Does it matter whether Buddhists have home shrines?
Research Summary: Does it matter whether Buddhists have home shrines?
Previous research has recognized shrines in homes as sites of shared memory which bring the sacred into the home. For Buddhists, shrines occupy a grey area between the cultural and the religious. A quantitative study of 417 British teenagers self-identifying as Buddhists found that the 70% who had a home shrine were less likely to visit a Buddhist temple, but more likely to exhibit daily personal religious practice and to bow to parents. Those with shrines were generally happier at school, more communal and strict about intoxicants. Heightened religiosity was linked with having a home shrine, particularly for female, late-teen, and heritage Buddhists. For these groups of Buddhists, a shrine represents a site for shared memory, whilst for males, early teens, and converts, there is more a sense of shrines giving focus to their Buddhist identity.
Researcher
Phra Nicholas Thanissaro
Research Institution
University of Warwick
What is this about?
This research is about shrines in Buddhist homes and what they signify. Are they cultural or religious? How do they affect the religiosity of Buddhist teenagers? Does this vary according to different sub-groups, including male or female, early or late teen, heritage or convert, for example? The study is of different Buddhist teenagers in Britain.
What was done?
A survey questionnaire was completed by 417 self-identifying teenage Buddhists. The sample consisted of 225 males (54%) and 192 females (46%) aged between 13 and 20, with an ethnic composition of Asian (52%), White (34%), Mixed (11%), Chinese (2%), and Black (1%). In terms of the temple institutions they attended, to give some idea of the national Buddhist traditions included, the sample included Sinhalese (23%), Thai (16%), Tibetan (12%), Burmese (11%), Vietnamese (9%), Japanese (5%), Bangladeshi (3%), Western (2%), Chinese (2%), Nepalese (2%), and Cambodian (1%).
Main findings and outputs
70% of British Buddhist teenagers had a shrine in their homes.
Having a shrine was likely to correspond generally with heightened religiosity but lower mystical orientation.
Those with a shrine at home were significantly more likely to have a daily religious practice (22%) than those without a shrine (7%). Those with a shrine were also significantly more likely to bow to their parents (66%) than those without shrines (36%). Those with a shrine were significantly less likely to attend a temple on a weekly basis (41%) than those who had no home shrine (74%).
Home shrines are significantly linked with Buddhist religiosity in female, heritage Buddhists in their late teens.
For these Buddhists in particular, the shrine helps remind them about the Buddha and Buddhist clergy as symbols of their religion.
This includes feeling that life has a sense of purpose, considering oneself a ‘proper’ Buddhist, and thinking that Buddhist monks do a good job.
For male, convert, and early teen Buddhists particularly, the presence of the shrine can be seen as a symbol of the self or identity formation.
Relevance to RE
The research is relevant to RE practice because it shows how teachers need to be sensitive to different factors about religion – it is specifically about Buddhism but has relevance regarding religious traditions in general. The researcher warns about the danger in presenting Buddhism as simply a set of beliefs, which is a distortion because ritual practice in the home as well as the temple is clearly significant to Buddhists. Yet he also presents evidence that ritual practice in the case of a home shrine is significant in different ways to different Buddhists; that it differs by gender, for instance, or whether one is a heritage or a convert Buddhist, is a reminder of the need to explore the diversity within religions when teaching about them.
Generalisability and potential limitations
This is a fairly large and differentiated survey. The researcher does identify some questions for future research, not yet addressed, which could elaborate upon the study of shrine-related practice using qualitative research. It might explore details such as observation of the daily context in which Buddhists practise in relation to their shrines, how they practise, what they worship, what they chant, how often they chant, whether they are alone when they practise or with their family, and so on.
Find out more
The original article is: Phra Nicholas Thanissaro (2018) Buddhist shrines: bringing sacred context and shared memory into the home, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 33:2, 319-335.
Research Summary: An ethnographic eye on religion in everyday life
This article considers pitfalls associated with teaching about religions. The main pitfall considered is the risk of presenting religions as stereotypical monolithic systems: that all who belong to a particular religious tradition think and act in the same way. The writer calls this sort of stereotyping the ‘robotic tendency’ because it has a habit of reducing practitioners to robot-like beings that always perform identical actions. She argues that the ‘ethnographic eye’ can help educators to avoid stereotypes and the robotic tendency when teaching about religions. The ‘ethnographic eye’ means close attention to human thoughts, feelings and actions in everyday life.
Researchers
Jenny Berglund
Research Institution
Södertörn University, Sweden
What is this about?
The article is about learning to teach about religions (in this case, Islam) without neglecting the fact that within any religion, there are varieties of belief and practice that have to be taken into account. The writer tells and reflects on the stories of two teachers who were asked to investigate Islam in their own schools and local environments, then think about the ramifications of what they had learned for their future teaching. Both teachers were offered surprises and both were forced to consider that the lived reality of Islam in their immediate environments was more complex and differentiated than their previous picture, built up through text-books and media presentations. The writer argues that this more differentiated account, as well as being more accurate, avoids a rigid ‘us and them’ view and so lessens prejudice. Moreover, it helps teachers to examine their own understanding and its bases.
What was done?
As part of a continuing teacher education course on Islam, two teachers were asked to pay close ethnographic attention to the practice of Islam within their own schools and local environments, then writing an assignment about what they had discovered and how it would affect their future teaching. The article presents summaries of the process gone through by the teachers and their subsequent reflections on how their teaching needed to change in the light of what they had learned.
Main findings and outputs
Agnes Agnes is a primary school teacher who initially believes that Islam is absent from her school. There are no Muslim pupils, but there is a book in the library stating that Muslims do not eat pork. She approaches the kitchen staff, finding to her surprise that two of them are Muslims. Their attitudes are complex, e.g. one of them has not informed their school that her children are Muslims, they eat all kinds of food at school but avoid pork at home. They mention an Ethiopian Christian colleague of theirs who avoids pork. Stellan Stellan is a secondary RE teacher. There are many Muslim pupils in his school. He causes an argument in a lesson by stating that Muslims do not celebrate the Prophet’s birthday. He decides to ask students about this, is informed by one student that he does indeed celebrate the Prophet’s birthday, telephones his parents to discuss it and is invited to the next such celebration. Other Muslim students tell him that they do not celebrate it. As well as building up notes on the celebration, Stellan consults background literature, finding that the celebration, especially associated with Sufism, is considered unlawful by some scholars. Discussion An ethnographic approach informs teachers on variations in religions. People manage different beliefs (e.g. dietary restrictions) differently. Cultural context and other factors influence this. In future these teachers will continue to ask questions about text-book presentations and examine local practices. Other research suggests that European Muslims’ religion is becoming increasingly individual.
Relevance to RE
The article has strong relevance to RE. Policy should reflect the presence of a local dimension in religious belief and practice and require the challenging of stereotypes. Curriculum planning should include the same points. There are implications for pedagogy, regarding the need to include the knowledge, views and experiences of students and their families, to accept that these may be different and to examine internal differences within religions (the article mentions the need for sensitivity in these respects). The article is itself a story of teacher development. RE teachers might usefully repeat the investigations of Agnes and Stellan in their own environments, perhaps in groups, in conjunction with academic researchers or as an element in initial teacher education or higher degree study.
Generalisability and potential limitations
The research has high credibility. The writer is a highly regarded, influential expert. The writing is characterised by clarity, balance and originality. A strength is its appeal to local, specific, individual experience, yet this is well integrated with wider scholarly references. Good ethnography resists simplification, accepting difference and individuality, and the article ‘rings true’ in these ways. In this sense, the findings appear to be secure. As individual findings, they cannot be generalised, but this is in the nature of ethnography. However, the principle of careful attention to lived reality (the ‘ethnographic eye’) ought to be generalised: that is, it ought to be and often is emphasised as an ingredient of professionalism in RE. The limitations of the research lie in its Swedish context, but again, the writer reaches out to wider literature and the article gives a basis to those wishing to repeat its methods in their own settings.
Find out more
British Journal of Religious Education 36.1 pages 39-52
There is a new generation of female Islamic authorities in the UK. They are setting up their own institutes and emphasising the importance of drawing from within the Islamic tradition in the British context. They stress their unique ability as women to provide personal and collective guidance that addresses the needs of Muslim women in Britain. But they recognise the limitations of presenting guidance as ‘women’s work’; they sometimes present gender as irrelevant in their work. They are developing and imagining new understandings of Islamic knowledge and leadership. It is a move away from binaries such as liberal/orthodox Islam, or resistance to/compliance with established religion.
