Page 51 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema

MERGING IDENTITIES. EXPERIMENTS IN DUTCH PRIMARY EDUCATION
One question in the survey asked about key values in the formal integrated
religious identity that the respondents see as characteristic for their school, it 2 being a cooperation school. The data show that one value is dominant: equality.
‘Equality’ is interpreted as a certain attitude towards differences within the
school population and in society. One respondent writes: “The thought behind a
cooperation school is to see the school as a meeting place of different life views.
Therefore, our school is accessible for anyone who wishes to participate in this
encounter. Regardless of ethnicity or life view” (Respondent A). Five respondents
consider ‘respect’ as typical of the integrated religious identity. This is noticeable,
for ‘respect’ can be seen as an expression of equality: students are raised to
encounter a variety of views without any exclusive and dominant view. Other
mentioned values resembling ‘equality’ were: ‘mutual understanding’, ‘encounter’,
‘trust’ and ‘dialogue’.
Furthermore, in the online documents of the non-response ‘equality’ is a key value as well: eight schools mention this specific term. Thirteen (also) mention ‘respect’.
Fig. 3 N=17
(more answers possible)
Another question was asked about possible values of public education that the respondents recognize in the school identity. Based on the theory, we distinguished: open admittance of students, open admittance of staff, active multiformity and religiousneutrality.Ourquestionwaswhetherwecouldidentifyaconnectionbetween the emphasis placed on equality and the mentioned values of public education. All principals recognized values of public education in their identity and policy
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