Classrooms in Norwegian schools are becoming increasingly diverse. Many students come from families with a migration history. A lot of them belong to religious communities other than the majority folk church. What are the implications of this kind of migration-related diversity for religious education, both in public schools and in the respective religious communities?
This was the topic of PRIO research professor in migration studies Marta Bivand Erdal’s introductory keynote lecture for the symposium “Minorities, migration and religion: New perspectives on religious education in schools and faith communities in Europe”. The symposium was convened at campus Hamar 21 – 23 October by the research project “Non-formal faith education, the public school, and religious minorities in Norway” (FAITHED), with the aim of preparing an English edited volume presenting project results. The FAITHED project is funded by the Research Council of Norway.
The members of the Advisory Board, Friedrich Schweitzer (University of Tübingen), Roisin Coll (Glasgow University), Dominic Pasura (Glasgow University), Lene Kühle (Aarhus University) and Jenny Berglund (Stockholm University) had important roles in the symposium, both as respondents to papers by FAITHED researchers and with significant contributions of their own. Highlights were Lene Kühle’s keynote speech on “Teaching controversial issues while creating community cohesion?”, the two panel discussions “What we know and what we don’t know about Islamic education in Scandinavia” and “Youth and religion – majority and minority perspectives”, and Friedrich Schweitzer’s stimulating and challenging concluding remarks.
The symposium was successful both as a scientific and a social event, and it became a milestone in the process towards the publication of two books (in Norwegian and in English, respectively) and several articles through 2025, the final year of the project period.