A strong commitment: conforming a school identity at one compulsory faith school in a disadvantaged area

ABSTRACT

The focus of the present study is on how educators and students create a ‘sense of belonging’ and school identity. The ethnography was carried out at an independent Christian school with children and students aged six to sixteen years. This study’s aim is to contribute knowledge about how the identity of a school has become an important factor in the context of the marketisation of education. The identity of the school is articulated as a school with a Christian profile. Further, the results show how diversity and multiculturalism were downplayed. The school can thereby be interpreted as a way to avoid categorisation as an immigrant school. The identity as a Christian school symbolically lifts it from its socio-economic position in the urban geography. This identity becomes central to how the school is presented in an economic market of free school choice.

KEYWORDS:

• School identity
• quasi-market
• narratives
• ethnography
• multiculturalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NordForsk (the research project Learning spaces for inclusion and social justice: success stories from immigrant students and school communities in four Nordic countries) [grant number 53704].