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Islamic Schools in the Netherlands: Compromisingbetween Identity and Quality?Geert Driessen & Pim ValkenbergPublished online: 06 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Geert Driessen & Pim Valkenberg (2000) Islamic Schools in the Netherlands: Compromising betweenIdentity and Quality?, British Journal of Religious Education, 23:1, 15-26

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Islamic Schools in the Netherlands: Compromising

between Identity and Quality?

Geert Driessen and Pim Valkenberg

In the Netherlands there are 28 state-funded Islamic primary schools. Islamic education is a highly

controversial issue. This article describes the results of an empirical study into the functioning of Islamic

schools. Central to this is a comparison of more than half the Islamic schools with schools with a

comparable socio-ethnic pupil population. The focus is on the pupils' backgrounds and achievement

levels, and on their teachers' educational approach. One conclusion is that as far as their achievement

levels, well-being and self-confidence are concerned, there are hardly any differences between pupils at

Islamic and comparable schools.

INTRODUCTION

Just like most other Western European countries, the Netherlands has seen the arrival of a great

many immigrants since World War Two. In terms of numbers, the main countries of origin are

Turkey, Surinam and Morocco, with 271,000, 256,000, and 227,000 persons respectively of a total

Dutch population of 15.5 million inhabitants. These immigrants not only imported new languages

and cultures, but they also brought in new religions. Islam is by far the largest religion in this

respect. It is estimated that at present 673,000 Muslims live in the Netherlands, which is 4.3% of

the total population (CBS 1998). For the European Community, the estimated number of Muslims

is 7 to 10 million (Shadid and Van Koningsveld, S 1996a).

In recent decades, Muslims have set up numerous Islamic institutions, such as mosques and

cemeteries. According to Rath, Groenendijk and Penninx (1991), two independent factors play a

role in this process of institutionalisation: political decision-making, which ultimately leads to

specific legislation and rules, and ideological assumptions with regard to the position of Muslims

in the new country. This process of institutionalisation is highly diversified as a result of major

differences in the current, historically formed situation in the various countries, and of the fact that

the Muslim community itself is divided and that there are differences in the extent to which its

various parts are organised and take initiatives (see Kucukcan 1998).

One of these institutions is Islamic education. In a number of Western European countries

initiatives have been taken to found Islamic schools. Legally speaking, there are no obstacles in

founding separate Islamic schools in countries like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France,

and Germany. However, in practice there are still hardly any Islamic schools that are recognised

and funded by the government. In the Netherlands, there are at present 28 state-funded Islamic

schools. In Denmark, there are 14 such schools, which are, however, only partly financed by the

government, and only open to Arab and Pakistani children. In Germany, there is only one state-

funded Islamic school, as also in Belgium. In England, there are some 60 schools run by Muslims;

however, until recently, none of these received state finding. As from January 1998, two of these

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schools were given grant-maintained status (Balic 1992; Dwyer and Meyer 1995; Ku$ukcan 1998;

Pedersen 1996; Wielandt 1992).

There are several reasons for these differences between the countries. One is that, due to thedifferences in the legislation, a newly founded school is not equally recognised and funded by thestate in the various countries, even if the conditions for founding a school are met. In theNetherlands, the constitutional freedom to found schools, to organise them and to determine theprinciples they are based upon is the cause of the wide variety of schools (see Dijkstra, Dronkersand Hofman 1997). There are two main categories, namely state (or non-denominational orneutral) and denominational (for example, Roman Catholic, Protestant) schools. Under the termsof the Dutch Constitution, all schools are funded on an equal basis. This means that facilitiesprovided for Christians cannot be denied to Muslims. As long as the specified conditions are met,every school is basically entitled to full government funding. The legislation is fairly specific andexplicit, making it hard for the local authorities to prevent the founding of these schools(see Shadid and Van Koningsveld, S 1996b). In contrast with the situation in the Netherlands, insome countries the government does not pay all the costs, and in other countries funding is notgiven until a few years after a school has been founded and proved to be viable (Dwyer andMeyer 1996; Pedersen 1996; Sunier and Meyer 1997). Another reason for the differences betweenthe countries is that there does not always seem to be so strong a need on the part of Islamiccommunities for schools of their own. This is related to how the school system is organised(Wagtendonk 1991). In some countries, for instance, there are alternatives to Islamic schools,such as Islamic religious instruction being provided on a large scale. In the Netherlands, as in theUK, this alternative is virtually absent: only four municipalities offer the possibility of Islamicreligious instruction.

