Vakaumukselliset vasut? Uskonto- ja katsomuskasvatuksen diskursiivinen rakentuminen varhaiskasvatussuunnitelmissa

Authors

• Susanna Itäkare City of Tampere, Finland

Keywords:

early childhood education, varhaiskasvatus, religious and philosophical education, opetussuunnitelmat, curriculum, uskonto- ja katsomuskasvatus, discourse analysis, diskurssianalyysi

Abstract

In this article the discursive construction of religious and philosophical education is examined in curricula on early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Finland. Religious education pedagogy acts as a theoretical background of this study. The data are analyzed by critical discourse analysis. The data of this research consist of Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteet (National Curriculum Guidelines on Early Childhood Education and Care) (2003/2007), Helsingin varhaiskasvatussuunnitelma (”Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum of City of Helsinki”) (2007), and four unit-specific curricula of day care centres Helsinki. One of those centres is municipal and three are private with religious background. The main result of this research is that religious and philosophical education that is constructed in ECEC curricula is heterogeneous and partly contradictory. Both National Curriculum Guidelines on Early Childhood Education and Care and ”Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum of City of Helsinki” produce incoherent and conflicting discourses, whose influence on unit-specific curricula is minor. The curricula of religious day care centres prioritize their own religious ideology while producing their religious and philosophical education and take into account the national and local curricula only secondarily. On the other hand, the only municipal ECEC curriculum reproduces the vague religious education of the upper level curricula. Furthermore, like National Curriculum Guidelines on Early Childhood Education and Care, it engages to Lutheranism. In addition, all the examined curricula marginalize non-religious philosophical education. In the future ECEC curricula should construct their religious and philosophical education more child-centered and multifaith and deconstruct the hegemony of Lutheran religious education.