Martin Ubani
Biographic Data
| ID | 1047522 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Martin Ubani |
| GIVEN NAMES | Martin |
| FAMILY NAME | Ubani |
| SIGNATURE | UBANI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Eastern Finland |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4877-4094 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Teachers’ talk about worldview dialogues between home and school. A Finnish case-study
This study explored Finnish basic education teachers’ talk about worldview dialogues between teachers and guardians in Nordic, and more specifically in the Finnish context. Applying thematic discourse analysis to data from semi-structured interviews (N = 5) of the basic education teachers, we identified two discourses: differing worldviews and value conflicts between school and guardians. Results highlight that, from the teacher’s point of view, …
Organised and personal worldviews revisited. Advancing a concept for religious and worldview education
Religious Literacy as a Literacy ? Conceptual Elaboration in a 21st Century Learning Framework
The purpose of this article is to contribute to the scholarship on religious literacy by exploring the ‘literacy’ of religious literacy within a twenty first century learning framework. The article will first focus on the concept of literacy and the twenty first century new learning ideals. After a brief discussion on the concepts of ‘religion’ and ‘religious’, the article will proceed to discuss ‘literacy’ in religious literacy through seven qua…
Accepted Visibility of Worldviews in Finnish Basic Education – Teachers’ Attitudes in Boundary Setting
This study examines the attitudes of teachers toward the visibility of worldviews in public education as well as how teachers negotiate the boundaries of acceptability based on these attitudes. The question raised several issues: on the one hand, the clashing of increasingly complex, diverse, and secularized worldviews and, on the other hand, the strong roots of Christian hegemony in Finland. Twenty in-service teachers were interviewed for this s…
A qualitative analysis of Finnish RE students’ perceptions of their professional development during their initial teacher education
This article studies three RE (religious education) student teachers’ perceptions about their professional development from the beginning to the end of their initial teacher education. The focus of study was to investigate via an inductive content analysis if there are the same kind of phases in RE teacher education and how those phases are in relation to their training. Based on their characterisations of professional development, three phases w…
Is worldview education achieved in schools? A study of Finnish teachers’ perceptions of worldview education as a component of basic education
In recent years, the concept of ‘worldview’ has resurfaced into the forefront of the international debate among scholars of religious education. With this study, we aim to contribute to the discussion with empirical material having a focus on worldview education in whole school education. The study deals with the Finnish teachers’ perceptions of worldview education in basic education. Teachers (N = 110) responded to a questionnaire concerning the…
The Lutheran Military Chaplaincy in the Finnish Defence Forces' Organisation Today. A Multi-Method Approach
The Finnish military chaplains' work focuses on supporting the conscripts' ethical functioning ability as well as overall wellbeing of the people in the Finnish Defence Forces. This article gives the military chaplains an opportunity to tell in their own words what kind of issues relate to their perceptions working as a successful religious professional in this unique context. The research was carried out with a multi-method data, that includes a…
How is Military Chaplaincy in Europe Portrayed in European Scientific Journal Articles between 2000 and 2019? A Multidisciplinary Review
This article focuses on the portrayal of the military chaplaincy in Europe in European scientific journal articles during the past two decades. The military chaplaincy represents an interesting case as it is a member of two strong professions: a soldier and the clergy. Furthermore, the profession is facing many challenges connected to diversification and pluralisation, networking, technology, and extraprofessional collaboration. The data of the r…
Dialogue, Worldview Inclusivity, and Intra-Religious Diversity: Addressing Diversity through Religious Education in the Finnish Basic Education Curriculum
The purpose of this article is to discuss how religious and non-religious diversity are addressed in the current national core curriculum for religious education (RE) in basic education in Finland. We first discuss the educational developments behind the Finnish curricular reform, and then focus on issues related to RE and RE research in Finland. We then describe the key contextual contributors to the current RE curriculum in basic education befo…
The expectations of Finnish RE student teachers of their professional development in their academic studies in the light of twenty-first-century skills
This study examines what kind of expectations religious education (RE) student teachers have about their professional development during their academic studies. The study focuses on eight RE student teachers in teacher education in Finland. The students were studied in light of the twenty-first-century skills framework. The analysis was deductive content analysis with quantification of the results. There were several results from the study. For i…
Introduction to religions and world views creating purpose and meaning for learning