The reasons for founding Islamic schools in the Netherlands are largely the same as those in theUnited Kingdom. British Muslim parents feel that there are not enough possibilities for theirchildren to fast and pray in accordance with the principles of the Islamic faith. Furthermore,clothing regulations and the idea of boys and girls swimming and engaging in other sportstogether and learning about reproduction in biology classes are reasons for their parents to lookfor alternative schools (Abdul Mabud 1992; Haw 1994; Parker-Jenkins 1991). In the Netherlands,additional arguments mentioned include dissatisfaction with the quality of existing schools,improving parental participation, contributing towards the pupils' sense of identity, and emanci-pating the target group (Aarsen and Jansma 1992; Karagul 1994; Landman 1992; Meyer 1993).Shadid and Van Koningsveld, P (1992) summarise the objectives of Islamic schools as follows:

• to strengthen the pupils' sense of identity, that is, cultural and religious personalitydevelopment in the spirit of Islam;

• to improve the quality of education, that is, the pupils' achievement levels.

These aims are very much the same as the ones mentioned by Kucukcan (1998):

• to educate Muslim children according to the highest educational standards and principles of Islam;• to enable them to live, study and work in a multicultural, multireligious environment.

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According to Halstead (1992), Muslims want two things from education:

• the preservation, maintenance and transmission of Islam;• a general education which is good enough to enable them to compete in the employment

market on an equal footing with non-Muslims.

In the Netherlands, the opponents of separate Islamic schools fear, however, that they will lead toisolation and segregation instead of integration, that no real justice is done to western norms andvalues, that they are purely nationality schools, and that they will bring about an exodus from theexisting schools (Teunissen 1990). Kabdan (1992) adds that founding Islamic schools is more anideological and political affair than a religious one. In particular, he feels the traditional fundamen-talist groups would make use of them.

Very little empirical research has been conducted on the concrete functioning of Islamic schools.Most research involves case-studies, examines specific aspects such as ideology, administrativedesign and the position of Muslim women or focuses on methodology (for example, Haw 1996;Kucukcan 1998; Lammers 1993; Osier and Hussain 1995; Shadid and Van Koningsveld, P 1992). Inparticular, no large-scale quantitative information is available as to the backgrounds of the pupilsand their parents, the educational approach of the teachers, and the effects of Islamic educationon the pupils' well-being, self-confidence and achievement levels. The remainder of this article willfocus on the findings of a study into the functioning of Islamic primary schools in the Netherlands.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS, DATA AND METHOD

The central aim of the study is to obtain quantitative and qualitative information on thefunctioning of Islamic primary schools. More specifically, the study focuses on the backgrounds,behavioural and attitudinal features and achievement levels of pupils, and the educationalapproach of teachers and schools. Central to this study is a comparison between Islamic primaryschools and schools with a comparable pupil population. The study consists of two parts, a quanti-tative and a qualitative part. The former can be subdivided into analyses at student level andanalyses at teacher and school level. The latter involves in-depth interviews with headteachers anda governor.

The data used for the study are from the Primary Education Cohort Study ('PRIMA'), a large-scalelongitudinal study with data collected at primary schools every two years from the headteachers,teachers, pupils, and parents. The study started at 692 schools in the 1994-5 school year; this isnearly 10% of the total number of Dutch primary schools. In that year, more than 55,000 pupilsin the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th forms (5- and 6-year-olds to 11- and 12-year-olds) participated in thestudy. In the 1996-7 school year, a second measurement round took place at 622 schools with57,000 pupils. About half of the pupils who took part in the first round did so in the second roundas well. They were the former pupils from the 2nd, 4th and 6th forms (now in the 4th, 6th and8th forms) and the new 2nd form pupils; the former 8th form pupils had meanwhile transferredto secondary school (for extensive information on PRIMA, see Driessen, Van Langen, Portengenand Vierke 1998).

