Religious diversity within Dutch schools has greatly increased. We carried out an empirical study to offer insights into how secondary school teachers (try to) relate to the formal Protestant Christian identity of their school, the challenges they experience in relation to their own personal worldview, and the recommendations they have to overcome…

The question how (denominational) schools for secondary education influence the religious identity development of adolescents is central in this article. Quantitative empirical research focusing on the religious commitments and explorations (as indicators of religious identity development) of adolescents and on the relationship between these…

This article deals with the question what pedagogical and religious educational contributions have to offer to the debate on citizenship. Some historical background and theoretical conceptualisations of nowadays political focus on citizenship are described particularly focusing on the Dutch case. Explicit attention is given to the role of religion…

The last decade identity is often and very fruitfully conceptualized as "narrative identity." Neither for individuals nor for groups is identity a given beforehand anymore. On the contrary, identity has to be constructed in an inductive way continuously. Three qualitative research methods are applied to explore in an inductive way the…

This study examines religious identity development of pupils at Dutch schools for secondary education (mean age 16.4). With the help of a theoretical conceptualization of "religious identity development" empirical research is carried out. Main question is whether differences in terms of religious commitment and exploration between pupils…

Analysis of key Dutch, Anglo-American, and Germany literature on Christian schools identified different conceptions of their identity: one-dimensional (purely religious); multidimensional (education influenced by but not dependent on Christian worldview); abstract universal versus concrete/contextual; and static versus dynamic. Conceptions did not…