The topic of this special issue is ‘Religions and worldviews creating purpose and meaning for learning’. Scholars such as Noddings (1993) and Nash (2002) have called for increased attention to issu
The holistic and spiritual relevance of Bible stories among Finnish 10-year-old pupils: A classroom case study
In this article, we explore what kind of relevance Bible stories have on 10-year-old pupils in religious education lessons. The data was gathered in Lutheran RE lessons in Finland. The Bible stories were told by using special storytelling methods, Godly Play and Religious Pedagogic Practice. The study used stimulated recall method interviews to study the reflections the students (N = 9) had during lessons. Analysis was done via deductive content …
Issues in spiritual formation in early lifespan contexts
Past decades have witnessed a strong expansion of research on spirituality and spiritual education. From examining the volumes from International Journal of Children’s Spirituality alone it can be
Do students feel authentic in integrated RE? A quantitative analysis
The purpose of this article is to present quantitative results concerning students’ sense of authenticity during a teaching experiment conducted in Finnish ninth grade religious education classes in 2014. In this experiment, students (N = 24) from three different faith traditions (Lutheran, Orthodox, secular humanist) studied ethical contents together on four subsequent lessons. The analysis showed some differences in students’ experiences of com…
What makes students feel authentic in an integrated RE classroom
The focus of this article is on 9th grade students’ (N = 9) perceptions on aspects that make them feel authentic in integrated religious education (RE) lessons among students of various faiths. All of the students had previously studied RE in segregated groups. The data was collected in a collaborative teaching experiment in Finland with student interviews. The students included young people between the ages of 15 and 16 from Lutheran RE, Orthodo…
Evolving cultures of religious education: New perspectives on research, policies and practices
The theme of this special issue is: “Evolving cultures of religious education: new perspectives on research, policies and practices”. ‘Culture’ is in itself an ambiguous term that includes “all the
Spirituality, religiosity, values and identity of children, youth and young adults
Spirituality, religiosity, values and identity of children, youth and young adults
Spirituality, religiosity, values and identity of children, youth and young adults
Teaching religious education as a second choice. The case of three male student teachers in Finland
This article explores the professional reflection of three male religious education (RE) student teachers during their one-year pedagogical training. The participants (n = 3) interviewed in this article were chosen on the basis of their self-report in the questionnaire in which they claimed no previous teaching experience. The participants were interviewed three times: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of their one-year teacher educa…
Spiritual sensitivity in the classroom: A teaching experiment in Finnish upper secondary religious education
The interest to research spirituality in the classroom has been constant over the last decade. However, empirical research into classroom pedagogy and the lived experience of religious education has been scarce. This study describes a small-scale intervention that aimed to promote students’ spiritual reflection in Finnish upper secondary school RE classes by using stimulating tasks. One class (N = 23) of upper secondary school students (16–18 yea…
Threats and solutions: Multiculturalism, religion and educational policy
The purpose of this article is to discuss how the interplay between multiculturalism, religion and education is described in Finnish national policy documents. The research question was as follows: How is the interplay between multiculturalism, religion and education portrayed in Finnish national policy? The data examined in this study included the national policy documents from 1998 to 2009. The qualitative analysis proposed five policy concerns…
How do Finnish pre‐adolescents perceive religion and spirituality
The purpose of this study is to investigate how Finnish pre‐adolescents perceive religion and spirituality. The participants of the study are 12‐ to 13‐year‐old Grade 6 pupils (N=102). The pupils were asked to give their meanings of religion and spirituality. The data includes over 700 written expressions on the two concepts. The qualitative content analysis of the data produced three dimensions. They were called the institutional dimension, the …
Conceptual Definition and Empirical Validation of the Spiritual Sensitivity Scale
In this study, we extend the Multiple Intelligence Profile Questionnaire (Tirri and Komulainen, 2002) based on Gardner's (1983) MI theory with spiritual intelligence (SQ). The operationalization of SQ was tested with an empirical sample of Finnish preadolescents, adolescents and adults (N = 496). First, we studied if 20 spiritual intelligence items reflect the categories of spiritual sensitivity (Hay, 1998; Bradford, 1995). The categories are: Aw…
Threats and solutions: Multiculturalism, religion and educational policy
The purpose of this article is to discuss how the interplay between multiculturalism, religion and education is described in Finnish national policy documents. The research question was as follows: How is the interplay between multiculturalism, religion and education portrayed in Finnish national policy? The data examined in this study included the national policy documents from 1998 to 2009. The qualitative analysis proposed five policy concerns…