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In the 1996-7 school year, 16 Islamic schools participated in PRIMA, which is more than half of theIslamic schools in the Netherlands. In the analyses, the pupils at these schools were compared withpupils at two other categories of schools, namely a comparable category and a reference category.From the total PRIMA sample, 16 schools were identified with a comparable socio-ethniccomposition of the pupil population. This means that the two categories of schools were identicalas much as possible in terms of the parents' educational level, their occupational level and theirethnic descent. These three features are well-established indicators of educational disadvantageand serve as criteria for the funding of schools in the Netherlands. These criteria were selectedbecause the disadvantaged position of Muslim children has been an important argument forfounding separate Islamic schools. Of these 16 schools ten were non-denominational, five wereProtestant and one was Roman Catholic. As to their composition, both Islamic and comparableschools were so-called black schools, that is, schools with more than 90% ethnic minority pupils.

It was established that the composition of the 16 participating Islamic schools did not deviate fromthe 13 Islamic schools that did not take part in the study (see Driessen and Bezemer 1999a). Withinthe total PRIMA sample, a nationally representative group of 432 schools can be distinguished. Thisrepresentative sample was used as a reference category in the analyses. The schools in thereference category had a total of 39,450 pupils in the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th forms, the Islamiccategory had 1,670 pupils, and the comparable category 1,834 pupils.

The quantitative comparisons between the Islamic schools and the comparable schools were madeby means of analyses of variance. In these analyses, the average scores of both categories ofschools were compared with respect to a large number of features. In order to see whether thereis a relevant difference, the Eta2 coefficient was used. When this value is multiplied by 100, thepercentage of variance accounted for is obtained. The criterion for educational relevance is oftenset at 0.02, which means that a difference is only relevant when at least 2% variance is explained.

RESULTS

Pupil Level Analyses

At pupil level 11 instruments were used. The first instrument, the General Questionnaire,contained questions about the family composition, the native country and educational level ofboth parents, the pupil's gender, age, number of years in the Netherlands, and whether or not thepupil ever repeated a class. These data were collected from the school administration and wereavailable for all pupils. The analyses indicated that, in terms of statistical relevance, there was onlyone difference between the Islamic and comparable schools. The pupils at Islamic schools grow upin two-parent families much more frequently (Eta2=0.05), which can be attributed to the fact thatthe comparable category included more pupils of Surinamese descent, who often live in single-mother families.

Teachers of all four forms filled in a Pupil Profile for all pupils. Information was gathered about thepercentages of pupils who are taught Dutch as Second Language and Minority Language andCulture (for example, Turkish or Arabic instruction), who get homework, and who were at the

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same school the previous year. In addition, the profile included the teachers' recommendations asregards the type of school that is most appropriate for the pupils to attend after primary school.The profile also covered a number of cognitive and noncognitive features: cognitive capacities,underachievement, parental support, self-confidence, attitude towards school work, socialbehaviour, and well-being. Here, the analyses revealed that there were only two clear differencesbetween the Islamic and comparable schools. Nearly twice as many pupils at the Islamic schoolsattend Dutch as Second Language instruction and Minority Language and Culture classes (27.9%compared to 14.1%, Eta2=O.O3, and 98.0% compared to 46.5%, Eta2=0.27, respectively).

The parents of the pupils in the 2nd form were given a Parent Questionnaire about their familysituation. This questionnaire covered more than 40 topics: structural features (for example, numberof children, parents' native country), cultural features (for example, language spoken, cultural andreligious community), educational climate features (for example, importance attached to religion inthe upbringing, satisfaction with the school), and pupil features (for example, attitude towardsschool, relationship with the teacher). The analyses of variance showed that there were somerelatively small differences (Eta2 <0.05) between the Islamic and comparable schools: parents ofpupils at Islamic schools have more children, fathers of pupils at Islamic schools are somewhat bettereducated, and the percentage of parents both born in the Netherlands is lower at Islamic schools.The greatest differences pertained, however, to the cultural and educational climate features: almostall parents of pupils at the Islamic schools (99-100%) consider themselves as belonging to the Muslimcommunity, whereas this is only true of 67-70% of the parents in the comparable category(EtaJ=0.16 and 0.19, respectively). Secondly, at the Islamic schools there are barely any parents whoview themselves or their children as belonging to the Dutch cultural community (3-6%), whereas thisis true of 16-27% of the parents at the comparable schools (Eta2=0.08 and 0.04, respectively).Thirdly, 10% of the parents of children at the Islamic schools usually speak Dutch to each other, ascompared to 24% of the parents of pupils at the comparable schools. Lastly, the parents at theIslamic schools attach far greater importance to their children being brought up according to theirown religion (Eta2=0.11). As regards the pupil features, the children who attend the Islamic schoolswatch television somewhat less frequently than the children at the comparable schools and speakDutch considerably less frequently (Eta2=0.05 and 0.08, respectively).

