Internationally chaplaincy as a whole,
and school based chaplaincy in particular, is
morphing into new forms within emerging national
uncertainties, and cultural diversity. Drawing on
their work in Ireland, King and Norman (2009)
believe that the role of school chaplains everywhere
needs to be carefully realigned and rethought.
This paper seeks in part to address this
situation, unpacking the initial ‘emic-journey’ of
a three year multi-case study research agenda
that seeks to holistically investigate how key
stakeholders in three faith based schools
understand the role and practice of school
chaplains. In this instance, the stakeholders
included administrators, chaplains and students.
The multi-case study approach and the stratified
sets of respondents were deemed to be the best
‘goodness of fit’ as Parekh’s (2000) axiom clearly
states an understanding that one group’s place
within an organisation needs to be considered not
in isolation, but as intersecting forces that act as a
“locus of identity.
