Driessen, G. (2001). The evaluation of Islamic schools in the Netherlands. Paper Sixth International Metropolis Conference, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, November 26-30, 2001.

1. The evaluation of Islamic schools
in the Netherlands
Dr Geert Driessen
ITS – Institute for Applied Social
Sciences
University of Nijmegen
The Netherlands

2.  No possibilities to fast and pray
 No clothing regulations
 Boys and girls mixed
 Dissatisfaction with the quality of schools
 No parental participation
 No attention for sense of identity
 No emancipation
Motives for founding Islamic schools

3. Goals of Islamic schools
 Cultural and religious personality development
in the spirit if Islam
 Improving the quality of education, i.e. the
pupils’ achievement levels

4. Arguments against Islamic schools
 They will lead to isolation and segregation
 No real justice to Western norms and values
 Purely nationality schools
 Result in an exodus from existing schools
 More an ideological and political affair than a
religious one
 For traditional and fundamentalistic groups

5. Design of the study
 Study of the literature: the Netherlands and
Western Europe
 Quantitative analyses PRIMA cohort study
 In-depth interviews headteachers Islamic
schools

6. Research samples
schools pupils
Islamic 16 1670
comparable 16 1834
reference 432 39450

7. Research instruments
 General questionnaire: background features
 Pupil profile: cognitive, non-cognitive features
 Parent questionnaire: family situation
 Intelligence tests: non-verbal
 Performance tests: language, arithmetic
 Questionnaire on pupils leaving primary school
 School well-being questionnaire
 Teacher questionnaire: teaching approach
 Headteacher questionnaire: school features

8. Language achievement scores
900
950
1000
1050
1100
1150
1200
grade 2 grade 4 grade 6 grade 8
Islamic
comparable
reference

9. Arithmetic achievement scores
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
grade 2 grade 4 grade 6 grade 8
Islamic
comparable
reference

10. Language development scores
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
grade 2 > 4 grade 4 > 6 grade 6 > 8
Islamic
comparable
reference

11. Arithmetic development scores
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
grade 2 > 4 grade 4 > 6 grade 6 > 8
Islamic
comparable
reference