Two nonverbal Intelligence Tests were given to the pupils in the 4th, 6th and 8th forms. Theanalyses revealed that there were no differences between the pupils in any of the forms' at theIslamic and the comparable schools.

In each form, Language and Arithmetic Tests were administered. The scores on these tests weretransformed in such a way that they can be directly compared over the four forms in the subjectareas of language and arithmetic. Two types of data were available, namely cross-sectional andlongitudinal scores. The cross-sectional data pertain to data measured in the 1996-7 school year.Figure 1 shows the average language and arithmetic achievement levels for each of the threecategories of schools.

From the figure it can be concluded that there are no differences between the Islamic andcomparable schools as regards the language scores. The same holds for the arithmetic scores in

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Figure 1: Language and Arithmetic Scores at Islamic, Comparable andReference Schools at Four Levels

forms 2, 4 and 6. In form 8, however, there was a significant difference in favour of the Islamicschools (Eta2=0.04). It is still true, though, that the achievement levels of the pupils in all forms atthe reference schools were considerably higher; as regards the language scores there weredifferences of up to 1.5 standard deviations and as regards the arithmetic scores up to 0.7standard deviation.

The longitudinal achievement data pertain to the scores of the pupils who completed the two testsin 1994-5 and also two years later in 1996-7. Figure 2 (opposite) shows the development scoresfor language and arithmetic for the Islamic, comparable and reference schools. These scores givean indication of the pupils' progress in the intervening two years.

As regards the language achievement level, the figure shows that there are virtually no progressdifferences between the pupils at the Islamic and the comparable schools, though they do bothdiffer in this respect from the pupils at the reference schools. With respect to the progress from2nd to 4th form, the pupils at the reference category of schools did better, but the opposite is thecase with the progress from 4th to 6th form. Regarding the progress from 6th to 8th form, thereis no difference. As to the entire period, it can be concluded that the language progress is approx-imately the same for the pupils at all three categories of schools. The situation is somewhatdifferent for arithmetic levels. At the Islamic schools, it is in the progress from 2nd to 4th form, aswell as in the progress from 6th to 8th form that the pupils advanced to a greater extent than atthe comparable schools (Eta2=0.02 and 0.05, respectively). If this is compared with the situationat the reference category of schools, it becomes clear that the pupils at the Islamic schools made

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Figure 2: Development Scores in Language and Arithmetic at Islamic, Comparable andReference Schools at Four Levels

far greater advances. For the two-year periods, the differences were 25, 23 and 17 test points,respectively. As can concluded from Figure 1, the latter does not mean, however, that they havereached the level of the pupils from the reference schools. They just started from a much lowerpoint.

At the end of primary school, the 8th form teachers were asked to fill in the Questionnaire onPupils Leaving Primary School. This concerned questions on truancy, drop-out, final primary schoolexamination scores, and the recommendation for secondary school (the type of school the pupil isadvised to attend subsequently). The analyses showed that there are some relevant differencesbetween the Islamic and the comparable schools. The pupils at the Islamic schools cut classes lessfrequently (Eta2=0.03), their teachers feel there is less likelihood of their becoming drop-outs(Eta2=0.05), and the pupils score better on the final examination (Eta2=O.O3).

The pupils in the 6th and 8th forms filled in a questionnaire that distinguished two dimensions,Well-being at School and Self-confidence. A comparison of the averages showed that there are nodifferences between the Islamic and the comparable category of schools.

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Teacher and School Level Analyses

The teachers of forms 4, 6 and 8 were asked to fill in a Teacher Questionnaire, which was identicalfor each form. Topics included the classes they taught, background information on themselves,and their teaching approach. The analyses showed that there are a number of differencesbetween the Islamic and comparable schools. Regarding the class features, the most importantdifference pertains to the number of combination classes (for example, forms 7 and 8 in oneclass), which is much higher at the Islamic schools (Eta2=O.1O). This can be explained by the factthat Islamic schools are smaller and boys and girls are more often educated in separated (single-sex) classes. Furthermore, at Islamic schools homework is given to the pupils more often(Eta2=0.06). As regards the teachers' backgrounds, the analyses showed that teachers at Islamicschools are more acquainted with the Educational Priority Policy, which is specifically geared toimproving the educational opportunities of disadvantaged pupils (Eta2=0.09). Another differenceis that at Islamic schools the teachers have less teaching experience (Eta2=0.07). The reason forthis is probably that most Islamic schools have only been founded recently. Concerning theteaching approach features, the most important difference is that at Islamic schools many moreclasses receive Dutch as Second Language instruction (42.9% compared to 10.0%; Eta2=0.15).Also, according to the teachers at Islamic schools, the teaching approach is much more gearedto the pupils' home situation (Eta2=0.11) and the project method is being applied morefrequently (Eta2 =0.10).