Researcher
Giulia Liberatore
Research Institution
University of Edinburgh
What is this about?
Islam in Britain.
Authority and leadership in contemporary Islam.
Islamic knowledge.
Gender and piety in Islam.
Experiences of Islam.
What was done?
The research is part of a larger ethnographic research project on female Islamic authority and guidance in the UK, conducted between April 2015 and October 2019. It involved mapping a broad range of female authorities across the country, analysing their online presence, interviewing over twenty-five female Islamic authorities (scholars, teachers, preachers, as well as authorities providing legal advice or counselling), visiting spaces of learning, attending classes and retreats, speaking to audience members and discussing the topic with male Islamic authorities and other experts in the area.
Main findings and outputs
Islam is changing.
There is a new generational of influential, younger, female Islamic authorities in the UK. They are not a cohesive group, they experience different opportunities and situations.
They have some things in common: teaching in English, teaching in informal spaces, addressing a broad British Muslim audience and sometimes using social media to teach.
They are known for high levels of scholarship and personal piety.
They are life guides, addressing issues such as marriage and relationships, though referring to Islamic sources in a ‘traditional’ way. Many young UK Muslims are in need of spiritual guidance, to practice Islam in a ‘western’ context. Women are seen as natural guides, within Islamic tradition.
These women do not see themselves as ‘liberal’ in contrast to ‘conservative’ teachers. They can be seen as part of an emerging European Islam.
Relevance to RE
This research has high relevance to RE. Teachers can use it to develop their own subject knowledge in line with current research. The research is ground-breaking, illustrates some new and significant themes and provides evidence on the roles of women in Islam that can help teachers to challenge stereotypes. Another particularly valuable point is how distinctions such as ‘liberal’ and conservative’ might not always adequately describe different experiences of Islam in the contemporary world.
Generalisability and potential limitations
This research deliberately illustrates a trend, rather than giving findings that can be generalised across the experiences of Muslims. It gives good detail and analysis on a significant set of changes regarding the transmission of Islam in the UK, however, and readers are encouraged to study the original article, freely available from the link given below.
Find out more
The original article is Giulia Liberatore, Guidance as ‘Women’s Work’: A New Generation of Female Islamic Authorities in Britain, Religions 2019: 10 (11), 601.
British Religion in Numbers is an online religious data resource. Numbers aren’t just for statisticians. People want to visualise and understand data for work, for study, for general interest, or to settle a debate: how large? how many? how typical?
That’s from the introduction to the British Religion in Numbers (BRIN) database, managed by the British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences: http://www.brin.ac.uk/ The database is itself an ongoing research project. And it’s for use by researchers, who are weighing up questions like these –
How secular, or religiously diverse, is Britain?
Do people see religious and political identities as conflicting?
How does religion affect lifestyle, health, and what opportunities are open to people?
It should be clear that the resource is useful to teachers as well as researchers (or illustrates how a teacher often needs to be a researcher). As it says, people need to use data for study purposes or to settle debates. Pupils are no exception, and teachers should ensure that the data we present to our pupils when teaching is up-to-date and accurate. BRIN provides a searchable database including government sources, opinion polls and faith community sources. There are figures, maps and charts, and guides to understanding the various data.
Teaching ideas
Representations of Muslims and Islam in the British media
“In a 320-page report for the Centre for Media Monitoring at the Muslim Council of Britain, Faisal Hanif explores British Media’s Coverage of Muslims and Islam (2018–2020). The methodology for the underlying research comprised daily monitoring, between October 2018 and September 2019, of 34 British media websites and 38 television channels using keyword searches, leading to the identification of 47,818 articles and 5,512 broadcast clips referring to Muslims and/or Islam, followed by analysis of each article or clip against five metrics to determine whether it was affirmative or not affirmative in nature. Almost three-fifths (59%) of the articles were found to incorporate negative references to Muslims or Islam, while 21% were judged antagonistic and 14% biased. In his conclusion, Hanif asserts that ‘a large section of the media still favours voices that echo colonial era tropes which see Muslims as dangerous fanatics, terrorists and misogynists whilst giving preference to voices which regurgitate these tropes.’ He claims not to seek any special treatment for Muslims; rather he wants journalists to depict them consistently as for other social groups. The report is available at: https://cfmm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CfMM-Annual-Report-2018-2020- digital.pdf ”
Your first task is to decide where to place this content in your curriculum and why. (Translating it into teaching material could be a very engaging and productive meeting agenda!) If including it in a unit about Islam, it might be best towards the close, for reasons that are given later.
Secondly, it is important to give attention to the language use. Try to re-create the excerpt so that it meets the pupils’ needs. Remember that they don’t only need to grasp it straightaway. They need to be stretched and challenged by it, developing new or improved knowledge, understanding, skills and dispositions. So, our suggestion is to leave some of the language as it is: e.g., ‘negative’, ‘antagonistic’, ‘biased’ are terms worth exploring with pupils.
Thirdly, consider how to introduce the re-worked material. You could create a power-point slide and give a brief lecture, or a handout for pupils to go through in pairs or groups; whichever way, allow time for questions and discussion afterwards, until you are sure that all are clear about the content.
That gives you the first broad part of a lesson (but adapt these suggestions as you see fit; you might begin with a quick ‘brainstorm’ about why the coverage of any group by the media matters, to establish the purposes of the lesson on secure grounds, before moving to the excerpt).
The pupils could next move into a task focused on these figures: ‘Almost three-fifths (59%) of the articles were found to incorporate negative references to Muslims or Islam, while 21% were judged antagonistic and 14% biased.’ Can they prepare to explain the differences between ‘negative’, ‘antagonistic’ and ‘biased’, perhaps with examples?
After some pupils have offered explanations for discussion, and when all are clear about the language and meaning, move into a plenary task. This could also form the basis of a homework write-up or reflective essay. It might be in two parts: first, comment on the researcher’s call for no special treatment for Muslims; rather, journalists to depict them consistently as for other groups. Second, from what you learned about Islam and Muslims in this unit, what would you say to those negatively biased against them: what positive media stories should be told? You need to go into detail about people’s practice of Islam, in their communities. Pupils could also be directed to the work of the Religion and Media Centre.
Depicting the ethnicity of Jesus Christ: What is acceptable?
The link is to the December 2021 edition of Counting Religion in Britain. Its first entry is about an opinion poll on what is acceptable when Jesus’s ethnicity is depicted. The poll was an online survey by YouGov of a national cross-section of 1,714 Britons carried out on 14– 15 December 2021. These were the headline figures:
58% of the public think Jesus is usually depicted in images as a white person and 22% as Middle Eastern.
When asked which racial group he could be depicted as being from, 68% believed Middle Eastern was acceptable, 63% white, 44% black, 40% as South Asian, and 37% as East Asian.
The questions were also put to a sample of 1,023 black, Asian, and minority ethnic adults on 8–16 December 2021. In this case:
60% felt it acceptable to depict Jesus as Middle Eastern. In a sub-sample of respondents who were Christian, the result was the same.
More details, including full data tables, can be viewed here.
The linked article – Matthew Smith’s What race can Jesus be? – contains the following paragraphs:
“The image of Christ as a man with white skin and blue eyes would appear to be at odds with what is likely, given the biblical account of his family hailing from the Middle East.
Nevertheless, Britons are far more likely to say they usually see Jesus being depicted as White (58%) than Middle Eastern (22%).
This is despite the fact that a Middle Eastern Jesus is the one that makes most sense to Britons. Two thirds (68%) say it would be acceptable to depict Christ as having Middle Eastern racial characteristics, compared to only 9% who disagree.”
The article also gives age-related data. “There is a noticeable age difference on these two characterisations: while opinion is near identical across all ages for a Middle Eastern Jesus, younger Britons are less accepting of a White saviour (51% of 18-24 year olds, 61% of 25-49 year olds) than their elders (66-67% of those aged 50 and above).”
Some ideas for basing teaching on the research now follow.
As with the representations of Muslims and Islam in the British media research, decide where to include the material in your curriculum. It could be in a topic on Christianity, Jesus, religion and the arts, or religion and social or community cohesion.
Within a lesson, it also has various possible uses (introduction, main task(s), plenary, or summary). In the outline given below, the idea is that pupils will be initially engaged by images rather than statistics.
