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.”