Agreed Syllabi and Un-Agreed Values: Religious Education and Missed Opportunities for

Fostering Social Cohesion

Author(s): Farid Panjwani
Source: British Journal of Educational Studies , Sep., 2005, Vol. 53, No. 3, Values, Ethics
and Character in Education (Sep., 2005), pp. 375-393
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Society for Educational Studies

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BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, ISSN 0007-1005
VOL. 53, No. 3, SEPTEMBER 2005, PP 375-393

AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES:

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND MISSED
OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOSTERING SOCIAL
COHESION

by FARID PANJWANI, Aga Khan University-Institute for the S

Muslim Civilisations

ABSTRACT: Religious education (RE) has often found itself at the centre
of debates about education's role in promoting social cohesion in contem-
porary multi-religious societies. The paper considers RE's relationship to
religious plurality within the broader context of politics of curriculum
and debates on pluralism. Drawing upon the recent works on the history
of religion and using the teaching of the histories and cultures of Muslims
in RE as a case study, it argues that RE has yet to fulfill its potential
in this regard. The paper examines reasons for this and recommends
alternative approaches to content which may help RE rise to the challenges
posed above.

Keywords: education, Islamic education, textbooks on Islam, teaching

religions, SACRE, education and pluralism

1. INTRODUCTION

Think of a plural society not as one in which there is Babel of

conflicting languages, but rather as one in which we each have
be bilingual. There is a first and public language of citizenship
which we have to learn if we are to live together. And there is
variety of second languages which connect us to our loc
framework of relationship: to family and group and traditions that
underlie them. (Jonathan Sacks, 1991, p. 66)
A multi-cultural society demands multi-lingual capacities. Both t
intense multi-cultural context in which increasing numbers
people are living today and its demand for multi-linguality are
many respects new developments. While the pluralistic nature o
societies, both in the past and today, is undeniable, historical
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

barring some exceptions, this fact was deemed undesir

Medieval Christian notions of orthodoxy and heterodoxy
guishing between the 'proper' and 'heretical', imply this.
in the history of Muslims, while there was an acknowled
diverse beliefs, people generally sought the one 'true' belie
contexts, up until recently, monism, rather than pluralism
cherished value (Berlin, 1998).
Pluralism, a positive attitude towards diversity, becomes im
in a world where there is a constant encounter with and e
'the others' who cannot be ignored, obliterated or assimilat
of developments in modern times, entailing heightened in
among cultures, have led to political, cultural and social condi
have made pluralism a positive value in many contexts. It exis
side other values: some of which, such as monism, may be inc
with it; others, such as tolerance, reinforce it; while still oth
as the desire to maintain group identity, may exist in tension
Social cohesion in a multi-cultural society demands takin
of the juxtaposition of a historically informed fear of diversi
contemporary embrace. Is this possible? Berlin points out
If I am a man or a woman with sufficient imagination, I
into a value system which is not my own, but which is nev
something I can conceive of men pursuing while re
human, while remaining creatures with whom I can com
with whom I have some common values - for all human
must have some common values or they cease to be hum
also some different values else they cease to differ, as in fa
do. (Berlin, 1998)
The realisation of the possibility articulated by Berlin is i
of our key challenges today. It entails a dynamic balance
respecting diversity and finding common vocabulary and
Achieving it is neither simple nor uncontested, but not im
Sacks's recommendation above is part of an emerging dis
how to meet this challenge.
For obvious reasons, education has been a very importan
the debates concerning social cohesion in a plural socie
British context, Hargreaves, for example, has observed t
problem of Britain as a pluralistic society is how to find s
cement to ensure that people with different moral, religious, a
values as well as social, cultural and linguistic tradition
together with a degree of harmony; and to discover the co
that the education system should play in generating social
(1994, p. 31). The central concern of this paper is to ex
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

