The Role of the Education Sector in the Prevention of Violent Extremism in Finland

The Finnish Ministry of the Interior has published a new National Action Plan for the Prevention of Violent Radicalisation and Extremism (2019-2023). The section focusing on the role of education has been written by the researchers Saija Benjamin and Pia Koirikivi from the Growing up radical? -research group together with doctoral researcher Katja Vallinkoski and the Finnish National Board of Education.

The role of the education sector is depicted in the Action Plan with a model for Supporting Resilience, Democracy and Dialogue Against Violent Radicalization and Extremism in Educational Institutions (REDI). The model is illustrated in the picture below. The model starts from the self-reflection and recognition of educators’ own preconceptions and knowledge related to extremism and proceeds to the broad-based prevention of extremism through the development of various types of knowledge and skills. Countering extremism and taking action in situations that raise concern in the educators form an important but small part of the prevention work. 

 
REDI-model

 

The National Action Plan is available in Finnish online. An English translation of the document will be published in the spring of 2020.