In addition to the teacher questionnaires, information on the school was obtained by way of aHeadteacher Questionnaire. The analyses showed that the most striking difference is that theheadteachers' job satisfaction is considerably lower at Islamic than at comparable schools(Eta2=0.46). Other differences pertain to the fact that at Islamic schools many more pupils attendMoroccan Language and Culture classes (Eta2=0.23) and the school is thought to be the cause ofdisadvantage more often (Eta2=0.19). On the other hand, at Islamic schools the number of newly-arrived immigrant pupils is lower (Eta2=0.14), fewer pupils are referred to special education(Eta2=0.07), and less is done in the field of stimulating out-of-school activities and participation inparent-child programmes (Eta2=0.11 and 0.09 respectively).

In-Depth Interviews with Headteachers

Because of budgetary reasons it was not possible to interview all parties involved, for examplegovernors, headteachers, teachers, pupils and parents. Because of their central position, in thisstudy it was decided to focus on the headteachers and leave the pupils and parents for a follow-up study. Interviews were held with five headteachers and one governor (the latter because therewas no headteacher at the school concerned). In order to arrive at some variation, these wereselected on the basis of their school's performance. Three schools were interviewed thatperformed relatively badly and three schools that scored relatively well on the language andarithmetic tests. The aim of this part of the study was to validate the information from the quanti-tative study and to get information on topics that were not covered by that part of the study. Theinterviews made it clear that Islamic schools have a lot in common with other schools in similarcircumstances. However, some special aspects are worth mentioning.

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To an important extent, the transmission of Islamic identity to the pupils seems to be a questionof outward appearances, such as the learning of and conforming to behavioural rules and codes,and the learning and reciting of Qur'an verses. One aspect that is related to this is the fact thatthere have been considerable problems with the availability of religious instruction teachers whospeak Dutch and have had an adequate teacher training. Several headteachers remark thatbecause of the fact that teachers speak Arabic or Turkish they do not know what is being taughtduring these lessons. Some headteachers feel religious instruction is solely the responsibility of theparents and the school's governors. If pupils receive religious instruction, this takes an average onehour a week. Another aspect that is probably related to the rather formal transmission of Islamicidentity is the fact that most of the teachers (some 70%) are non-Muslims. This poses a consider-able problem, because these teachers cannot be expected to avow and propagate a faith which isnot their own. What is required of them then is to adhere to the rules that are set by their school'sgovernors. There is considerable variation between the schools as to the strictness, that is,orthodoxy, of these rules. Especially non-Muslim teachers who just want a job and who have notspecifically chosen to work in an Islamic school can have a difficult time at orthodox schools.Headteachers seem to act as intermediaries between the more or less orthodox governors andliberal non-Muslim teachers. This proves to be rather a heavy job as there are relatively manyvacancies.

Improving parent participation and involvement is considered an important goal at Islamic schools.Although the schools invest a lot of energy in this aspect, some schools complain that not muchhas got off the ground. They feel that this is an integral part of these parents' culture where thereis a strict division between responsibilities: the family is the responsibility of the parents, the schoolof the teachers, and the street of the police. Of course, it does not help much that many parentshave had hardly any education, have little command of Dutch, and are not acquainted with theDutch education system. In these respects, Islamic schools do not differ from comparable 'black'schools. However, many Islamic schools differ from comparable schools in the fact that they havea regional function and parents would have to travel considerable distances to participate inactivities concerning school.

The schools' governors play an important role in Islamic education. From the interviews it emergedthat on several boards one or two governors act as agents and representatives. They are thepersons who, often in contrast with the other members, have had a relatively good education andspeak Dutch well. Still, the administrative experience of a number of them is rather limited, in anycase as compared with non-Islamic boards. In at least three of the six schools that wereinterviewed, one of the governors had a job at the school (for example, as a policy staff member),which is a highly unusual phenomenon in the Netherlands.

