The intensification of radical and extremist thinking has become an international cause of concern and the fear related to terrorism has increased worldwide. Early 21st century public discourses have been correspondingly marked by hate speech and ideological propaganda spread from a variety of perspectives through the intensified presence of global social media networks. In many countries, governments have reacted to these perceived and actual threats by drafting policies and preventive programs and legal-security interventions to tackle radicalization, terrorism itself, as well as ideological extremism. Many of the current strategies point to the critical role of societal education. As a result, educational institutions have gained growing importance as platforms for different kinds of prevention protocols or counter-terrorism strategies. However, notably less attention has been paid on the consistencies of values between the aims of the educational strategies for preventing or countering ideological extremism and the core functions of education in fostering individual and societal well-being and growth. Using Finnish education as a case, this paper discusses the challenges and possibilities related to educational institutions as spaces for preventing violent extremism, with special regard to the religious and nationalistic ideologies that divert from those inherent in the national hegemony. This study highlights the need to plan counter-terrorism strategies in line with national educational policies through what we conceptualize as ‘institutional habitus’.

Resilience has been highlighted in educational policies internationally as one of the key elements that may prevent negative developmental trajectories, such as radicalization into violent extremism. To examine the factors that contribute to resilience at adolescence and to understand how resilience relates to wellbeing this study investigates the resilience resources of Finnish youth (n=2837). Furthermore, we examined the relationship between resilience and the youth’s self-reported levels of empathy and beneficence (pro-social orientation), life satisfaction and meaning in life (contentment with life), and their intention for non-violent action (activism), and intention for violent actions (radicalism). The results of the latent profile analysis suggest that high resilience resources are related to higher levels of pro-social orientation and contentment with life, while the opposite is true for low resilience resources. However, the findings do not indicate any significant connection between low resilience resources and an increased intent for activism or radicalism.

As part of citizenship education, the prevention of radicalization and extremism through education (PVE-E) is an urgent initiative of global educational policy. According to research, radicalized individuals, despite the ideology held, have mindsets that challenge equality and social justice. In this light, this study examines the intergroup mindsets of Finnish students aged 16–19 in vocational institutions through a mixed methods research survey ( n = 383). Three distinct intergroup mindsets were found in a profile analysis. The findings demonstrate that the intergroup mindsets of the students are predominantly egalitarian, open-minded, and inclusive. However, there are also students whose mindsets are anti-egalitarian and pro-dominance, and for whom Finnishness is a marker of borders and social exclusion. If intensified and manipulated, the views of these youth may become radicalized with serious implications for national security and societal cohesion.We argue that in PVE-E, the focus on critical thinking must be complemented with transformative approaches that support the development of mindsets based on social justice and equality.

Initiatives for preventing radicalization and violent extremism through education (PVE-E) have become a feature of global educational policy and educational institutions across all phases, from early childhood to universities, also in Finland. If schools may be regarded as safe spaces here for identity and worldview construction and experiences of belonging, the specific subject matter of PVE-E is also dangerous territory. Not least because of PVE-E’s focus on radicalization, but above all because of perceptions of schools being used as an adjunct of governmental counter-terrorism policy. We argue that understanding young people’s views on issues related to radicalization and violent extremism is critical in order to develop ethical, sustainable, contextualized, and pedagogical approaches to prevent hostilities and foster peaceful co-existence. After providing some critical framing of the Finnish educational context in a broader international setting, we thus examine young people’s views (n = 3617) in relation to the safe spaces through online survey data gathered as a part of our larger 4-year research project Growing up radical? The role of educational institutions in guiding young people’s worldview construction. Specifically focused on Finland but with potentially wider international implications, more understanding about the topic of PVE-E is needed to inform teacher education and training, to which our empirical data makes some innovative contribution.

Prejudices are innate to the human condition and at the base of most conflicts between social groups. Yet, despite much local and global educational effort to promote equality and peace, expressions of hate and violence are omnipresent across the globe. For gaining more understanding about the complex relationship between values and beliefs that influence people’s prejudiced attitudes towards others, this study investigates how Finnish upper-secondary level students (16- to 20-year-olds), on the one hand, affiliate themselves with self-transcendent values, and on the other hand, narrate prejudices towards others. The complementary quantitative (n = 2873) and qualitative (n = 2200) survey responses show that the young people regarded equality and the promotion of peace as the most important values for themselves but, despite this explicit appreciation of these self-transcendent values, they also exhibit several types of prejudice towards others. The findings show that the youth narratives of prejudices are mainly justified with their prior experiences, their imaginaries related to insecurity, disturbances, and conflicts with people who they deem to have lifestyles different from their own. This study expands existing knowledge by suggesting that the main rationales behind young people’s prejudices are not based on traditional social categorisations, or core values, but on differences expressed through individual lifestyles.

Analytical and Methodological Considerations for the Use of Social Categories in Identity Research: 10.4018/IJBIDE.2016010102: This paper examines the limitations of measuring identities as based on pre-selected categories, such as ‘immigrant' or ‘Third Culture Kid', within which the