Browsing by Author "Blomqvist, Tomas Alexander"

The aim of the study was to compare philosophically the current Finnish segregative worldview education in the elementary school to the suggested integrative education models: religious knowledge and secular ethics. The theoretical framework of the study was the concept of indoctrination and its five different criteria: content, method, intention, outcome and control criteria. The main research problem was to study, whether the different worldview education models differ from each other indoctrination-wise. The hypothesis was that an integrative worldview education model would be less indoctrinating than the current model. An important reason for the study was the lack of research on the Finnish worldview education from the point of view of the philosophy of education. The purpose of the study is then to ethically and epistemologically clarify the discussion on the worldview education in Finland. Previous philosophical studies on the worldview education have focused on multiculturalism and human rights. The method of the study was analytical, philosophical argumentation whereby concepts used in the study were first technically defined and then each education model was analyzed through the concept of indoctrination. The concept of indoctrination was defined based on both classic and modern, and Finnish and international research. The current Finnish worldview education model was defined based on laws and curricula concerning it, while the proposed integrative worldview education models were based on recent research. The results of the study confirmed the hypothesis: the current worldview education model in the Finnish basic school is more prone to indoctrination than the integrative religious knowledge or the secular ethics worldview education models. The conclusion from the study is then that the current worldview education model in the Finnish basic school is not as justifiable as an integrative model would be in terms of the concept of indoctrination defined in the study. That is why – in an increasingly multicultural and secular Finland – it would be reasonable to transform to an integrative religious knowledge or secular ethics worldview basic education model.