contribution that education about religion (generally put un

term religious education (RE)) can make to foster social cohe
a multi-religious society such as Britain. That RE should fost
cohesion is hardly contested. Whether it does so, to what ext
how, is rarely agreed upon.
While the discussion may have a bearing on education
religion in various types of schools, the focus of the paper w
community schools in England and Wales. The reason f
choice is that by law (Education Reform act of 1988) comm
schools, unlike schools with religious character, are requ
provide education about religion and not instruction in a reli
It needs to be acknowledged that the goals, contents and p
of RE are by no means self-evident (Wardekker and Miedem
and its very presence in community schools as a compulsory
is a moot point (White, 2004; Wright, 2004). Yet, while thi
continues, students are being taught about religions and the s
is not likely to change overnight. This is not only because
particular historical relationship between education and rel
Britain but also due to some current global trends. It h
argued that recent decades have witnessed a resurfacing of r
in the public domain across the globe; that we are witn
deepening of adherence to religious identity at a time w
increased interactions among religions has made the need fo
ance and pluralism extraordinarily crucial (Barber, 1995; Co
1999; Sacks, 1991). Thus, pragmatically, the question of the
tionship between RE and religious plurality needs to be add
regardless of one's stance on its compulsory nature.
On the one hand, there are those who consider the provision o
in schools as necessary and beneficial to social cohesion in a
society (Cooling, 1997; Dennett, 1988;Jackson, 1997) and on t
hand there are those who consider it to be unnecessary and
harmful for such cohesion (Hargreaves, 1994; Humanist Philo
Group, 2001; White, 2004). The responses and counter-re
to David Bell's call to faith schools, particularly Muslim sch
'adapt their curriculum to ensure that it ... helps them [pu
acquire an appreciation of and respect for other cultures' is a
the latest episodes in this long running debate (Bell, 2005).
This paper takes the view that RE (or education about relig
it should be called) can indeed play a very important role in
ing social cohesion, particularly so in a world where religiou
tities are increasingly becoming important. However, it is
the potential of RE to do so is being realised only partly. Th
important reason for this is that the content of RE has not
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

the educational attention it deserves. Using the outcomes o

study about the portrayal of Islam (or, more accurately, of the h
and cultures of Muslims) in RE textbooks and syllabi, this pa
demonstrate the consequences of this lack of attention to the co
argue that immense opportunities for promoting social cohe
offered by an alternate approach; explore the reasons why th
nate is not being considered; and recommend a way forwar

2. REALISING RE's POTENTIAL: THE CASE OF THE TEACHING

OF ISLAM

A small study of selected agreed syllabi and textbooks on Islam was

undertaken in 2005, where five syllabi (Surrey, Kensington & Chelsea,
Hackney, Somerset and Lewisham) and six books (Cooper, 2004;
Egan, 2002; Husain, 1996; Knight, 1995; Maqsood, 1995; Thompson,
1996) were randomly selected and reviewed. It should be noted that
although the authors of most of the textbooks appear to be non-
Muslims (as suggested by their names) there are often Muslim con-
sultants who work with them. While the study is not representative, it
does reflect how Islam is being presented to a large number of pupils:
the local education authorities selected are very different from each
other, some with very large Muslim populations; and the books chosen
are among the most popular textbooks on Islam at the school level.
The following is a discussion on how the faith, histories and cul-
tures of Muslims are currently presented in the textbooks and syllabi
being used in many classrooms in England. Simultaneously, the gap
between what is being presented and what indeed are the realities of
Muslims in the past and the present will be discussed. To do this, the
study has drawn upon the scholarship on the histories and cultures
of Muslims carried out in modern scholarship by Muslims as well as
others.

Monolithic versus Pluralistic Presentation

One of the most significant findings of scholarship on the history of

Muslim societies is that they are immensely diverse and have been so
since their earliest days (Faruqi and Faruqi, 1986). How do the text-
books and syllabi fare in terms of bringing out this diversity?
With some exceptions, the syllabi and the books studied fail to
portray the rich internal diversity among Muslims. More specifically,
they reflect the current mainstream Sunni understanding of Islam
and as a result present Islam as a monolithic faith. Some examples
are considered below.

