An emerging option in several European countries has been the state provision of publicly funded Islamic education. It is an alternative that lies at the heart of concerns over religious freedom, equal rights to education, integration, and social cohesion, but that is also connected to matters of securitization and the state’s attempt to control Islam. This article compares the provision of faith-based schooling in general, but publicly funded Islamic education in particular, in Finland and Sweden—two neighboring countries, historically and culturally connected, but with a different approach to faith based schooling.

This postscript relates the findings of ReDi studies to the Council of Europe's work on the religious dimension of intercultural education, and to studies conducted by members of the Signposts International Research Network (SIRN). It summarizes developments in religious education and their relationship to human rights, and then focuses on Council of Europe's work. The findings reported by ReDi and SIRN researchers are seen to be complementary, both addressing issues raised in the Council of Europe's Signposts book.

In this article, we explore pedagogical approaches in Islamic Supplementary Education (ISE) in Norway by presenting the narratives of two Qur’an teachers. Drawing inspiration from narrative research and microhistory, we examine their stories and experiences of teaching ISE in the context of an increasingly multireligious society. When we employ Watts’ dimensions of religious scripture and Rosowskys concept of faith literacy, we find that the teachers advocate for various dimensions of the Qur’an in relation to the knowledge deemed most beneficial for Muslim children in Norway. Finally, we explore the potential implications of our findings for teachers in mainstream education.