Page 18 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema

CHAPTER 1
identity: identity is not only interpreted in a religious way, but also in a pedagogical, educational, and sometimes organizational and social way. Ter Avest et al. call this an integrated way of looking at the identity of a school: in this way, school identity is the result of a “coordinated view on education in which the educational theory comprises the pedagogical and didactical as well as the organizational views in mutual relationship with the religious philosophy of life” (2007, 212). Besides this integrated school identity, a restricted identity can be distinguished: the religious identity of the school is interpreted as and recognized in the religious activities in education (Ter Avest 2003; Ter Avest et al. 2007). In line with Ter Avest and Bakker (2007), we interpret school identity primarily as an interaction between the behavior and the beliefs of the teachers and everyday practice. This interaction constitutes the school’s identity, also including the perceptions that are “explicitly written down, e.g. in formal and official school documents” (Ter Avest and Bakker 2007, 122).
In De Wolff’s definition, Faber (2012) recognizes three aspects that she derives from literature about organizational identity: school identity is self-referential, shared and relational. In these aspects, we see an inclusive interpretation of school identity, appropriate for cooperation schools. It is inclusive because these aspects apply generally to all types of schools, independent from the religious or pedagogical orientation of the school (Faber 2012). The self-referential aspect is “a set of beliefs or meanings that answer this self- reflexive question” (Faber 2012, 41). We interpret the self-reflexive question as querying self-identification: How do organizations interpret themselves? What do they hold dear? What values direct their policy and practice? In this line, Mulder (2012) refers to how organizations reflect on their core values. We interpret this search for values as the “typical or characteristic features of this school” (De Wolff 2000, 53). The features have to be described in the context of modern Western society: Mulder (2012) recognizes a coherence between the quest for the self- referential aspect and the fact that the Dutch society is no longer ‘pillarized’, i.e. divided into separated denominations.
The aspect of a shared identity points to the question of which values and self- understanding “the members of the school have in common” (De Wolff 2000, 53) in their perspective on education. We recognize the aspect of a shared identity in the emphasis by Mulder (2012) that existential questions about the quality
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