Diversiteit in de klas: perspectieven van de leerkracht. Een kwalitatief-empirisch onderzoek naar de wijzen waarop leerkrachten in het protestants-christelijk primair onderwijs betekenis toekennen aan religieuze en etnische diversiteit van leerlingen

Abstract

Diversity in the classroom: pupil diversity as constructed by teachers at Protestant-Christian primary schools in the Netherlands (Dutch, with a summary in English) Original title: Diversiteit in de klas: perspectieven van de leerkracht. This Ph.D. dissertation distinguishes the contradictory ideals that Dutch primary school teachers adhere to with regard to religious and ethnic diversity of children in their classroom. Despite secularisation and 'de-pillarization' of Dutch institutions in general, a large number of primary schools in the Netherlands is of 'Protestant-Christian' denomination. Many of these schools have a religiously and ethnically diverse school population. How do teachers, given their cultural concext, relate to this diversity in their classroom? The research consists of a theoretical and an empirical part. The theoretical part describes psychological theories regarding social perception and diversity. Social psychological theories about group construction (Tajfel, 1982) and the role of discourse (Billig, 1985), the cultural setting of education (Bruner, 1996) and the interconnectedness of national, ethnic and religious identities (Baumann, 1999) are discussed. The cultural context of teachers in the Netherlands is reconstructed at three levels: national, professional and personal. Special attention is given to insights from the psychology of religion, in which orthodox religious views may negatively influence tolerance for the religious other. A discourse analytical methodical approach by means of in-depth interviews is chosen for the empirical part of the study. In these interviews, teachers working at different Protestant-Christian primary schools describe the differences between children in their classroom, the values they want to teach, their aim for religious education, their own religious views and the concept of a 'christian school'. The aim of - and criterion for - selection was to create a diverse group of respondents, who differed in age, gender, location of their schools and school population. The search for new respondents ended when the data became saturated, and answers appeared which were similar to those already heard in previous interviews, which was after 18 interviews. The analysis of the interviews results in the distinction of five dominant, but often contradictory, discourses in which teachers express themselves when describing their strategies in dealing with pupil diversity. These were: a discourse of respect, a discourse of diversity as value, a discourse of equal treatment, a discourse of segregation and a discourse of autonomy. All teachers entered different discourses during the interview, each discourse generating its own version of diversity, its own vision on relevant categories, ideals at stake, and solutions to problems. A pragmatic approach to dilemmas is possible when one single ideal or discourse is not the exclusive viewpoint to a problem, but when in each situation several ideals are weighed against each other. The individual strategies of the teachers are confined by social conventions and restrictions on both an organisational and a national level. The opinions of teachers are also shaped by these conventions. However, this research shows that not organisational school identity, but the personal religiosity of teachers are the most influential in the ways in which children of different religious and ethnic backgrounds are viewed.