The work of the development group set up by the Finnish National Agency for Education to formulate suggestions for reforming religious, worldview and ethics education (in Finnish “katsomusaineet”) has been completed and final report was published on March 5th. The development group consisted of experts in education, educational organisations and religious, worldview and ethics subjects. DELIBERATE researcher Tuukka Tomperi participated in the work that began at the end of 2022 and concluded at the end of 2024. During this time, the group met 21 times and heard a wide range of other experts and stakeholders. The group produced proposals for reforming the teaching of religious and worldview subjects in basic and upper secondary education. Most of the proposals would require impact assessments and legislative changes.
The group’s work was based on a previous report by investigators on the current state and development needs of worldview education. The report, published by the Ministry of Education and Culture in the spring of 2022, also proposed the establishment of this development group. The authors of the report, Eero Salmenkivi and Vesa Åhs, worked as permanent experts in the group.
The task of the development group was to outline short- and long-term development measures and to make implementation proposals for the next Finnish government programme. The proposals made by the development group are suggestions on which the reform of worldview education can be based. The Finnish National Agency for Education does not make legislative changes; these are the responsibility of the ministries, the government, and the parliament. Follow-up measures requiring legislative changes and curriculum reform are in the hands of political decision-makers.
The current model of worldview education and the underlying legislation are complex. It also includes significant equality issues, as noted both previously in the investigators report (2022) and now in the development group’s report. The current model treats members of different religious communities and those not belonging to any unequally in terms of subject choices. The development group paid particular attention to these equality issues. In this regard, the group made especially two specific reform proposals: The clear majority of the development group proposes that to correct inequality, the legislation should be amended to open the choice of subjects to students in upper secondary education; it is also proposed that an exam in Islamic religion be added to the matriculation examination, which has not been available before.
The two most important proposals for further research and didactic and curricular subject development needs are as follows: Establishing a working group to outline pedagogical and didactic solutions for the development of religious and worldview education, as well as possible common models, forms, and contents for teaching worldview subjects; Implementing a research-based teaching experiment on partially integrated worldview education in basic education.
Press release and announcement on the Finnish National Agency for Education website: https://www.oph.fi/fi/uutiset/2025/katsomusaineiden-kehittamisryhman-loppuraportti-julki-osa-ehdotuksista-vaatii. The expert group’s report (in Finnish; version in Swedish also available) can be downloaded at the bottom of the page. The page also includes a link to the investigators report (2022). The group’s report can also be downloaded from here:
