Worldview education in the Finnish public education

The aim of this article is to discuss the question of worldviews in religious education from a Nordic perspective and with a focus on Finland in particular. I will first elaborate the conceptual history and background of worldviews in Finnish literature and religious education in Finland. After that I will discuss societal and curricular aspects that in my view have added to the appeal of the use of “worldviews” in public education. After that I will focus on four key conceptual questions to be solved for good worldviews and religious education in Finland and elsewhere. These are: 1) What is the relationship between the concepts “Religion” and “Worldviews”? 2) What are the roles of “Religion” and “Worldviews” in learning? 3) What is the disciplinary basis for Worldviews in learning and instruction? And 4) What learning concerning worldviews actually is? In the discussion I will resolve with the fifth question: What are the dynamics of religion and worldviews in the integrated instruction?. The article concludes that there certainly are merits and complications related to the conceptual shift to “worldviews” and proposes that not only the challenges are shared in different countries but probably the solutions, too.