Importing mosque pedagogy from Turkey: an analysis of contextual factors shaping re-contextualisation processes in the Netherlands

Abstract

This article explores how mosque pedagogy was imported from Turkey through imams who were appointed to the Netherlands, and textbooks developed and printed in Turkey. Furthermore, this article examines how a range of contextual factors have reshaped the imported pedagogy in mosque classes. The factors identified in the analysis include language policies, the influence of pedagogical practices in mainstream Dutch schools, concerns about student motivation, and in the backdrop of fears of cultural alienation and assimilation in a Western context, the imperative of nurturing an Islamic and Turkish identity among ethnic minority children. This paper is based on a case study in a Turkish mosque in the Netherlands. The findings demonstrate how a myriad of individual, societal, cultural and institutional factors reshaped imported pedagogy. At the same time, this paper highlights how mosque pedagogy is not only an educational matter but increasingly immersed within competing societal and political agendas of two states.