Educating Young People about Islamophobia

According to a May 2018 report, ‘Many young Muslim people say abuse is so commonplace it is normalised, but teachers feel ill-equipped to tackle issues of Islamophobia in the classroom.’ Ofsted expect outstanding tutors to have the knowledge and confidence to take advantage of what is going in the world to help prepare learners for life in Britain’s complex multicultural society. Are your tutors confident to tackle this issue and to facilitate conversations around Islamophobia? Would new resources help?

As a result of the report, EqualiTeach have created a resource for teachers to educate students about Islamophobia. Although geared for primary and secondary schools, further education providers might find some of the resources useful.

The ‘Faith in Us’ resource includes:

• Background information on the reality and impact of Islamophobia on both young people and wider society
• Information on recurrent myths, stereotypes and misunderstandings; such as terrorism and women’s rights
• Guidance on how to recognise and respond effectively to Islamophobic incidents
• Lesson plans on Islamophobia

It aims to share good practice approaches and activities for educating about Islamophobia and support schools in their duty to engage with this issue.

The resource contains video clips, PowerPoint presentations, lesson plans and handouts. You can find out more about the resource here

You can download the report ‘Faith in Us: Educating young people on Islamophobia’ here

Are your staff confident to facilitate controversial discussions?

Ofsted expect outstanding tutors to take advantage of what is going on in the world and to have the knowledge and confidence to facilitate controversial discussions, to help prepare learners for life in Britain’s complex multicultural society.

If some of your tutors lack confidence, perhaps because of a fear that such discussions might go ‘pear-shaped’, then you may be interested in a new training course that I have developed that has been very-well received this term.

 ‘Promoting British values, taking Risks, facilitating Controversial discussions’ can be delivered as a 90-minute, 2-hour or half-day workshop.

You can download training publicity for this new course here