You could begin by presenting a series of images of Jesus, varying by ethnic or other appearance, and asking pupils to respond to each. Where is it from? What is the artist trying to convey? What else strikes you? Which is most likely to ne historically accurate and why? In looking for images, you might start at Jen Jenkins’s superb RE:engaging collection of (mainly) Christian iconography from different traditions it/6AcFrY2 We are very grateful to Jen for this resource.
Then introduce the YouGov poll, talking briefly through some headline data before giving pupils a more detailed datasheet to discuss in pairs or groups. Why do you think British people are much more likely to see Jesus depicted as White than Middle Eastern? Why is there a big difference between the Jesus most British people would expect to see and the depiction of Jesus that makes most sense to them? Why do you think younger people are less accepting of the idea of a White Jesus?
Finally, take and discuss feedback of ideas from pairs or groups. This could precede a concluding discussion on why all this matters. Is it only a question of historical accuracy, or is more at stake? For Justine Ball, a dominant White depiction of Jesus “does not allow an opportunity for all children regardless of their background to see themselves in the teaching resources used and is something which suggests that a colonised curriculum is present in RE”. See Justine Ball, An approach to decolonising teaching about Jesus in Primary Schools
Justine’s piece describes her own research in this area and makes practice recommendations, including that we should not only consider what we present, but what we leave out; that Jesus’s Jewish context should be referenced; and that “the artwork that teachers use should not only reflect the worldwide global nature of Christianity, but also reflect the multicultural nature of Christianity in the UK.”
November / December 2021 research of the month features Krystian McInnis
Krystian presents an approach to decolonising the curriculum drawing on his research with black students.
Historically, from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, religion and education have been at the epicentre of all European empires (Gearon et al. 2021). Whilst decolonising has had little uptake in recent years, with much left to the outskirts of British academia, a more detailed focus has been found in the US, Sub-Saharan Africa (Matemba 2021) and Canada (Cote-Meek & Moeke-Pickering 2020). The senseless killing of George Floyd however, brought to the forefront not only a conversation regarding race and racism, but the need to see institutional and structural change within society and education. With this the case, my research focuses on exploring decolonising religious education through the Black student perspective, a voice far too often neglected in both society and academia.
Positionality
I feel it vital, at this early stage, in line with postcolonial theorists’ work, to state my position as a Black male secondary practitioner and researcher. With my research exploring decolonising religious education, my cultural identity allows me to write from a position of strength. With very few academics writing within this sphere, and an even fewer number Black; my insider perspective is both valuable and necessary within this topic. Furthermore, my perspective allows for not only my voice, but others like me to have their voices heard and listened to, often a privilege not afforded within education.
Having been educated within the British education system myself from EYFS to postgraduate studies; I know too well of the diversity deficiency regarding religion and culture in secondary education. Moreover, from African-Caribbean lineage, consisting of a recent and brutal past of colonised heritage, I am acutely aware of my culture’s erasure from the British curriculum, confined to an annual acknowledgment of slavery in the month of October (Campbell 2020). Therefore, for me it has been pivotal to explore and research in this space, to bring about a long overdue change, exploring literature, neglected for far too long.
Furthermore, my position as an insider within the topic of decolonising the curriculum I feel is multi-layered and vital. With a severe lack of representation within education, much of the conversation appears to be stagnant with very few academics or school practitioners pushing the conversation forward. With approximately 2.3% of teachers in the UK Black compared to 85.7% White whilst in leadership positions 2.6% Black compared to 95% White, this arguably could be why within secondary education the conversation has not progressed much further. What must be noted however, is the impact this has on students. With a lack of representation, coupled with a non-diverse and colonial-centred curriculum, students with backgrounds similar to mine will continue to not see themselves truly reflected within their educational lifespan, bringing about complex identity issues which we see present in society today.
What is meant by Decolonising?
In recent years, calls for decolonisation have echoed through educational communities with much discussion regarding form, content and interpretation of the curriculum from the colonised and former colonised (Arday and Mirza, 2018). In addition, the debate on decolonising the curriculum has not been more central within history than it is today. However, much of this debate surrounds Higher Education. Arguably, exacerbated by the death of George Floyd, the conversation within academia and education most notably erupted with the infamous, Rhodes Must Fall Campaign, which called for the removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College Oxford (Chaudhuri 2016; Chigudu 2020; Makori & McKay 2020). It is paramount however to assert that decolonising the curriculum is not merely demanding the removal of statues or previously taught material, or the erasure of White history, but rather for an additional lens to be provided, exploring the voice of the ‘other’, the ‘colonised’, the intentionally forgotten. This additional lens allows for a holistic view of historical events, taking into account the lives and experiences both positive and negative of all those involved.
Postcolonial Theory
In attempting to define postcolonial theory there are a plethora of definitions available, which has caused much debate over the years. Commonly accepted however, is that of a critical academic study of the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the human consequences of the control and exploitation of colonised people and their land. In addition, present within postcolonial theory is a false dichotomy between postcolonial theory and postcolonial criticism. Nevertheless, the key works and contributions of Aime Cesaire (Discourse on Colonialism), Frantz Fanon (Black Skin White Masks), Edward Said (Orientalism) and Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) are a good starting point for exploration within this field. Whilst through a historical lens, postcolonial theory analyses texts, literature and prose, it is also important to note its analysis regarding race, culture and religion. By magnifying the socio-political layers of literature, postcolonial theorists show that aesthetics are not objective, disinterested or natural but rather politically constructed to put white European literature on a pedestal whilst simultaneously disregarding Black, native and aboriginal aesthetics (Eglinton 2019).
Key findings from my semi-structured interviews
Students had a lack of awareness regarding decolonising Religious Education. Students who were interviewed were aware of the need to diversify and add more ‘people that look like us’, but decolonising was a phrase they had not come across
Students were only able to make links between colonial and History; in particular, slavery however, felt this was limited to the British Empire
Students were unaware that Religion and education has played a pivotal role in the colonising of countries and expanding colonial empires
There appears to be a wider misunderstanding of what a decolonised curriculum is, with many practitioners believing it is in part to remove aspects of White British History rather than to include the voice of the oppressed
For a successful decolonised curriculum, cross-curricular collaboration will be curricular to ensure that students are getting a holistic picture, rather than it confined to one area of subject
Many practitioners appear to be apprehensive regarding decolonising the curriculum due to workload and time pressures. However, decolonising religious education does not mean new schemes of work per se, but rather for example additional resources and worksheets showing a different viewpoint
Decolonising Religious Education
My research, still in its early stages, has attempted to explore decolonising religious education taking into account the Black student voice and experience. What was stark however, through my semi-structured interviews, was that the students had no understanding or awareness of the politicised phrasing ‘decolonising the curriculum’ or ‘decolonising religious education’. Whilst students were able to suggest that they felt Religious Education did not represent them fully and needed to be ‘more diverse’ and argued they wanted to see ‘other cultures and backgrounds’ in their lessons and books, they believed that decolonising referred solely to a colonial past which was only relevant to History and the British Empire. Students did however; assert that Religious Education is more diverse than other subjects are.
Furthermore, what was more interesting is that students appeared to make no connection between the colonial past and its role within religion. Missionary work, most remarkably, was central to both the expansion and maintenance of the British Empire (Reichard 2015; Velho 2007; Vandrick 2018; Meier 2018). What this did however make me note, is that within religious education this is not an aspect often covered, nor is there investigation of the Church within History except most notably the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. I argue that perhaps a decolonised curriculum would explore the effects of missionary work in society today in particular within Sub-Saharan Africa.
As aforementioned, decolonising the curriculum requests for the inclusion of content, to both supplement the current curriculum and provide an overlay, exploring the views and perceptions of the ‘other’, the previously colonised. An example of this could be the teaching of key figures, such as Gandhi within religious education. Whilst much conversation appears to surround his teachings, it neglects to highlight his fight was directly against the decades long oppression of the British Empire on India. Additionally, perhaps the teaching of Martin Luther King Jnr, often portrayed as the epitome of pacifism, in direct opposition to Malcolm X, could be studied including recognition that the US government deemed King an ‘enemy of the state’.
Ideally, the impact of my research will help bring about the necessary decolonising of Religious Education and subsequently wider curriculum too. Whilst there is some suggestion Religious Education is already decolonised, I assert that this is not the case, however, arguably in some places the process has certainly started.
