Educational Change and Christian Ideology: How Identity Shapes Educational Innovation

This study aimed to gain more insight into the way in which teachers’ ideological identity and their perceptions of educational innovations come together and result in choices with regard to the arrangement of learning environments. Interviews held with six Dutch upper secondary school teachers from reformational schools illustrate that teachers differ in how they experience their ideological identity. The study shows a considerable variety in direct and indirect relationships, both positive and negative, between the ideological identity of teachers and their perceptions of recent educational reforms. These relationships are mainly to be found in the pedagogical/relational area of teaching. Practical implications of these findings for Christian universities for teacher education are described.