Muslim teacher trainees may get a Christian elementary school education diploma (DCBO) necessary in order to teach in Christian schools. The decision by the governing body of the Dutch Christian education follows the current practice. The diploma teaches students how to give religion lessons, tell Bible stories and agree over the religious identity of the school. The DCBO is an extra certificate along the standard teacher's training diploma and is either obligatory or strongly recommended for educational personnel of most Christian schools
Several teacher's training institutes already provide the diploma to Muslim students and some Christian elementary schools have taken on these students already for years. The practice is reason enough for the governing body to now officially allow Muslim students to get the DCBO diploma.
"It's up to the PABO [teacher's training] school of they want to provide the Diploma to Muslim students. And the school administration decides on their own if they accept these students," explains Swier Frouws, responsible for the diploma of Christian elementary school education.
Arie de Bruin, head of the Association of Protestant-Christian Schools (VCPS) in Rotterdam is "very happy" with the decision. The Rotterdam Christian schools have for years accepted PABO students with a Muslim background. The administration asks immigrant applicants that they attend a number of modules of the diploma for Christian elementary school education. Neither Frouws nor De Bruin expect that the decision will lead to a great influence of Islam on the Christian elementary school.
According to De Bruin a Muslim with the diploma can convey the Christian identity of the school as well as a Christian. Frouws: "The diploma is a professional guarantee. It does not mean that the holder is a good Christian, but that he's at home with the identity of the school." According to the Christian school administrators it's certainly not so that Muslim teachers with a DCBO will soon give Koran lessons in Christian "black" schools [ie, schools with a large immigrant ratio]. De Bruin can't name a Christian school in the area where that is up for discussion, even not where there are many Muslim personnel employed.
Some Muslim teachers consciously choose to work for a Christian school, says De Bruin. Emine Kula, teacher in the Talma school in Rotterdam-Krooswijk is one such example. She is a Muslim of Turkish origin. Kula prefers working in a Christian school over a Muslim school, reasons being the open atmosphere and lack of clothing rules such as wearing a headscarf. She doesn't think her faith and the school's identity clash. 90% of her students are immigrants. "I handle the Bible education just by the method of the school. I tell the children that Jesus if God's son. Although I do say at the same time that for Muslims he's a prophet." During her training Kula did several parts of the DCBO. She did not get the diploma in the end due to lack of time, she says. The governing body does not know how many Muslims would like to get or have gotten the diploma. The number of issued diplomas has gone up from 1278 in 2004 to 1371 in 2006.
Source: Nederlands Dagblad (Dutch)
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