Discussion Questions
Are there, could there be, or should there be links between the worldview agenda and curriculum decolonisation in RE?
What would decolonising the RE curriculum actually mean in practice, not just rhetorically?
Discuss and identify some ways in which your own RE curriculum could be decolonised: come up with two or three specific examples of changes that could be made. Think about content, but also approach.
References
Arday, J., and H. S. Mirza, (2018) Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy. London: Palgrave.
Chigudu, S. (2020) Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford: a critical testimony, Critical African Studies, 12:3, 302-312
Cote-Meek, S., Moeke-Pickering, T. (2020) Decolonizing and Indigenizing Education in Canada, Canadian Scholars
Eglinton, Y. (2019) Postcolonial Literacy Criticism: An introduction Handbook, Textual Matters
Gearon, L., Kuusisto, A., Matemba, Y., Benjamin, S., Petro Du, P., Koirikivi, P., Simmonds, S. (2021) Decolonising the religious education curriculum, British Journal of Religious Education, 43:1, 1-8
Matemba, Y. (2021) Decolonising religious education in sub-Saharan Africa through the prism of anticolonialism: a conceptual proposition, British Journal of religious education 43:1, 33-45
Meier, V. (2018) Neither bloody persecution nor well intended civilizing missions changed their nature or their number, Critical Romani Studies, 1:1, 86-126.
Reichard, J. D. (2015) Mutually transformative missions: A postcolonial, process-relational Pentecostal missiology, Missiology, 43:3, 245–257
Vandrick, S. 2018. Growing up with God and Empire: A Postcolonial Analysis of Missionary Kid Memoirs, Blue Ridge Summit
Velho, O. (2007) ‘Missionization in the post-colonial world: A view from Brazil and elsewhere’, Anthropological Theory, 7:3, 273–293
An approach to decolonising teaching about Jesus in primary schools
Research Spotlight: An approach to decolonising teaching about Jesus in primary schools
January 2022 research of the month features Justine Ball.
As you look at this research here are some things to consider:
Are Jesus, angels and Christians often depicted as white-skinned and European in your RE resources?
Are you confident to teach children about Jesus’ Jewish context?
Do your teaching resources explore the diversity of Christian groups around the world?
My research centres on areas I observed with the teaching about Jesus in primary RE and considers ways to address these. The first issue is the dominant depiction of Jesus as lighter skinned and European in paintings and imagery that children see. This is well known in other related disciplines such as biblical and religious studies; for example, Pittman and Boyles state that:
The historical-cultural dominance of fair skinned, often blue-eyed Jesus is old news for theologians and biblical scholars. (2019, 315).
Although this is “old news” in other related disciplines, I still observe this in many of the paintings and imagery that children see.
A further issue that I observe is the lack of emphasis about Jesus as Jewish, which again has been noted in biblical studies for years (Pittman and Boyles, 2019, 324). This lack of focus results in younger children not understanding the connection between Jesus as Jewish and the impact of his actions in the stories they hear. When children are older, in Key Stage 2, they will also not understand the later development of the Christian church without first understanding the Jewish context of Jesus and his first disciples (for example, why Jesus is often referred to as a messiah and the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy). This lack of emphasis does not help children appreciate the historical or religious impact of his actions, which could also result in confusion in the subsequent teaching about Judaism. For example, how to explain to children the fact that Jesus was Jewish, but his followers were Christian.
A further issue is that white, European imagery is not only used when depicting Jesus, but often used when showing pictures of Christians or characters from the gospel stories. Persona dolls, which are popular in Early Years and Key Stage 1 teaching, often present one image of a Christian child with blond hair and blue eyes, without using other dolls that might suggest there is far more diversity among Christians. Using imagery such as this without further diversity gives the impression to children that Christianity is a European religion.
The issue of such dominance in imagery is a major concern because it is not only misleading, but it also does not allow an opportunity for all children regardless of their background to see themselves in the teaching resources used and is something which suggests that a colonised curriculum is present in RE. A colonised curriculum is defined as one where the “thinking, framing and curriculum has a Europe centred, colonial lens” (EachOther, 2021). It is an area that children at a very young age notice.
This led me to research how schools use imagery in their teaching and how important it is for children to see diversity in imagery.
A further issue that I observed was the need for further knowledge about the diversity of Christian churches and the need for knowledge about how other religious groups value Jesus too. Children will often visit their local church, but it might be the case that they visit only one church and hear only one set of views. This results in children failing to see the real diversity within Christianity in the UK. Teaching often also fails to highlight that people from other different religions revere Jesus too. This led me to question how the teaching about Jesus might invite other religious people to say why he is important for them.
The imagery and diversity of views that children are exposed to matters because it is this that they will remember above any content taught in the classroom. Dale’s study in 1969 revealed how powerful images are compared to words in people’s memory. Using a diagram referred to as the Cone of Experience, Dale’s work has gone on to influence educators ever since and it clearly shows that visual imagery helps people to remember information long after the words are forgotten.
What is shown to children therefore need careful selection because getting this wrong can lead to the stereotyping of others (such as seeing Christians as mainly European) and misconceptions about Jesus (for example, not knowing that he was Jewish, or assuming that he was white). It may lead to intolerance of others if the misconceptions lead children to believe that Christianity is only for Europeans, and other cultures or traditions are not valued. Therefore, inaccurate representations of Jesus and a lack of diversity in the imagery and content about Jesus may result in RE indirectly contributing to ignorance and misrepresentations of religion to children.
In my dissertation I argue that the teaching about Jesus in English primary schools urgently needs to address these issues by using biblical studies research and religion and worldviews research, suggested by the Commission on Religious Education in 2018 (Foreword) as the approach that would present a new direction for the teaching of RE. This research calls for the study of religious and non-religious worldviews in different ways, using different disciplinary techniques such as historical and sociological approaches to help children:
understand both a wider range of religious and non-religious worldviews and the idea of diversity within worldviews. (Commission on Religious Education, 2018, 5)
Using such research will help teachers recognise that the historical and geographical context of Jesus being located in Judaea two thousand years ago must be taught so that children understand this context as well as the continuing relevance of Jesus for diverse groups today. A worldviews approach will help the teacher introduce a variety of perspectives about Jesus from different communities and present a diversity of images from the UK and around the world rather than using artwork that continues to reflect the dominant presentation of Jesus as a White Western European[1].
The approach I argue for references anti-racist approaches to education and aspects of historical and theological studies about Jesus, such as marginalised voices and Black theological views of Jesus which are currently not reflected in much primary teaching.
I show that Christianity is a global religion with growth in newer churches in the UK and worldwide in African and Latin American countries and argue that this should be reflected in teaching. I further argue that the artwork that teachers use should not only reflect the worldwide global nature of Christianity, but also reflect the multicultural nature of Christianity in the UK and I call for further resources to help teachers with this. I argue that the demand for progress in this area has become much more urgent with the recent focus on decolonising the curriculum with an emphasis on:
the process in which we rethink, reframe and reconstruct the curricula and research that preserve the Europe-centred, colonial lens. (EachOther, 2021)
This is important as decolonisation research presents opportunities to consider different approaches to the teaching about Jesus and to address the issues that I raise here.
I used qualitative research methods with a small sample of teachers and their children across 3 very different primary settings to seek further information.
My findings reveal the teachers’ comment that much of the artwork they use for the teaching about Jesus is European in style and imagery. They also comment on the lack of diversity in teaching about Christian views about Jesus or other religious views. Teachers themselves ask for further resources to help them teach about Jesus using artwork and resources from a greater diversity of sources to address this.
My findings show the importance of visual imagery for children in how they answered my questions. They show how the majority describe Jesus with dark hair, blue eyes and peach or light-coloured skin and they clearly reference that they know this from the books or films that they have seen. Children do not always know how other religious people view Jesus, but some children, particularly older children, do know that he was Jewish.
I make recommendations for RE advisors and curriculum writers to make teaching historically accurate by referencing the historical Jewish context of Jesus, to embed the principles of worldviews and decolonisation research and to approach the teaching about Jesus using much greater diversity in the imagery, artwork and examples taught to children in future.
Questions to consider:
What have you seen in your own context?
What actions can you take?
What resources would further help teachers address these issues going forward?
[1] The head of Christ by Warner Sallman has become the best known American artwork of the twentieth century of Jesus in recent years and has influenced the presentation of Jesus since it was painted. (Washington Post, 25 June, 2020).