Dialogue, Worldview Inclusivity, and Intra-Religious Diversity: Addressing Diversity through Religious Education in the Finnish Basic Education Curriculum
The purpose of this article is to discuss how religious and non-religious diversity are addressed in the current national core curriculum for religious education (RE) in basic education in Finland. We first discuss the educational developments behind the Finnish curricular reform, and then focus on issues related to RE and RE research in Finland. We then describe the key contextual contributors to the current RE curriculum in basic education befo…
How do Finnish pre‐adolescents perceive religion and spirituality
The purpose of this study is to investigate how Finnish pre‐adolescents perceive religion and spirituality. The participants of the study are 12‐ to 13‐year‐old Grade 6 pupils (N=102). The pupils were asked to give their meanings of religion and spirituality. The data includes over 700 written expressions on the two concepts. The qualitative content analysis of the data produced three dimensions. They were called the institutional dimension, the …
Conceptual Definition and Empirical Validation of the Spiritual Sensitivity Scale
In this study, we extend the Multiple Intelligence Profile Questionnaire (Tirri and Komulainen, 2002) based on Gardner's (1983) MI theory with spiritual intelligence (SQ). The operationalization of SQ was tested with an empirical sample of Finnish preadolescents, adolescents and adults (N = 496). First, we studied if 20 spiritual intelligence items reflect the categories of spiritual sensitivity (Hay, 1998; Bradford, 1995). The categories are: Aw…
Threats and solutions: Multiculturalism, religion and educational policy
The purpose of this article is to discuss how the interplay between multiculturalism, religion and education is described in Finnish national policy documents. The research question was as follows: How is the interplay between multiculturalism, religion and education portrayed in Finnish national policy? The data examined in this study included the national policy documents from 1998 to 2009. The qualitative analysis proposed five policy concerns…
Spiritual sensitivity in the classroom: A teaching experiment in Finnish upper secondary religious education
The interest to research spirituality in the classroom has been constant over the last decade. However, empirical research into classroom pedagogy and the lived experience of religious education has been scarce. This study describes a small-scale intervention that aimed to promote students’ spiritual reflection in Finnish upper secondary school RE classes by using stimulating tasks. One class (N = 23) of upper secondary school students (16–18 yea…
Teaching religious education as a second choice. The case of three male student teachers in Finland
This article explores the professional reflection of three male religious education (RE) student teachers during their one-year pedagogical training. The participants (n = 3) interviewed in this article were chosen on the basis of their self-report in the questionnaire in which they claimed no previous teaching experience. The participants were interviewed three times: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of their one-year teacher educa…
Spirituality, religiosity, values and identity of children, youth and young adults
Spirituality, religiosity, values and identity of children, youth and young adults
Spirituality, religiosity, values and identity of children, youth and young adults
The holistic and spiritual relevance of Bible stories among Finnish 10-year-old pupils: A classroom case study
In this article, we explore what kind of relevance Bible stories have on 10-year-old pupils in religious education lessons. The data was gathered in Lutheran RE lessons in Finland. The Bible stories were told by using special storytelling methods, Godly Play and Religious Pedagogic Practice. The study used stimulated recall method interviews to study the reflections the students (N = 9) had during lessons. Analysis was done via deductive content …
Issues in spiritual formation in early lifespan contexts
Past decades have witnessed a strong expansion of research on spirituality and spiritual education. From examining the volumes from International Journal of Children’s Spirituality alone it can be
Do students feel authentic in integrated RE? A quantitative analysis
The purpose of this article is to present quantitative results concerning students’ sense of authenticity during a teaching experiment conducted in Finnish ninth grade religious education classes in 2014. In this experiment, students (N = 24) from three different faith traditions (Lutheran, Orthodox, secular humanist) studied ethical contents together on four subsequent lessons. The analysis showed some differences in students’ experiences of com…
What makes students feel authentic in an integrated RE classroom
The focus of this article is on 9th grade students’ (N = 9) perceptions on aspects that make them feel authentic in integrated religious education (RE) lessons among students of various faiths. All of the students had previously studied RE in segregated groups. The data was collected in a collaborative teaching experiment in Finland with student interviews. The students included young people between the ages of 15 and 16 from Lutheran RE, Orthodo…
Evolving cultures of religious education: New perspectives on research, policies and practices
The theme of this special issue is: “Evolving cultures of religious education: new perspectives on research, policies and practices”. ‘Culture’ is in itself an ambiguous term that includes “all the
