The Eurydice network has been collecting data on instruction time for more than two decades. These data have been published in many Eurydice publications, notably all editions of the 'Key data on Education'. Since 2010, annually updated data on instruction time has been available on the Eurydice website. Since 2013, the Eurydice network has been…

The aim of this paper is to discuss two perspectives in relation to intercultural education and diversity in Sweden. One of the perspectives concerns the historical and current situation of the five Swedish national minorities with a special focus on education. The second perspective is related to religious diversity and education, as connected to…

This article is a contribution to the discussion of learning processes in religious education (RE) classrooms. Sociocultural theories of learning, understood here as tool-mediated processes, are used in an analysis of three RE classroom conversations. The analysis focuses on the language tools that are used in conversations; how the tools mediate;…

The article provides an overview of the book "Integrative religious education in Europe: A study-of-religions approach" (2007). It introduces the notion of "integrative religious education (RE)", relating to education about different religions in religiously mixed classrooms, as opposed to separative confessional approaches.…

My paper focuses on the formulation of Islamic Religious Education (IRE) at two Swedish Muslim schools where fieldwork was conducted in 2005-2008. Its aim is to contribute knowledge to ways in which IRE is formed as a confessional school subject within the framework and under the jurisdiction of the Swedish school system. Even though the general…

The "purpose" of this article is to illustrate how potential learning is related to hegemonic speech genres. This we do through examples from two religious education (RE) classrooms, one Norwegian and one Swedish. By presenting important dimensions of speech genres used in RE classrooms, the article also contributes to developing theory.…

This article examines how the universal human right to education can be understood in terms of what Seyla Benhabib considers "democratic iterations". Further, by referring to the concept of jurisgenerative politics, Benhabib argues that a democratic people reinterpret guiding norms and principles which they find themselves bound to,…

The impact of committed guests in Religious Education at school is focused in this study. Ten pupils (age 17) were sampled to contribute as informants in semi-structured interviews. The data consist of eight texts (interview excerpts), which are interpreted within a hermeneutic approach, specifically by taking the formal features into…

This article illuminates how religious education worked when students posed questions to believing guests in a Swedish upper secondary classroom, which was homogeneous concerning ethnic origin. The guests invited to school represented four religious traditions but they also represented themselves. Their messages, as well as the questions posed by…

Intercultural dialogue is a concept and discourse that dates back to the 1980s. It is the major means for managing diversity and strengthening democracy within Europe and beyond. It has been adopted by the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe as the basis for interreligious and interfaith initiatives and has become increasingly…

We can note a varied use and attitudes to song and music in Islam. In the classroom of Sana--a primary school teacher of Islamic religious education (IRE) in a Muslim school in Sweden--music is an important but not uncontested part of IRE. The music not only supports themes discussed in the classroom but also gives variation to the education. A…

This article presents some major research themes and findings of the leading Swedish research group in the field of literacy in history. The informal and encouraging leadership of Professor Egil Johansson was of vital importance to the creativity and productivity of the group. Prior to 1985, a few large projects on Swedish alphabetization were…

A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED WHICH CONSIDERED SELECTED EUROPEAN EXPERIENCES INVOLVING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RELIGION AND PUBLIC EDUCATION AS RELATED TO ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY, NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL POLICY. THE PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL POLICIES OF ENGLAND, THE NETHERLANDS, AND SWEDEN WERE EXAMINED BY MEANS OF LITERATURE SEARCHES, OBSERVATIONS, INTERVIEWS, AND…

This paper introduces the possibility of comparing Hungarian parish records to Swedish Parish Examination Records from an educational point of view. The focus is on a presentation of one particular document of a Hungarian Catholic priest in a small village from the early 19th century. The record keeps track of the reading and writing skills of…

Early tendencies of peace education in Sweden are discussed in this document. The time span is from the second part of the 19th century to the beginning of World War II. Peace education put special emphasis on exposing the contradiction between religious and history education. Religious education preached love and reconciliatory spirit, while…