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The Christian ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare (CEFAW) Three-Teacher Case Study
Teacher Case Study: CEFAW Three-Teacher Case Study
CEFAW is a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council aimed at developing a Christian ethics of farmed animal welfare for Christian institutions, with thirteen institutional partners, including major UK churches. In its final year, it has been exploring ways in which the project might inform the teaching of Religious Education and the wider practice of schools.
The project’s output includes ‘The Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare: A Policy Framework for Churches and Christian Organizations’, which provides a foundation for Christian concerns about farmed animal welfare; species-specific explanations of what farmed animals need to flourish; information about which assurance schemes support flourishing conditions; and recommendations for individual and community responses. You can download the Policy Framework, request a free copy, and find supporting resources such as a short animated video introducing the project on the Policy pages.
CEFAW selected 12 teachers to develop teaching materials suited to their students and schools, with support and guidance from the Research Team: Professor David Clough (School of Divinity, University of Aberdeen), Principal Investigator; Dr James Holt (Faculty of Education, University of Chester), Researcher; and Dr Margaret B. Adam (School of Divinity, University of Aberdeen), Postdoctoral Researcher.
Here, three of the participating teachers share their experiences with CEFAW Education:
Nadia Nadeem teaches Year 6 at Rose Lane Primary School, in Romford. She writes that the CEFAW Education information expanded her awareness of farmed animal welfare.
‘Some of the truths about the practices of modern-day farming are disturbing. The excess of meat consumption and lack of moderation make it essential we teach children how to lead healthy balanced lives and critically evaluate whether a product is what it claims to be. I am frustrated by the lack of support from governing bodies to ensure apt animal welfare and by a poor understanding amongst the population on the importance of healthy, nutritious and responsible consumption of food.
At Rose Lane, we already include critical thinking and being mindful, responsible humans as a core element of our curriculum. Animal welfare fits in well in our cross-cultural approach. The greatest challenge will be to ensure staff are aware of the cross curricular links and are able to reflect on prior and future learning to ensure the sequence of lessons is effective and progressive.
James Holt was fantastic in helping us to get our bearings and set the ball rolling when we were discussing what our Learning Objectives could be and how we could develop a series of lessons that are progressive in the four key areas across the primary setting. I have prepared lesson plans, quote sheets, teacher PowerPoints and facts sheets, and my students have connected with the material with lots of discussions and inspiration to make a change.
I am most excited about CEFAW Education’s ethical aspect relating to the interpretation of Dominion and Stewardship – its implementation in a practical sense and the subsequent implications for all parties. Eat little but eat well!’
Simon Archer teaches at Archbishop Tenison’s, Croydon.
‘I appreciate CEFAW Education’s cross age/stage approach that looks at how the issues of farmed animal welfare might ‘land’ with different groups, and the range of different views and approaches amongst the educators that have been involved.’
Simon notes that:
‘Farmed animal welfare fits in well with what I would ordinarily teach, as a late KS3 investigation into moral issues and practical theology.
James Holt has been great at co-ordinating and proposed brilliant and ideas and support with developing resources. I’ve been able to prepare a survey for the school, PowerPoint and worksheet materials, and specific case studies on food and faith.
I don’t think that working with other teachers as an ‘online group’ has been so effective, and developing materials in the Autumn Term – which is a very busy term – has been challenging. At the same time, the aspect of CEFAW Education that I am most enthusiastic about is helping young people discuss and encounter difficult issues in a manageable way. It’s very interesting to see how little the students have thought about these issues before being asked. I am eager for the next steps of CEFAW /Education, to see how this material can be disseminated most effectively.’
Scarlett Hayward teaches at Whitby High School in Chester. She observes that:
‘One aspect of the CEFAW Education project that has been surprising to me is the ease with which animal welfare and the politics surrounding contemporary farming can be translated to fit into the curriculum and engage students. Before engaging with the project, animal welfare, although touched on briefly, in this level of depth felt quite distant from student interests.
In KS3 we teach Environmental Ethics, including how animals are treated and the link between these two areas; in KS4, particularly within the GCSE specification, we refer to the rights of and values ascribed to animals. Farmed animal welfare stretches and challenges students further and gets them to reflect on the treatment of animals within a capacity that they will have experience of.
I have found the limited time allocated by my school to curriculum development challenging. I see students less often than other subjects in the curriculum. This should mean that certain topics which support the Locally Agreed Syllabus need to be prioritised to ensure students have an adequate understanding of them.
Working with James Holt as part of the project has been really useful. Through listening to James’ insight on pedagogy and best teaching practice, we have been able to collaborate within our subject area to produce resources which are accessible, able to be differentiated and engaging. The pedagogies discussed and deployed allow student understanding and cognition to continuously develop.
Whilst students in my school haven’t yet engaged directly with the new materials, when I have discussed the project with them many students have expressed an interest, as the questions surrounding the ethics of meat consumption and animal welfare are something they are actively engaging with both inside and outside of school.
I have prepared lesson resources including PowerPoints and supporting materials – with a particular focus on what animals need to flourish; the decisions that need to be made to run a farm and influences on this; and an assessment which considers Christian attitudes for an against animal farming.
I love the opportunity CEFAW Education provides for collaborating with like-minded professionals and academics to produce a new scheme of work which reflects upon and responds to contemporary ethical issues. I wish we had more time for face-to-face collaboration!’
The year CEFAW researchers have spent with RE teachers and a pilot group of schools has been an exciting one. It has enthused teachers about engaging with new academic research on a pressing ethical issue and using their expertise to develop learning resources that encourage their students to engage with it too. The academic members of the research team have appreciated learning from teachers about how the issues can be framed in a school context and the opportunities this provides for engaging students and questions of school practice. Teachers had the opportunity to gain academic credit for their work on the project through the University of Chester’s MA programme in Theology and Religious Studies. The project illuminates the exciting opportunities that follow from bringing teachers and academic researchers into conversation and represents a model that could be reproduced in relation to many other research areas.
Professor David Clough, School of Divinity, University of Aberdeen
Dr Margaret B. Adam, School of Divinity, University of Aberdeen
Nadia Nadeem, teacher
Scarlett Hayward, teacher
Simon Archer, teacher
British ‘nones’: what do they believe in and do?
Research Summary: British ‘nones’: what do they believe in and do?
This presents new and existing evidence which shows that ‘no religion’ has risen to rival ‘Christian’ as the preferred self-designation of British people. It offers a characterisation of the ‘nones’ which reveals that most are not straightforwardly secular. General cultural pluralisation and ethical liberalisation in Britain are held to be significant (churches have tended in the opposite direction). ‘No religion’ has become the new cultural norm, yet Britain is most accurately described as between Christian and ‘no religion’.
Researcher
Linda Woodhead
Research Institution
Lancaster University
What is this about?
‘Nones’ have been increasing in numbers in Britain for some time, but recently a majority of British people declared their affiliation as ‘no religion’ rather than ‘Christian’. What has happened? Who are they? What do they believe and do? Why has the shift occurred? Has Britain ceased to be a ‘Christian country’?
What was done?
This is an overview of census data (since 2001) and data from surveys carried out by the author (from 2013-2015), together with attention to earlier sources so as to plot longer-term trends.
Main findings and outputs
Whilst ‘no religion’ now exceeds ‘Christian’ as most people’s self-designation, ‘nones’ are not straightforwardly secular.
They reject religious labels but also secular ones; despite the ‘Dawkins factor’ they are not hostile to religion (e.g. against faith schools).
In the latest data, if we compare Christian and ‘no religion’ there is a striking contrast between the younger (18–24) with a majority (60 per cent) reporting ‘no religion’ and a minority (27 per cent) identifying as ‘Christian’, and the older (60 and over) where the proportions are roughly reversed.
A small minority believe in God whilst most are agnostic.
A quarter take part in a personal religious or spiritual practice, but none take part in communal ones or join groups.
‘Nones’ share a liberal value set with many ‘somes’. In 2013-14 the author polled Britons on ‘controversial issues’ such as same-sex marriage, abortion, assisted dying: 83% were towards the liberal end of the opinion scale (supporting individual choice), 100% of ‘nones’ were, contrasting most sharply with Muslims, evangelical Christians and Anglican and Catholic bishops.
