Good - Children of Islam: Teacher's Guide to Meeting the Needs of Muslim Pupils
25 Jan, 2017
An insight into the educational needs of Muslim children in Britain: A useful guide for teachers; educators and policy makers.
Parker (1995, 1999) has highlighted the significance of Islam and the importance of –the learning and understanding of- the Qur’an in education, and how the values of education in the context of British state schooling are generally incompatible with Islamic way of life and also how the educational policies generally fail to reflect Islamic values.
Parker–Jenkins‘s work since the early 1990s on Muslim children’s education in Britain has examined the hitherto most pressing issues pertaining to educational provision for Muslim children in state schools as discussed in details in previous chapter 2. She discussed the key philosophical concepts which underlie Islamic education/Knowledge, which are often conceived to be in conflict with British modern education system founded on Western philosophy of life-liberal values- and how this raises serious concerns for educators, policy-makers, Muslim community, and most importantly parents and Muslim pupils.
Within the contemporary discourses on Muslim children’s schooling in Britain, Parker leads the secular debate. In her ethnographic work book Children of Islam (1995) A Teacher’s Guide to Meeting the Educational Needs of Muslim Pupils, she noted that the emerging concern about education of Muslim children in Britain is to a large extent embedded in the inability of state schools to appropriately respond to the needs of Muslim children, including religious, cultural and curricular needs . She examines and advocates for particular educational needs of Muslim pupils to be considered and accommodated within British state schools. She discussed in depth the challenges for teachers and education leaders in managing and accommodating ‘Muslimness’ in schools in Britain. She highlights the need for understanding and recognising the religious and cultural diversity- across the curriculum, and called for further engagement with Muslim children’s religious identity as to challenge discrimination and improve their educational attainment. Her work represents an important contribution to the debate on how British state schools can best support and recognise Muslim children’s identity to maximize their educational potential and Muslim parents’ aspirations.