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

The central aims of Islamic schools are two-fold: to improve the achievement levels of the pupilsand to transmit Islamic identity. As to the first aim, this study shows that as far as theirachievement levels, well-being and self-confidence are concerned, there are hardly any differencesbetween pupils at Islamic schools and schools with a similar pupil population ('black schools'). That

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there are no differences with respect to their well-being and self-confidence comes as a surprise.Because one of the aims of Islamic schools is to close the gap between home and the schoolenvironment, it was expected that the pupils would feel more at home and as a result would havegreater self-confidence. A possible reason for this disappointing finding is the fact that most of theteaching staff are non-Muslims. Another aim of the Islamic schools is to improve the pupils'achievement levels up to the level of the non-disadvantaged pupils. This study shows that, for thetime being, this aim has not been met. However, at Islamic schools the arithmetic results in the 8thform are better than at the comparable schools and, in addition, the pupils also made more progressas regards their arithmetic achievement levels, which suggests that there is some room for optimism.

As to the second aim, the transmission of Islamic identity, this seems to be to a large extent amatter of formalities, that is, rules and codes laid down upon the teaching staff and pupils by theschool's governors. One of the reasons for this rather formal approach could be that the largerpart of the teaching staff are non-Muslims ('a necessary evil', according to one of the governors),of whom not all identify themselves with the Islamic faith. Because of this the question might arisehow the pupils react to this ambiguity. According to some headteachers this is no problem,because the pupils can easily differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims. As regards thereligious instruction lessons, this study shows that there have been problems in the sphere ofadequate teaching staff and teaching materials. As to the contents and persuasion of theselessons, no clear picture has emerged.

In conclusion, at present the Islamic schools in the Netherlands hardly differ in many respects fromschools with a comparable socio-ethnic population. At the time when the central part of this studywas conducted, most of the Islamic schools had only been in existence for about five years. Theconditions in which they operate have not always been very favourable. Given these circumstances,it might be expected that in the future these schools will find their footing in the Dutch educationsystem. A lot will depend on the school's board of governors and teaching staff.

As has become clear from this study, there are a lot of differences, not only between the Islamicschools, but also between the various parties concerned within the schools. Some schools seem tobe very strict and orthodox in their keeping to the Islamic faith and rules, which - according to oneof the headteachers interviewed - sooner or later undoubtedly must result in conflict and astruggle between the school board and teaching staff and even the parents. Other schools hardlydiffer from 'regular' Dutch schools; paramount at these schools is the aim of improving the pupils'achievement levels and securing their life chances in Dutch society. In general, it is probably trueto say that the boards of governors and parents are more oriented towards religious aspects andthe teaching staff more towards improving the pupils' achievements. What is imperative here isthat the schools succeed in finding a balance between the identity and quality aspects. In this, animportant role could be played by the headteachers as intermediaries between the various partiesinvolved. According to many it is important to avoid the foundation of 'separate' Islamic schoolsleading to segregation instead of full and active participation in Dutch society. A picture thatemerged from the interviews is that of a few schools shielding Muslim youth from the badinfluences of a secular non-Muslim society. Especially the board governors must realise that Islamicschools are no islands and that their pupils will come to function in a wider context.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Netherlands Organization for ScientificResearch (NWO) for funding the project on which this article is based. This research was madepossible by a grant from NWO's Foundation for Behavioural and Educational Sciences (grantnumber 575-35-012) awarded to Dr Geert Driessen of the ITS (Institute for Applied SocialSciences), University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Parts of this paper were published in RaceEthnicity and Education (see Driessen and Bezemer 1999b).

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Dr Geert Driessen is an educational researcher at the Institute for Applied Social Sciences (ITS) of the

University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His major research interests include the position of immigrant

children in education, inequality in education, first and second language acquisition and minority

language and culture teaching.

Dr Pim Valkenberg teaches theology of religions and dogmatic theology at the Department for Theology

and Religious Studies of the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research interests include

Christian-Muslim relations and interreligious dialogue in the Middle Ages.

Address for correspondence: Dr Geert Driessen, ITS - Institute for Applied Social Sciences, University of

Nijmegen, PO Box 9048, 6500 KJ Nijmegen, THE NETHERLANDS, Tel: (++31) 24-3 65 3545, Fax:

(++31) 24-3 65 3599, Email: g.driessen@its.kun.nl

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