Paradoxes of Muslim Faith Schools

Abstract

Faith schools in general are often seen through negative lenses within popular discourse; this is evident from the opposition and critical reception they receive from a number of secular agencies, such as the British Humanist Association (BHA), and also from faith-based coalition groups such as the Accord Coalition. In recent years it has been Muslim faith schools, which critics claim is established with the sole aim of preserving Muslim cultural identity, that have received the bulk of the antagonism regarding self-segregation. In fact, prior to the Trojan Horse stories, which hit the national media in March 2014, it was the Al-Madinah School in Derby that was the topic and focus of much debate and discussion within public and policy circles during later part of 2013. It opened as a Muslim faith school under the government’s flagship education programme of Free Schools. Free Schools are independent schools, free from local government control or interference; they are similar to school academies in that they are run by a non-profit charitable trust. Al-Madinah School, an all-through school which combines both primary and secondary provision, opened in 2012 as part of the government’s second wave of Free Schools. In September 2013 news started to emerge that Al-Madinah School was ‘imposing strict Islamic practices’ on both pupils and staff, including non-Muslims being required to sign new contracts forcing them to wear the hijab.

Just because we attend a Muslim faith school this does not make us less British. In the same way that Muslims attending state schools makes them less Muslim.

(Year 10 Muslim Girl)

To Abdullah Trevathan, head teacher of north London’s Islamia School, a state-funded school that offers religious instruction and the study of Arabic along with the standard national curriculum, the answer is clear. Trevathan believes that schools such as Islamia — one of the schools to receive state funding in Britain — can play a vital role in hammering out a new Muslim identity, one that combines being a good Muslim with being a good citizen in a pluralist society.

(Jay 2005:37)