World Wiews in Norwegian RE

Abstract

Signposts recommend that secular world views should be included in religious education teaching, but often, they are not. In Norway, world views have been part of religious education since 1974. What does the world view concept mean in teaching and learning in practice? Observing in classes showed that students gave world views varying meaning, and that in the teaching it was given a broad meaning: »Everyone has a worldview, some are religious some are not«. Religion and worldviews were used as a pair of core concepts which served as a tool for describing the current plurality of world views. The concept ›world view‹ was used with reference both to personal and organised world views.The varying meanings are mirrored in the subject curriculum. This does not add up to one consistent meaning but is representative of how the concept is used in Norwegian language. This is compatible with the way religious and nonreligious convictions are described in Signposts.