De verwachtingen waargemaakt? Twee decennia islamitische basisscholen

The first Islamic primary schools were established in 1988 in the Netherlands, out of discontent with
existing schools. Currently, there are more than forty of such schools, which aim to educate children to
become good Muslims, and improve the quality of education and children’s achievement levels. Since
the very start, Islamic schools have been the cause of much controversy. Most concerns focus on the
consequences of self-segregation for children’s integration in Dutch society. This article examines the
schools’ output in terms of attitudinal and behavioral factors (such as well-being, self-efficacy and
social behavior) and achievement levels. Data are drawn from the 2005 cycle of the PRIMA cohort
study and include 45,000 students at 450 schools. The results show that Islamic schools perform
somewhat better than schools with a comparable socio-economically disadvantaged student population,
but continue to lag considerably behind the average Dutch school. The general conclusion is that
Islamic schools are a long way from achieving their aims.