General Introduction 21 1 to transmit one’s own views, but this is only possible if there is also room for people—including pupils—who live, think or believe differently. (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2020, p. 3; translation by the author) This challenge is recognised in the schools themselves: they feel the need to be socially accountable for, among other things, their civic education goals (Bertram-Troost et al., 2015b). Also from a religious and pedagogical perspective, the question of how best to equip pupils for participation in today’s society is alive in orthodox Protestant schools (Bijl, 2021; Exalto, 2018; Exalto & Bertram-Troost, 2019; Molenaar, 2019; Slagboom, 2021). Schools sometimes hesitate about how to interpret the legislature’s description of citizenship education, as among other reasons it would clash with the school’s own moral values and would require too much openness to other religions or worldviews (Bosma, 2020; Kunz & Van Doleweerd, 2021; Schreuders, 2021; Van den Brink, 2020). Internal and external religious diversity in OPPSs There is little explicit understanding of how OPPSs balance religious diversity in society in relation to their mono-religious characteristics (De Muynck & De Kock, 2009; MartínezAriño & Teinturier, 2019). When dealing with religious diversity in society and the contribution of education, the academic debate is mainly about secular versus multireligious or interreligious education in religious schools instead of mono-religious education (De Muynck & De Kock, 2009; Martínez‑Ariño & Teinturier, 2019).10 A number of Dutch empirical studies from the last twenty years indirectly describe how OPPS teachers relate to the particularity of their schools and/or to the diversity of society (e.g., Bakker & Rigg, 2004; Beemsterboer, 2018; Bertram-Troost, 2011; Bertram-Troost et al., 2015b; Boele-de Bruin & De Muynck, 2018; Budak, 2021; De Muynck, 2008; De Wolff et al., 2003; De Wolff, 2000; Pike, 2005, 2010; Rijke, 2019; Toes, 2015; Van Hardeveld, 2003; Van der Want et al., 2009; Wardekker & Miedema, 2001). I discuss some of these studies below, namely those dealing with the characterisation of orthodox Protestant schools and those dealing with the goals or motives of teachers in these schools. In addition, I point to recent literature from the context of Islamic education in the Netherlands. 10 In this thesis I use the terms ‘religious schools’ and ‘public schools’ as they most closely reflect the Dutch situation, where the literature also speaks of ‘faith-based schools’ and ‘secular schools’, respectively. Later on I will also use the term ‘denominational schools’ to refer to the non-public schools in the Netherlands. These are not only schools with a specific religious orientation, but also those with an educational or other ideological orientation (cf. Glenn & De Groof, 2005).
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