Teaching Islam: Curricula and Resources for Religious Education in British Schools
Under a partnership with ISESCO, the Centre convened a roundtable discussion in Oxford on Teaching Islam: Curricula and Resources for RE in British Schools, on 20 May 2015. The broad aim of the Roundtable was to inform dialogue on strategies to encourage social cohesion by looking at different ways in which policy may be adapted to build more flexible, inclusive concepts of belonging that can help balance responsibility to a nation-state and to an international faith-based tradition. The discussion focused on two broad themes: ‘Approaches and Resources in RE’, chaired by Mr David Hampshire, Chair NASACRE, with the main speaker being Dr Liam Gearon of the Department of Education, University of Oxford, and the discussant Mr Bill Moore, SACRE adviser to Bucks and Oxon; and ‘Faith Education in Schools: Islam in the National Curriculum’, chaired by Canon Ed Newell, Principal, Cumberland Lodge, with the main speaker being Professor Mark Halstead, Emeritus Professor of Education Huddersfield University, and the discussant Mrs J Kossar, Manchester Islamic School for Girls. Dr Basil Mustafa, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies then chaired a final session on ‘The Way Forward’.