With uncertainty as companion. Teachers navigating the terrain of worldview education in Finland-Swedish early childhood education and care

This study explores the multifaceted and increasingly complex reality encountered by teachers in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings, with a particular interest in worldview education. The study originates from readings of performative accounts, specifically transcripts from interviews with teachers (n = 11) in four ECEC settings in Swedish-speaking parts of Finland, with a focus on worldview education. Given that religions, traditions and worldviews are often considered sensitive areas, ECEC teachers articulate concern about inadvertently making mistakes. This apprehension is compounded by a perceived lack of sufficient subject-specific knowledge, which further contributes to their insecurity in addressing these topics within ECEC settings. In diffractive readings, the philosophical concept of uncertainty and the notion of superdiversity become companions to read and think through. The diffractive readings suggest that respondents are uncertain about how to approach and explore religions, traditions and worldviews together with children in a curious and open-minded manner. We approach these uncertainties not as problems to be resolved but as generative and performative forces. Through a post-qualitative methodological orientation and drawing on a relational ontology, we seek to remain attuned to the movements and entanglements that uncertainty invites rather than attempting to stabilise or define it.