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The first pertains to the discussion of the sources of autho

Muslim history. The syllabi and books mention two sou
authority: the Qur'an and the words and deeds of the P
Muhammad. These two in fact form the basic sources of au
for all Muslims. However, not all Muslims accept only th
sources of authority. The Shi'as, who make up ten to fifte
cent of Muslims, consider the Imam as the third source of auth
In fact, the divide between the Sunnis and the Shi'as too
originally on the question of religio-political authority.
regard, the Qur'anic reference to 'uli 'l-amr minkum' (4:59
ing: 'those who hold authority among you'), has been inter
variedly in Muslim history: the Sunnis generally take it to
worldly leaders while the Shi'as understand it to refer to d
appointed Imams. The Shi'a believe that the Prophet, in lin
the above noted Qur'anic injunction, appointed Ali, his cous
son-in-law, to be the leader of Muslims after his death. The Sunnis,
on the other hand, claim that the Prophet did not appoint a successor
and that it was up to the community to choose a leader for itself.
Furthermore, in the Shi'a context there is a close link between the
Imam and the authority of the Prophet. This is because only those
sayings of the Prophet, known as Hadith, which are attested to by the
Shi'a Imams are accepted as genuine or authentic (Newman, 2000).
Only one syllabus (Somerset) mentions the Shi'a interpretation of
the notion of Imam; the rest simply assume a Sunni understanding
and use the word Imam to refer to the leader of the mosque. The
Shi'as are not the only group that have additional sources of
authority. The Sufis have a system of authority that is based on
teacher-disciple relationship (Schimmel, 1975). Thus, in reality,
the institution of authority in Muslim contexts is a complex,
multi-layered phenomenon yet it is not presented in such a manner
to students of RE.
The discussion about the nature of the Qur'anic revelation i
another example of the way in which Islam is presented as a mono
lithic faith. In almost all the books there are statements such as,
'Muslims believe that Allah's message was revealed to Muhammad,
in Arabic, by the angel Jibril (Gabriel)' (Knight, 1995, p. 4). This is
more a reflection of how many Muslims today think of the revela-
tion; it is not a belief shared by all Muslims. There is a rich literature
on the nature of revelation which shows that the positions on this
matter vary from those who understand it to be a verbal transmission
in Arabic from God through the angel to the Prophet, to those who
believe revelation to be inspirations which were put into words by
the Prophet himself (Rahman, 1966).
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While the above two examples pertain to theology, the ne

relate to culture. Here too we find a lack of appreciation of diver
The architecture of the mosques around the world, for instan
shaped by local cultural and environmental factors. Yet, excep
passing reference in one book to the fact that mosque archit
reflects local cultures (Cooper, 2004), mosques are always de
as having a minaret and a dome. In fact, these two are by no
necessary features of a mosque. Around the world there are m
that are based on local architectural traditions and artistic motifs. In
my teaching I often use a slideshow, developed by a Karachi-based
architect, Mukhtar Husain, which portrays this rich architectural
diversity of mosques. On viewing this students, both Muslim and
non-Muslim, are surprised that such a rich variety exists in mosque
designs. Many Muslim students go through a phase of resistance
before finally accepting buildings that look like Buddhist pagodas or
Malian mud houses to be mosques. If the teaching of Islam does not
make it easy for students to acknowledge that there are many
accepted paths of interpretation in their own tradition, how much
more difficult would it then be for them to recognise the possibility
of diversity of other traditions?
The final example deals with a matter that is often at the forefront
in media today. In most textbooks, women are shown wearing various
kinds of Hijab (the term encompasses many items such as head
scarves and veils). While the Hijab has been a significant part of
women's attire in Muslim contexts, it is by no means so widespread
that almost all of the illustrations of women in all the textbooks
ought to be portrayed wearing the Hijab. One author (Husain, 199
labels a dress that hides a woman almost completely, including h
face, a 'strictly Islamic dress'. In fact, the opinions on the Hi
among Muslims are divided: there are those who reject any religio
compulsion about dress, including the Hijab, instead pointing to t
Qur'anic stress on personal modesty; others disagree on the scope
the term, namely, what parts of the body ought to be covered (Ab
El Fadl, 2001; Shadid & Van Koningsveld, 2005).

