Secular normativity and thereligificationof Muslims in Swedish public schooling

Negotiations on Inclusive Citizenship in a Post-secular School: Perspectives of “Cultural Broker” Muslim Parents and Teachers in Finland and Sweden

“…The Finnish and Swedish multicultural schools studied in this research can be regarded as postsecular in the sense that negotiations on the accommodation of the increasing worldview diversity have become a part of their everyday lives. The academic criticism of the secular normativity in European schools has pointed out how the hegemonic secular narrative includes false claims of neutrality, does not recognize its own Christian roots and misrecognizes religious identities in a way that sometimes leads to discrimination (Berglund, 2017;Fernando, 2010;Poulter et al, 2016). This lack of religious literacy also emerged in this study.…”

“…In the field of education, criticism of the secular normativity of schools and the liberal-secular foundation of multicultural education have emerged against the backdrop of the notion of post-secularity. The banning of headscarves in French public schools, in particular, has raised intense debates (see e.g., Fernando, 2010), but in the Nordic context, too, scholars have criticized the othering of non-secular and non-Western worldviews in educational thinking and practices (see e.g., Berglund, 2017;Poulter, Riitaoja, & Kuusisto, 2016). In this study, post-secularity is understood in terms of the emergence of a pluralistic public sphere.…”

Pupils and worldview expression in an integrative classroom context

“…Especially the pupils from more religious backgrounds can feel alienated from the majority. As Berglund's (2017) studies on Swedish pupils show, in order to 'fit in' with the secular majority, a more religious identity is often hidden or not talked about.…”

“…Also, as seen in previous research (Kimanen and Poulter 2018), the secular position can achieve a status of false neutrality in the classroom, thus making religious positions 'exotic' topics, while the secular positions go unanalysed. These positions can create exclusion of the more religious pupils since the secular position is viewed as the norm (Berglund 2017). As Habermas (2010) notes, in a postsecular society where religion gains more visibility, the need to express religious themes through secular language is key.…”

“…As the school offers common basic education for all, it is the crucial platform where attitudes and behaviour towards other worldviews are formed. As seen in the studies of von Brömssen and Olgaç (2010), Sjöborg (2015) and Berglund (2017), the challenge that a worldview education must overcome is to frame religious lives as valid and meaningful worldviews which are compatible with modern society. We would argue that approaching religious ways of life also through their lived aspects as belief, habit, practice and emotion is a valid approach in solving this problem.…”