Relevance to RE
The relevance to RE teaching is that care needs to be taken when distinguishing religious from secular people, as there are beliefs, attitudes and practices that apply across the apparent divide. This means that a sensitive, differentiated approach to exploring the religious and world-view composition of the UK is needed. Teachers could bring out some of the similarities and differences in discussion with pupils and help them to consider their meanings and consequences.
Generalisability and potential limitations
This is a thorough analysis of comprehensive survey data.
Find out more
Linda Woodhead (2016), ‘The rise of “no religion” in Britain: The emergence of a new cultural majority’, Journal of the British Academy, 4: 245–261.
An investigation into the relationship between the development of the universal declaration on human rights and some key texts from three religions.
KS4. Originally written by Adrian Skilbeck, updated in April 2019.
Key words and concepts
Human Rights: those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings. Human rights and fundamental freedoms allow us to develop fully and use our human qualities, our intelligence, our talents and our conscience.
Universal: in relation to human rights they are conceptually possessed by all people in the world, by virtue of being human.
Inalienable: again in relation to human rights it is the idea that what we possess should not be taken away from or given away by the possessor.
Responsibilities: In relation to human rights it is the idea that those who are in possession of their human rights have a responsibility to help those who do not. In respect of religious teachings, it is common to all the main religions that followers are taught they have a responsibility for those in need.
Needs: as a variation on the concept of rights they are those things required by human beings because they are essential and not merely desirable. In Simone Weil’s work needs are both needs of the body and needs of the soul.
Obligations: acts or courses of action that a person is morally bound to carry out. In relation to human needs they are the things human beings are required to do for other human beings to ensure their needs are met.
Promised Land: The land that God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12:7), a land said to flow with milk and honey.
Jerusalem: A holy city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. The name means ‘city of peace’. Israel claims it as its eternal, undivided capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Today Israel controls the whole city, and its ongoing status is disputed.
Homeland: a person or a people’s native land.
Palestine: Often called the Holy Land. Historic region on the east of the Mediterranean Sea, comprising parts of modern Israel, Jordan and Egypt.
Zionism: The belief that Jews should have their own nation. Zionism gained much support in the first half of the twentieth century, leading to the founding of the state of Israel in Palestine in 1948.
Diaspora: the dispersion of the Jews beyond the borders of their country. In general a diaspora refers to any more or less homogenous group of people with a shared heritage or homeland who have moved out to other parts of the world.
Shoah (The Holocaust): a biblical word meaning destruction which has come to stand for the mass murder of European Jewry by the Nazis and their associates during World War 2.
Angel of Death: The figure that appears in the animation is taken from the reference in the Old Testament Book of Exodus Chapter 11 and 12 to the angel who delivers the tenth plague upon Egypt – the death of the firstborn which the Jews are warned to protect themselves against by marking their doors with lamb’s blood. In Judaism the angel of death is known as Samael, Sariel or Azrael, in Islam as Malak Al-Mawt. The visitations of the plagues upon the Egyptians is also described in the Qur’an in Surah al- A’raf 133.
Pupils will need some background information that puts both the animation and the Israeli – Palestinian conflict in context so that they can make sense of it and begin to articulate their responses which will then lead into the rest of this resource.
The song ‘This Land Is Mine’ is taken from the 1960 Hollywood film Exodus, which is about the founding of the state of Israel following World War 2 and in the aftermath of the Shoah (Holocaust). The film focusses on the life of Ari ben Canaan (‘ben’ means ‘son of’) and his attempt to create a peaceful Jewish homeland in Palestine. It is a tale of struggle which does not question the underlying assumptions expressed by the central character and places his actions in an heroic light. Nina Paley’s animation challenges the absolute nature of the statement that ‘This Land is Mine’. Nina Paley is an American Jew and so the animation should be seen as a critical American response to what the Palestinian scholar and writer Edward Said called ‘the main narrative model that dominates American thinking’ with regard to the foundation of Israel, that the Israelis have a God-given right to the land of Palestine. Paley’s film brings out the contrast between the absolute claim to land based on holy scripture and the historical reality of a land that has been fought over by many different peoples for thousands of years. It introduces us to human rights and the complex relationship between religion and politics in the modern world.
This is a stimulus resource that can be used for a range of different pedagogical outcomes. It is used here to facilitate discussion of human rights but it could also be used to explore issues of peace, conflict and reconciliation, the relationship between art and religion, the different ways in which individuals express their beliefs, values and commitments and the conflict between personal and religious/cultural values.
You will need to find ‘This Land is Mine’ by Nina Paley. It is available online.
You will also need to find the following texts online:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Draft For A Statement of Human Obligations by Simone Weil
Luke 10: 25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Learning activities
Activity 1: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
(adapted from Susanna Hookway’s ‘Conflict: Jerusalem’ in Questions of Truth)
Before introducing Nina Paley’s ‘This Land Is Mine’, split the class into four or five teams. Each team is presented with five statements about Israeli/Jewish claims to the land and five statements about Palestinian/Muslim claims to the land. Remind pupils that not all Israelis are Jewish and not all Palestinians are Muslims. The following statements are simplified for this activity – not all Jews or Muslims believe exactly this!
Israeli/Jewish
Our history is one of suffering and persecution, especially in the Holocaust. We have been and still are, badly treated and regarded with suspicion by other cultures. We need to establish our identity, freedom and national development and we need to secure the land to do that.
God made promises to Abraham which included that we would live in the land forever.
The Jews are now a political nation with Israel our historic homeland.
For centuries we have prayed that we would celebrate the Passover ‘next year’ in Now our prayers are being answered.
Our ancestors have lived here since the twentieth century BCE.
Palestinian/Muslim
Our ancestors have lived in the land for at least thirteen centuries.
Jews and Palestinians are blood brothers. We share the same father, Abraham, and the same God.
The 1922 mandate said the rights of non-Jews should be protected. American presidents promised to consult Arabs. These promises have been broken and continue to be ignored, creating suffering and misery.
We have a stake in Abraham’s heritage. Abraham himself never tried to take away anyone’s land. The only land he owned was the field he purchased in order to bury his wife Sarah.
We have suffered greatly and been cruelly treated. We need to establish our identity, guarantee our basic human rights including our right to respect, our freedom and our right to self determination as a Palestinian people.
Ask the teams to group their facts under three headings: Religious, Historical and Political. Explain that there will be overlaps but the teams should aim to recognise the close connections between the three.
Encourage the pupils to develop their reasons for their groupings. Do they find any of the statements more persuasive than the others?
Activity 2: ‘This Land Is Mine’: the song and the animation
Bring up the lyrics of the song on a whiteboard. [These can be found on several lyrics websites, but note that although Nina Paley freely shares her material, the lyrics of the song are copyright and should only be used for educational purposes within your Use the information provided in the Key words and concepts section above to provide the relevant context but take care not to reduce the impact of the animation by saying too much about it at this stage.]
Ask pupils for their initial impressions of the lyrics – the thoughts and sentiments expressed, images invoked, the tone of the lyrics.
In small groups, ask pupils to make a list of all the positive words, phrases and images in the lyrics. As a follow up ask them to consider whether there is anything negative in the lyrics.
Play the song (it can be found on You Tube and is the version sung by Andy Williams). Did the music bear out their thoughts? What words would they use to describe the mood or feeling of the song?
Tell the class they are now going to watch a short animation in which the song is Play the animation.
What are students thoughts about the animation? Were they shocked?
Suggested questions:
What kind of images do the words of the song evoke?
What kind of feelings/emotions/thoughts do they express?
What were your reactions to hearing the song?
What kind of impression did the song and the music make on you?
How surprised or shocked were you by the video?
What images were memorable?
How has it changed your understanding of the song?
Leaving aside the violent action of the animation, how is the land represented?
What is the position of the film-maker in relation to conflict in general and the Israeli – Palestinian conflict in particular?
Does she favour one side over the other?
Is this a biased or unbiased video?
What is the film maker saying about the conflict?
How does the film help us understand the religious nature of the problem?
The animation has been described as ‘facile’. This means it is too simple and avoids the complexities of the conflict. Do you agree?
How is the artist using the figure of the angel of death in the animation?
Which people did you recognise in the animation? [It might be worth identifying the section from the appearance of the British onwards as the important one for the discussion of human rights.]
The animation uses stereotypes to make a point. Which stereotypes did you recognise?
The animation is both shocking funny. Why do you think Nina Paley has used humour to make a serious point?
