General Conclusion and Discussion 8 139 socialisation. However, these tensions are hardly thematised or problematised by them. In the following sub-sections I elaborate on each of the three perspectives, culminating in attention for the second part of the research question, namely the implications of these aspects for preservice teacher education. These implications mainly contain the importance to get future teachers to think more about the tension issues related to the mono-religious characteristics of OPPSs and religious diversity, and to teach them how to reflect on these issues. Also, more encounters with religious others are recommended, as well as relating religious diversity to citizenship education. Specific role in religious socialisation73 First of all, according to the teachers the Christian faith plays a central role in their lives and thus also in their work. This is self-evident to the teachers interviewed, which is why they consider it important to work at an OPPS as it meets their desire for cohesion. Cohesion in this sense means that orthodox Protestant beliefs and practices could be shared and expressed within the school and within the different pedagogical environments pupils are immersed in. Teachers value this cohesion for the sake of pupils’ well-being as well as their own, since they feel comfortable in the school’s religious climate and experience education as inseparable from Christian socialisation. The latter is also expressed in the conviction that the religious ideal of children being fully committed Christians stands out above and beyond anything and/or permeates their professional practices. Teachers experience that this ideal is shared with the other pedagogical agents involved, such as parents or pedagogical agents in the church, and that together they provide children with a good foundation to be socialised in the Christian faith. It turned out that teachers also distinguish between different roles of the pedagogical agents. The role of parents is primarily associated with upbringing (or socialisation) in general, and the church is about liturgical and pastoral activities and doctrinal stances. Teachers’ roles in religious socialisation focus on the understanding of the Christian faith and dealing well with religious differences. In this regard it is exemplary that teachers want to encourage inquisitiveness (Dutch: doorvragen) among their pupils because it reaches toward understanding and it shows teachers taking a different role than that of others. Teachers see this inquisitiveness as essential towards developing one’s own opinions, 73 Mainly based on sub-study 2 (“Is the mono-religious school characteristic important for teachers working at Dutch OPPSs, and what are the reasons for this?”; see Chapter 4) and sub-study 3 (“What do teachers in OPPSs perceive as their role in religious socialization, especially in relation to other pedagogical agents?”; see Chapter 5).
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