Literalist versus Symbolic Understandings

One dimension of the internal diversity among Muslims is their

varied approaches to religious texts and practices. Between tho
who seek literal meaning of and those who symbolise every religio
text and practice, there is a rich spectrum of positions. The lite
approaches alone are not only irreconcilable across religions b
also place religious beliefs in direct confrontation with scientific a
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

historic findings. A non-literal (cognitive or non-cognitive) app

to language use in religious contexts can expose pupils to the p
bility of multiple interpretations without losing respect for their
interpretation. Is this variety reflected in the presentation of Isla
schools?
Unfortunately, the syllabi and textbooks examined portray only,
or mainly, a literalist understanding of various ideas associated with
Muslim beliefs and practices. For instance, angels are defined as
'intelligent beings who have specific tasks and duties to perform'.
Apart from the un-missable modern-day bureaucratic parallels, such
literalist presentations obliterate other Sufi, Sunni, Shi'a and philo-
sophical understandings which do not see angels as physical entities
Muslim philosophers, for example, understood angels (malaika, in
Arabic) as spiritual beings and Sufis often associated angels with
human reason (Schimmel, 1993).
Descriptions of the notion of the hereafter in Muslim contexts are
another example of the literalist approach. A physical notion o
heaven and hell is predominant in syllabi and textbooks. This, of
course, is not the only way in which the descriptions of hereafter
were understood in Muslim history. In his Risalt al-Ghufran (Epistle
of Salvation), Abu Alaa al-Maari (d. 1057), the famous Syrian poet,
in fact makes fun of those who understand heaven and hell in a phys-
ical sense, taking the relevant Qur'anic verses literally. In only one
textbook is the possibility of a symbolic understanding mentioned:
'All the descriptions of the after-life, including such things as youth,
beauty, dress, food, and so on are intended to be understood sym-
bolically since in eternal life the faithful are not subjected to physical
limitations at all' (Maqsood, 1995, p. 43). Similarly, descriptions of
Mi'raj, the event marking the ascent of the Prophet Muhammad
from Makkah to heaven, are also presented as a physical occurrence
Again, Maqsood is the only writer who at least acknowledges the
possibility of a symbolic interpretation: she notes that the event of
The Night of Ascent 'was a miraculous journey, it is not clear whether
the event was supposed to have really happened physically, or was a
vision' (p. 14). Muslims, in fact, have understood the event in many
different ways. For instance, Mi'raj has been seen as a symbol of the
highest spiritual experience attainable not only by the Prophet but
by others as well (Schimmel, 1993).
The literalist approach is so prevalent in textbooks on Islam that
one author claims that 'Muslims feel little need for symbols in their
religion' (Egan, 2002, p. 16). In the teacher's guide, the author first
writes that, 'The use of signs and symbols plays an important role in the
everyday lives of most people. This is especially true of most religious
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people'. He then goes on to say that, 'Islam as a religion has lit

of symbols. This is because Muslims are happy to fulfil their
submitting themselves to the will of Allah and trusting h
While many Muslims today may agree with this statement, th
ical fact is that symbolic approaches have always been an
part of Muslim understanding. Some Sufis have gone so far as
that the entire universe is nothing but a symbol pointing to
real', Allah. Even rituals were often understood symbolic
eleventh century Persian poet, Nasir Khusraw, for instance
in a poem his meeting with a returning pilgrim. While th
tells of the rituals he performed in Hajj, Khusraw asks h
rituals had any personal meaning and esoteric significance
I said to him, 'When you were throwing stones at the accus
Did you throw out of yourself
All blameworthy habits and actions?'
He said, 'No.' I said to him, 'When you went to pray at th
of Abraham,

Did you surrender your inner self to God, in truth, faith a

certitude?'
He said, 'No.'