Activity 3a: What is human in ‘Human Rights’?
(adapted from the Human Rights Resource Centre)
Write the words ‘HUMAN’ and ‘RIGHTS’ at the top of chart on a Smartboard. Below the word ‘human’ draw a circle or the outline of a human being. Ask pupils to suggest what qualities define a human being and write the words inside the outline. For example, ‘intelligence,’ ‘sympathy.’
Next ask pupils what they think is needed in order to protect, enhance, and fully develop these qualities of a human being. List their answers outside the circle.
and ask participants to explain them. For example, ‘education,’ ‘friendship,’ ‘loving family.’ [Note: save this list for use in Activity 3b.]
Explain that everything inside the circle relates to human dignity, the wholeness of being Everything written around the outline represents what is necessary to human dignity. Human rights are based on these necessities.
Explain that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) sets the standard for how human beings should behave towards one another so that everyone’s human dignity is respected. Display these two sentences from the UDHR and ask pupils to read and reflect on them for a few minutes:
…recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of the freedom, justice, and peace in the world…
Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Activity 3b: What do we mean by rights?
Ask pupils to suggest different meanings the word ‘right’ can have (e.g., ‘correct’, ‘opposite of left’, ‘just’.) Ask them to consider common expressions like ‘We’re within our rights’ or ‘You have no right to say that’. Record these different meanings on the board. What is the meaning of ‘right’ when we speak of a human right?
In small groups, ask pupils to suggest a definition for human rights: write these possibilities on the board. Negotiate a definition that gains class consensus and write it on a chart sheet by itself.
Write on the whiteboard this definition of human rights:
Human rights belong to all people regardless of their sex, race, colour, language, national origin, age, class, religion, or political beliefs. They are universal, inalienable, indivisible, and interdependent.
Ask the pupils what they think is meant by: ‘universal’, ‘inalienable’, ‘indivisible’, ‘interdependent’? and then to look up these terms in a dictionary and to write down their meaning.
Write ‘SURVIVAL/SUBSISTENCE,’ ‘HUMAN DIGNITY,’ and ‘CONVENIENCES AND LUXURIES’ on another part of the whiteboard. Discuss the meaning of these terms, then remind pupils of the list of things needed in order to protect, enhance, and fully develop the qualities of a human being that they created in Activity 3a. Ask them to place each item under one of the headings. For example, is education necessary to survival? To human dignity? Is education a convenience or a luxury?
Activity 4: Ranking rights
Provide pupils with a simplified version of nine of the articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are:
No one should be held in slavery.
No one should be tortured.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression of that opinion in any way they wish.
All human beings are born free and equal and should treat all people as if they are brothers.
Everyone has the right to a standard of living that allows for good health.
Everyone has the right to be taken care of if they are unemployed, sick, disabled, widowed, old or unable to look after themselves.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Everyone has the right to education.
Using the Think-Pair-Share strategy, encourage pupils to decide on what they think is the most important human right from the list provided. As a pair they then rank the others. A good approach to the second part of this would be to do it as a Diamond Nine activity. Where does freedom of thought, conscience and religion figure in their ranking?
Activity 5: What Is a Universal Right?
Show pupils the comments of Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the UN commission that drafted the UDHR, on the importance of universal human rights standards:
Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.
Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.
Eleanor Roosevelt: The Great Question
Engage pupils in some reflection on Eleanor Roosevelt’s words.
Ask them then to suggest examples of how someone’ s human rights might be infringed on a local level and to identify which article in the UDHR is being infringed.
Encourage pupils to work in small groups to develop and role-play a scene in which they show the infringement of the right. Techniques such as marking the moment and thoughts aloud can be employed to explore the significance of the moment and the thoughts of those involved. Who does the person appeal to in order to redress the wrong? Are they taken seriously?
Activity 6: Religion and human rights
Explain that in order to gain a full picture of human rights they will now have the opportunity to investigate teachings from Judaism, Islam and Christianity about the importance of social justice, our responsibilities for others, particularly looking after the most vulnerable in society and to compare the teachings with the Declaration of Human They will be making decisions about which article best matches the religious teaching.
Provide pupils with the following quotations and give them time to read and reflect:
Islam
It is righteous to …spend of your substance out of love for [Allah], for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves (Surah 2:177).
And of his signs is this: he created you of dust and you are now human beings dispersed everywhere (ar-Rum 30:20).
You who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and never let hatred of any one lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God-conscious. (Surah 5:8).
Judaism
[The Lord]… secures justice for those who are wronged and gives food to the hungry (Psalm 146:7).
Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ (Genesis 1:26).
If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: (Leviticus 25:39).
Christianity
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me (Matthew 25: 35-36).
Human life is precious (Luke 12: 6-7).
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
Explain that the three religions here do have much more to say about rights and responsibilities, but that these verses are a focus for the current investigation.
Ask pupils to decide in pairs which articles of the UDHR may be linked to different quotations and to offer some analysis of how religious teachings such as these, which predate the UDHR by hundreds of years, may have been influential in the formation of the Declaration.
Encourage them to make some notes on the similarities and difference they have noticed in the statements.
Activity 7: Comparing Simone Weil’s idea of needs and obligations with human rights via the parable of the Good Samaritan
Explain to pupils that they will have the opportunity now to gain some real depth in their understanding of the possible relationship between religion and human rights through a ‘triangular activity’ in which they compare versions of two texts through the medium of a third:
The two texts are extracts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Draft For A Statement of Human Obligations by Simone Weil
Mediating text: Luke 10: 25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Introduce pupils to Simone Weil’s work in the context of human rights and the period in which she was writing and provide them with copies of (a) the UDHR.
Remind pupils of the Parable of the Good Samaritan by reading Luke 10:25-37 and encourage them in twos or threes to read through the UDHR and Simone Weil’s essay, picking out features that could be related to the Parable. Ask them to share their connections in a brief class feedback session.
Ask the pupils to then imagine that following a human catastrophe that has wiped out most of humanity, they have been tasked with providing guidance in the setting up of a new human community. Working in two groups or in larger groups that are then split into two, ask one group to draw up a set of ten fundamental rights, and the other to draw up a set of ten fundamental needs and corresponding obligations, with justifying wording in the appropriate language. Encourage each group to then decide on recommendations for ensuring the guidelines can and will be met, how they are to be kept under review and a mechanism for revising them.
Provide an opportunity for the groups to relate their proposals, e.g., as posters displayed on the walls, or as a digital presentation, and ask the class to work out how they will decide on which set of proposals would be the most effective.
Set pupils an evaluation questions, such as, ‘How far do you think some Jewish, Christian and Muslim teachings are consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?’
Why is the Prophet Muhammad inspirational to Muslims?
Why is the Prophet Muhammad inspirational to Muslims?
An investigation into the importance of Muhammad (pbuh) for pupils with special needs.
For pupils with special needs. Originally written by Anne Krisman. Updated in April 2019.
Key words and concepts
Hadith: a report of what the prophet Muhammad said or did. Used as guidance by Muslims.
Nasheed: a form of unaccompanied Islamic devotional music. Sometimes a drum is used.
Qur’an: meaning ‘recitations’. God’s words revealed through the prophet Muhammad in Muslim belief.
Inspirational: influencing people to lead their lives in a special way.
This resource uses the idea of ‘burning core ideas’ to express the key knowledge to communicate to pupils:
Muhammad is special to Muslims;
Islam is the name of the Muslim religion;
Muslims believe in one God called Allah;
Muslims cannot see their God;
Muslims do not make pictures of Allah or Muhammad as people;
Muslims’ holy book is called the Qur’an.
Further key ideas and knowledge:
Muhammad was trusted by people – they called him Al-Amin (the one you can trust);
Muhammad believed in one God called Allah;
Muslims call him a messenger and prophet of Islam (rasul);
Muslims say ‘Peace be Upon Him’ after the name of Muhammad, sometimes written as ‘pbuh’;
Muslims believe an angel appeared to Muhammad in a cave on a mountain (Mount Hira);
Muslims believe the angel, called Jibril, revealed the words of the Qur’an;
Muslims try to lead their lives from the example of Muhammad.
Learning activities
The following activities follow the ‘Five Keys Into RE’ approach (Anne Krisman)
1 Connection – How can we link our theme with pupils’ lives?
Share these thoughts with the pupils:
We all have special unique qualities.
We like to help others.
We have special places where we can be calm.
