SCHOOL ETHOS AND ITS RELIGIOUS DIMENSION

  • Cok Bakker Utrecht University
  • Ina ter Avest CHN University at Leeuwarden

Abstract

In the Netherlands the debate on the identity of a school is influenced by the long and dominant history of a close linking between religious traditions (mainly the Christian tradition) and the design of the national school system. For almost 100 years, most schools, formally speaking, are so called Christian schools. This is not an accidental adverb used to indicate some of the Dutch schools, but it has a strong juridical basis. In recent education a certain discrepancy is experienced between the formal corporate identity of a school and the actual identity of the school population. This discrepancy is the central matter of this article. We present two research projects by which this discrepancy is explored. The key issue seems to be that in Dutch education there is a strong need for a paradigm shift from a more deductive to a more inductive reflection on school ethos.
Published
2013-06-12
Section
Articles