Then I said, 'In that case, my friend, you have made no hajj,
You have not become a dweller in the station of self-effacement,

You have merely gone to Makkah, seen it, and come back.'
(quoted in Hunsberger, 2000)

Historical/humanist versus Absolutist Approach

Religions are not fixed and static entities: 'One of the important
insights that have emerged from the study of religion as a historical
and cultural reality is the realization that religions change; they are
not timeless, eternal essences' (Ernst, 2003, p. 50). The meanings
religious people give to their practices, values, norms and institu-
tions are the result of the creative and dialectic relationship between
them and their environment. The increasing activities in areas such
as inter-faith dialogues are clear indicators that as always religions
are on the move. Do we find this historically informed approach to
religious ideas, institutions, and practices in the textbooks and syllabi?
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The picture, sadly, is unimpressive. Many of the examp

above are pertinent here. I will thus provide one more
Almost all the syllabi and books discuss 'Islamic' law. T
term used for it is Shariah. This is unhistorical. The Shariah refers to
an attitude towards life based on ethical ideals. The appropriate
term for law in historical Muslim contexts is fiqh. Nevertheless, what
is today called Shariah evolved over several centuries. While the
Qur'an and the model of the Prophet provided the main sources of
law, for the Sunni Muslims at-least, local practices, common sense
and public good all had their share in its evolution (Rahman, 1966).
This historical process is hardly present in books, resulting in an
essentialised notion of law. In modern period, the question of the
status of Shariah, has been passionately debated. Yet, only Maqsood
(1995) refers to the different contemporary positions of reformers,
traditionalists and radicals on the relevance of Shariah today. But
neither she nor any other writer discusses the historical evolution of
law in Muslim contexts. If students are unfamiliar with the historical
nature of Shariah and the contemporary debates concerning its
significance, they cannot be blamed for thinking that its teachings
are eternal, leading to difficulties in reconciling tradition with the
demands of the ever-changing human condition.
The lack of the historical approach in textbooks leads to the over-
sight of an important contribution that RE could make to combating
stereotypes and strangeness associated with 'the other' by 'throwing
into relief the interconnections, the socio-cultural exchanges, and
the mutual influences' across the cultures spawned by the Muslim,
Jewish and Christian people (Kaul-Seidman et al., 2003). One well
known example of such exchanges, though hardly mentioned in
school books, is the intellectual traffic from Greece to Baghdad and
Cordoba, and from there to Toledo (Fakhry, 1997). Such exchanges
show that in their own traditions, people were grappling ultimately
with human concerns. Diversity of images of afterlife across religions,
underpinned by shared existential concerns is another example of
the universalistic dimension underlying particular religious traditions
(MacGregor, 1992).
While there is no dearth of humanistic trends in the histories of
Muslims, they are hard to find in the textbooks. In this regard, a sig-
nificant omission, conspicuous given the much emphasised notion
of spiritual development in RE (QCA, 2000; Thatcher, 1999), is th
discussion of mysticism or Sufism, as it is called in Muslim context
Hardly any textbook gives these traditions the attention they deserve.
As in other mystical traditions, Sufis had an approach to religion that
stressed its inner spiritual dimension rather than the physical acts
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doctrines and rituals. A poem like Rumi's, The Reed Song

speak to people across religious traditions:
Listen to the reed,
how it tells a tale
complaining of separation:
Ever since I was parted
from the reed-bed,
my lament has made
men and women weep.
I search for a heart
smitten by separation
that I may tell the pain
of love-desire.
Everyone who has got far from his source
harks back for the time
when he was one with it.
(Jalaluddin Rumi, d. 1273)
Exploration of Sufi approaches could help students realise that the
can reach out to other faiths without betraying their sense of belong-
ing to their own tradition.
Finally, in contemporary plural societies it is essential that students
should appreciate that 'whilst a moral stance may be, and frequent
is, grounded in religious belief, moral and civic values are just as
important and tenable in the absence of religious belief (Hargreave
1994). Unfortunately, the current content of RE does not bring o
this humanistic stance towards ethics. Rather, it seeks to reinforce
the link between religion and morality. Yet this is not how it has to
be. Within Muslim history there was a strong theological school known
as the Mu'tazila as well as a stream of philosophers who indeed
approached ethics in a humanistic perspective. From the late eighth
to the twelfth century, there were many theologians and philosophers
who argued that right and wrong can be known through human
reason, a position sometimes called the Natural Law theory of ethics.
Their position is very similar to those of Maimonides (d. 1204) in the
Jewish tradition and Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) in the Christian
tradition. Thus, in both spirituality and ethics there are strong
humanistic trends in Muslim history, but which the current RE
content fails to capitalise on.
An arresting observation emerging from the above analysis is the
huge divergence between what is presented in syllabi and textbooks
as Islam and Muslim belief and practices, and what in fact is the
history and current reality of Muslims. The presentation of an
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