We care about
Let pupils know that Muhammad was known as ‘The Friend’ and ‘The Helper’ and that they are going to look at things that connect them with the life of Muhammad. This will begin by looking at their special unique qualities.
Share or gather the special qualities of each child in the class. This can be done by sharing ideas in the classroom, by going around the school and asking people who know them well, or by asking parents and carers to respond. Words such as helpful, kind, peaceful will be gathered.
Make the names and qualities into a class performance: names can be signed, clapped, drummed or chanted for each child, e.g., Joshua the Peaceful, Hannah the Friend.
Make a display with pupils’ pictures, their new values name and where appropriate, comments about why this name is right for them.
Paint either a) the pupil’s first name or b) their values name onto the fold of an A3 or larger piece of paper. Fold the paper to create a symmetrical design. Ask the pupils to then decorate and beautify their name.
An additional idea is to write the pupil’s values name in PVA glue and to encourage children to throw different coloured sand onto it. If you wish to highlight Muhammad’s special colour during this theme, use green sand.
While working you could play different nasheeds about Muhammad, you will find many on you Tube, such as:
Ya Muhammad
Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him)
99 Names for Muhammad
99 Names of Muhammad (translated)
2 Knowledge – How can we communicate burning core knowledge within the theme to our pupils?
Share these examples of burning core knowledge with the pupils:
Muhammad was trusted by people (Al-Amin);
Muhammad believed in one God called Allah;
Muslims call him a prophet and messenger of God (rasul);
Muslims believe an angel appeared to him in a cave and revealed to him the words of the Qur’an.
Let pupils know that Muhammad was valued by people and called Al-Amin – The Trustworthy. Muslims believe he was a messenger of God and that they are going to learn more about his life.
To highlight the importance of Muhammad’s name of Al-Amin – The Trustworthy – trust the pupils to take a special gold wrapped package to another class. Arrange for the member of staff who receives the package to affirm the trust placed in the pupils and to pass on something special from their room for the pupils to take back to their class.
Ask pupils to carry a message in an envelope or sign that Muslims believe there is only one God and tell this to others in the class or around the school. Anyone who hears the message can take a gold star and add it to a picture of the Arabic calligraphy for Allah, to show that the message has been heard.
Let pupils know that Muhammad believed in one God called Allah.
Listen and watch popular nasheeds which mention Allah, for example Yusuf Islam: A is for Allah, Zain Bhikha: Mountain of Mecca.
Encourage pupils to sign the letter A and the number one while responding to the music.
Islamic plaques with Muslim prayers and the raised names of Allah and Muhammad can be touched – these can be obtained from shops in areas with a Muslim population and through artefact catalogues.
Print out lots of small pictures of the word Allah in Arabic calligraphy. Ask pupils to carefully stick the words on to gold paper, trying to put them on the right way up and showing care in placing them, to reflect how Muslims respond to the name of God. [This can also be repeated with the name of Muhammad, this time sticking the names on green paper and keeping the same rules of respect and care. These two pieces of work can be stuck together and a beautiful border made around them, to link them, with glitter.]
Let pupils know that, Muslims believe that an angel appeared to Muhammad in a cave and revealed to him the words of the Qur’an
Show images of Mount Hira while listening to Zain Bhikha’s Mountain of Mecca.
Ask pupils to create a collage made from brown ripped paper, of the cave at Mount Hira. Then, without creating a human image, add the feeling of the angel Jibril, using glitter, holographic paper, cellophane etc.
Make a peaceful cave area in the classroom by putting together prayer mats, cushions and glittery material. Add light changing resources to show the presence of an angel.
Introduce pupils to the first of four stories of Muhammad and use the sensory story guide to help pupils know about the revelation that Muslims believe Muhammad received on Mount Hira.
Share the sensory story together, allow time for the stimuli to be experienced by each pupil.
Ask pupils to reflect on the story and, where appropriate, to ask questions about it.
Where appropriate, choose a question to focus on, for example, ‘Why did the angel say, “Read!”?’ and share possible answers. Adults can also ask questions and respond.
If time, share the story once more.
3 Senses – Which sensory elements are in the theme?
The following sensory activities can help pupils experience something of the life of Muhammad and the importance of Islam to Muslims:
Recitation of the Qur’an and Call to Prayer (adhan);
Islamic nasheeds (unaccompanied devotional music, sometimes using drums);
Prayer mat and topi (prayer cap).
Play a version of the Call to Prayer (adhan) to pupils while they use red, orange, purple and yellow crayons or sponge paint to create a sunset sky. Versions to be used could include those from Turkey, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as British muezzins.
Afterwards, encourage pupils to add a black paper cut-out of a dome and minaret, to give a scene of a mosque at sunset.
Engage pupils in the experience of wearing or touching a Muslim prayer cap (topi) for boys and headscarf for girls, while turning the pages of a Qur’an on the whiteboard, a resource called ‘Baybar’s Magnificent Qur’an’.
Encourage them to touch some Muslim prayer mats and then look at how Muslims pray, such as by looking at video clips or animation online.
Help pupils make a prayer mat out of sensory materials, such as textured wallpaper. The prayer mat could include arches, a picture of the Ka’bah at Mecca, and a hanging lamp to stick on.
4 Symbols – Which symbols are the most accessible in the theme?
Share these examples of Muslim symbols with the pupils:
Moon and star;
Arabic name of Muhammad and Allah;
Salaam (peace) – Muslims say ‘peace be upon him’ when talking about Muhammad;
Islamic art symmetrical designs.
Crescent Moon and Star
Invite pupils to recognise the moon and stars in a slideshow of pictures and to sort a selection of pictures of crescent moons and stars.
Encourage pupils to use Makaton signing for star and moon while listening to a song about wonder in the universe, for example There is Only One God by Zain Bhikha.
Encourage pupils to make collage pictures of the Muslim symbol – the crescent moon and star, or rub over a moon and star stencil and decorate.
Salaam – Peace
Ask pupils to identify what makes them feel peaceful out of a choice of different pictures, such as listening to music, going on the computer, lying down, praying, etc.
Help them practise writing the word Salaam in paint while listening to peaceful chill out music.
Ask pupils to make a dove of peace – there are many templates online. Add cut-outs of the name of Muhammad, with crescent moon and star symbols, to show that Muslims say ‘peace be upon him’ when talking about him.
Islamic art symmetrical designs
Explain that Muslims believe only Allah is the creator and so natural designs are shown in a non-realistic but beautiful way, with unexpected colours being used. Repetition of designs shows that God goes on for ever. An example can be found in Iznik pottery from the 16th century Ottoman Empire, although its designs are still being used for ceramics in Turkey.
Show images of Iznik art from the Turkish tradition. Ask pupils to look for the colours of blue, red and white and for flowers.
Prepare four pieces of black, blue, red and white paper and make concertina folds. The black will be used for the background. Ask pupils to draw simple flower designs and leaves shapes on the three pieces of paper and to cut these up. They should then lay out the three elements of the flower design on the concertina folded black paper, trying to repeat the pattern.
Create an Iznik Art gallery from the pictures, displayed with images of Iznik art pottery.
5 Values – Which values in the theme speak to our pupils?
Share these examples of Muslim values with the pupils:
Following a straight path
Helping poor people
Caring for animals
Forgiveness
Explain to pupils that they are going to learn about three more stories about Muhammad (Muslims say peace be upon him) that will help them understand how inspirational he is for all Muslims and how he set an example for all Muslims to follow.
Share the sensory story of Muhammad and Crying Camel allowing time for the stimuli to be delivered in a caring manner to each pupil.
Ask pupils to reflect on the story and, where appropriate, to comment and ask questions about it.
Where appropriate, choose questions to focus on, for example, ‘How do we look when we are sad?’ ‘How can we be kind to animals?’ and share possible answers. Adults can also ask questions and respond.
If time, share the story once more.
In follow up lessons, use Muhammad and the Old Woman, as a call and response poem, and Muhammad and the Sleeping Kitten, with the associated activities, to show how inspirational Muhammad is for Muslims. Can pupils identify the parts of each story that show that Muhammad was helpful, kind, compassionate, loving, generous, following a straight path, brave, forgiving?
Professor David Clough, School of Divinity, University of Aberdeen
Dr Margaret B. Adam, School of Divinity, University of Aberdeen
Nadia Nadeem, teacher
Scarlett Hayward, teacher
Simon Archer, teacher