Islamophobia and Muslim Schooling in Britain

1. Islamophobia and Muslim Schooling in Britain Claire Tinker University of Nottingham

2. Introduction Is the minimal number of Muslim schools in Britain due to Islamophobia? 36 semi structured interviews • Politicians • Religious and secular organisations • Head teachers at Muslim and non-Muslim schools • Muslim parents

3. Defining and operationalising Islamophobia “…unfounded hostility towards Islam. It refers also to the practical consequences of such hostility in unfair discrimination against Muslim individuals and communities, and to the exclusion of Muslims from mainstream political and social affairs” (Runnymede Trust, 1997, ‘Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All’)

4. Historical and contemporary situation of Muslim schooling Number of state funded faith schools in UK (2003) • 4690 Church of England • 2076 Roman Catholic • 33 Jewish • 5 Muslim • 2 Sikh • 1 Seventh Day Adventist

5. Why are there not more state funded Muslim schools? Politicians: • Relatively recent growth of Muslim community • Not enough Muslims in most geographical areas to warrant a Muslim school Muslim parents, head teachers and organisational representatives • Popular view of Muslims as extremists • Comparisons with other faiths

6. Factors inhibiting the state funding of Muslim schools • Islamophobia Islamophobic arguments are sometimes used to justify opposition to Muslim schools “I think [in a Muslim school] there might be an assumption that there are some things that girls don’t do. Whereas because of our western values and general attitude the girls can do anything”

7. Social cohesion It is widely feared that Muslim schools will fragment society and damage social cohesion “…I don’t think people should be cut off from each other. That’s where segregation starts. […] I mean, I wouldn’t send my daughters to a Muslim school.[…] If you live in a multicultural society then everything should be multicultural”.

8. Secularisation Does the increasing secularisation of British society make it inappropriate to fund more faith schools?

9. Regulatory requirements Strict regulatory requirements can discourage Muslim schools from applying for state funding

10. Desire for autonomy The loss of autonomy that results from state funding makes some Muslim schools reluctant to apply. “He who pays the piper calls the tune. State funding naturally comes with strings. At the moment those strings may be fairly loose, but I foresee a time when they could really tighten up and Muslim schools which have state funding could be finding themselves in a very difficult position”.

11. Relationships between the factors These five factors are interdependent, influencing one another in subtle and complex ways. “Well Muslims, not Asians, Muslims. They’re the ones that seem to be causing all the damn trouble in this country, they’re the majority aren’t they. Make them separate. […] Do our white kids want their education interfering with by having education for Muslims within their own lessons? I don’t think they do”.

12. Conclusion Islamophobia is one of several barriers to the state funding of Muslim schools.