and traditions, and the relationship to other religions, are interpreted differently by different policy-makers [8] and researchers, particularly when it comes to how the order of the religions mentioned in the object clause should be interpreted [6,9]. Kuusisto and colleagues point out that due to the lack of definition of what Christian and humanist heritage implies, it remains up to the individual kindergarten or staff member to define this [10] (p. 52).…”

“…Religious and cultural diversity is addressed in several parts of the document. The Framework Plan states that kindergartens should be inclusive communities, and promote equality, diversity, and mutual respect, regardless of the children's religious or cultural backgrounds [11] (p. 8,9). There are also several process-oriented formulations stating how the staff should work to reach these goals.…”

“…[6,[12][13][14][15][16]. A recent study, however, finds an increase in the staffs' emphasis on minority religion in selected kindergartens [9], suggesting both regional differences and changes in practice. Within the Nordic countries, the role of religion and culture is articulated differently in national policy documents [9,10,17].…”