Identiteit as vraagstuk in die Nederlandse onderwys, en die betekenis daarvan vir Suid–Afrika

Abstract

The history of maintaining a Christian identity in the school and in education, in the face of on-going secularisation in the Netherlands since the Reformation (± 1600) up to the present. was investigated. Since the Republic of South-Africa is standing on the brink of a new educational dispensation - a dispensation in which it will no longer be able to enforce Christian education by law, an effort was made to derive solutions from this for some of South-Africa's educational problems. The research focused on two questions. how the issue of identity, has been handled in the Netherlands since the year 1600 up to the present and which perspectives do the history of education in the Netherlands provide for the issue of identity in South African education since 2 February 1990. The following methods were used in the research: literature survey, problem-historical method, philosophical methods, interviews, fundamental-reflective method, fundamental description and the transcendental-critical method. The research program corresponded with the chapter division of this dissertation. The investigation revealed that the process/history of maintaining the identity of the Christian school in the Netherlands was one of continuous conflict between the Christian and the neutral (secular) school. In 1920 the first phase of the conflict was resolved fairly satisfactorily with the "De Visserwet" (act), which granted parents the right to organise own schools. Since then all schools have been funded equally by the state. As South-Africa is currently trying to find solutions to certain educational problems, these solutions from the Netherlands could possibly with slight adaptations be applied to the South-African situation. The main advantage would be that a variety of groups with different life views would be able to exist harmoniously and organise and support own schools receiving equal funds from the state.