Whose knowledge counts? Student teachers negotiating religion and epistemic participation in Swedish preschool teacher education

In contexts of increasing religion and worldview superdiversity, teacher education faces the challenge of recognising diverse forms of knowledge and meaning-making. While previous research has emphasised religion and worldview literacy, less is known about how student teachers experience religion in teacher education. This study explores how students in Swedish Preschool Teacher Education (PTE) make sense of religion and examines how institutional norms shape whose knowledge is recognised as legitimate. Drawing on theories of superdiversity, epistemic justice, violence, and agency, the analysis is based on qualitative survey responses from 55 final-semester and recently graduated students representing 17 of the 18 Swedish PTE programmes. The findings reveal patterns of epistemic erasure, delegitimation, and selective recognition. Religion is frequently described as absent from the curriculum or subsumed within notions of culture and diversity, while secular-Lutheran norms function as the unmarked framework for legitimate professional knowledge. Still, students describe experiences of dialogue, representation, and lived experience that challenge dominant norms and create opportunities for epistemic agency and repair. The study argues that religion in teacher education is an epistemic issue concerning recognition, credibility, and participation, and concludes that teacher education must foster epistemically inclusive environments that recognise multiple, fluid, and intersecting ways of knowing.