The expectations of Finnish RE student teachers of their professional development in their academic studies in the light of twenty-first-century skills
This study examines what kind of expectations religious education (RE) student teachers have about their professional development during their academic studies. The study focuses on eight RE student teachers in teacher education in Finland. The students were studied in light of the twenty-first-century skills framework. The analysis was deductive content analysis with quantification of the results. There were several results from the study. For i…
Introduction to religions and world views creating purpose and meaning for learning
The topic of this special issue is ‘Religions and worldviews creating purpose and meaning for learning’. Scholars such as Noddings (1993) and Nash (2002) have called for increased attention to issu
How is Military Chaplaincy in Europe Portrayed in European Scientific Journal Articles between 2000 and 2019? A Multidisciplinary Review
This article focuses on the portrayal of the military chaplaincy in Europe in European scientific journal articles during the past two decades. The military chaplaincy represents an interesting case as it is a member of two strong professions: a soldier and the clergy. Furthermore, the profession is facing many challenges connected to diversification and pluralisation, networking, technology, and extraprofessional collaboration. The data of the r…
Dialogue, Worldview Inclusivity, and Intra-Religious Diversity: Addressing Diversity through Religious Education in the Finnish Basic Education Curriculum
The purpose of this article is to discuss how religious and non-religious diversity are addressed in the current national core curriculum for religious education (RE) in basic education in Finland. We first discuss the educational developments behind the Finnish curricular reform, and then focus on issues related to RE and RE research in Finland. We then describe the key contextual contributors to the current RE curriculum in basic education befo…
A qualitative analysis of Finnish RE students’ perceptions of their professional development during their initial teacher education
This article studies three RE (religious education) student teachers’ perceptions about their professional development from the beginning to the end of their initial teacher education. The focus of study was to investigate via an inductive content analysis if there are the same kind of phases in RE teacher education and how those phases are in relation to their training. Based on their characterisations of professional development, three phases w…
Is worldview education achieved in schools? A study of Finnish teachers’ perceptions of worldview education as a component of basic education
In recent years, the concept of ‘worldview’ has resurfaced into the forefront of the international debate among scholars of religious education. With this study, we aim to contribute to the discussion with empirical material having a focus on worldview education in whole school education. The study deals with the Finnish teachers’ perceptions of worldview education in basic education. Teachers (N = 110) responded to a questionnaire concerning the…
The Lutheran Military Chaplaincy in the Finnish Defence Forces' Organisation Today. A Multi-Method Approach
The Finnish military chaplains' work focuses on supporting the conscripts' ethical functioning ability as well as overall wellbeing of the people in the Finnish Defence Forces. This article gives the military chaplains an opportunity to tell in their own words what kind of issues relate to their perceptions working as a successful religious professional in this unique context. The research was carried out with a multi-method data, that includes a…
Accepted Visibility of Worldviews in Finnish Basic Education – Teachers’ Attitudes in Boundary Setting
This study examines the attitudes of teachers toward the visibility of worldviews in public education as well as how teachers negotiate the boundaries of acceptability based on these attitudes. The question raised several issues: on the one hand, the clashing of increasingly complex, diverse, and secularized worldviews and, on the other hand, the strong roots of Christian hegemony in Finland. Twenty in-service teachers were interviewed for this s…
Organised and personal worldviews revisited. Advancing a concept for religious and worldview education
Religious Literacy as a Literacy ? Conceptual Elaboration in a 21st Century Learning Framework
The purpose of this article is to contribute to the scholarship on religious literacy by exploring the ‘literacy’ of religious literacy within a twenty first century learning framework. The article will first focus on the concept of literacy and the twenty first century new learning ideals. After a brief discussion on the concepts of ‘religion’ and ‘religious’, the article will proceed to discuss ‘literacy’ in religious literacy through seven qua…
Teachers’ talk about worldview dialogues between home and school. A Finnish case-study
This study explored Finnish basic education teachers’ talk about worldview dialogues between teachers and guardians in Nordic, and more specifically in the Finnish context. Applying thematic discourse analysis to data from semi-structured interviews (N = 5) of the basic education teachers, we identified two discourses: differing worldviews and value conflicts between school and guardians. Results highlight that, from the teacher’s point of view, …
Psychology (17 works) · Religious Education and Schools (17 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Pedagogy (13 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works)