historically defensible portrayal of Muslim past, it is proposed,

potential to help students appreciate that as they learn wh
calls 'first and public language' they can find its resonance
second languages of their own traditions: that respect for diffe
change and dialogue are features that are part of their own trad
and that they do not betray their identity if they respect or even
other faiths and cultures, for this ability itself is a characte
their own tradition. It is this opportunity that is being miss
today.
Why? And, what can be done to change the situation?

3. POLITICISATION OF RE CONTENT

RE is currently taught in all schools in England and Wales. In th

century the two most important pieces of legislation concernin
were promulgated in 1944 and 1988. The first one paved the way
transforming RE in community schools (and some Church sch
both in terms of approach and content (Cush, 1998). In the sec
of these Acts, overt Christian aims 'gave way to more general a
that stressed the importance of religion as a factor in understan
culture or in helping young people to find their own meaning
life' (Barnes and Kay, 2002). The move in fact was an acknowle
ment of important socio-religious trends that were taking plac
the broader context of changes since 1945: the large scale arriv
immigrants, recasting British society into a multi-religious mo
the decline in religious practice, particularly church attend
(Kay, 1997); and, new findings within educational psychology
challenged the traditional approach to RE (Goldman, 1965). Tod
while most schools of religious character are allowed to have a c
fessional approach to RE, community schools are legally require
offer non-confessional RE.
However, the trend has not been without complications. The
community schools, while required to provide a non-confessional
religious education are also obliged by law to have 'collective wor-
ship' or 'school prayers' that is confessional in nature. Further, RE is
not part of the National Curriculum and its curriculum is developed
in a manner different from that of other subjects. The syllabus is
arrived at by taking account of the religious views of the local
population (DFE, 1994). Under the 1988 educational legislation, each
local educational authority is required to establish a Standing
Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) to advise in the
evolution of an 'Agreed Syllabus'. SACRE includes members of the
local religious communities. This has in fact made the ownership of
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

RE content 'a struggle between educationalists and faith

ties (usually meaning religious and community leaders), w
Model Syllabuses a victory for the latter' (Ipgrave, 199
members representing religious communities, owing in pa
consensual approach to decision making, have an influe
sometimes decisive, say in the formulation of the content of
leading to the blurring of distinctions between instructi
educational approaches.
Thus 'an emphasis has clearly been on respecting the w
parents (and of others, such as Church leaders) to initiat
into communities of faith - or not' (Bowker, 1996). This
also expressed by Grimmet when he noted that governme
Conservative and Labour) have 'little belief in RE's per
community value other than as a means of appeasing the f
munities and maintaining the concordat between state an
which has been reflected in all educational legislation sin
(Grimmet, 2000, p. 11). The situation remains largely unch
the new National Framework for RE.
Religious communities practise religion; they embody how
religion is understood and lived at a particular time, and place. Thus
they reflect an authentic perspective. A child growing up in the com-
munity rightly receives this perspective. The well-known Interpretive
Approach to RE adopted in the Warwick RE Project, aimed to study
and present religion authentically by studying its practice in the
actual lives of families and individuals (Jackson, 1997). It rightly
saw the practice and understanding of religions in religious com-
munities as authentic. Its main weakness, however, was that it took
only one particular time and context as authentic and did not take
a historical perspective. What is required in religious education, in
making students 'religiously literate' (Wright, 2004), is not simply an
exposure to how a religion is understood and practised at a given
time, but an understanding of a religious belief and its practices over
its history. A sound historical approach would take full account of
the beliefs and practices of communities. However, it would do this
throughout the history of the tradition.
As part of the case study above, it was mentioned that a strand of
ethical thought exists within Muslim history that saw ethics as objec-
tive in character and discernable through human reason without the
aid of revelation. This strand, as noted above, was represented by the
Mu'tazila as well as several Muslim philosophers. Today, however,
neither the Mu'tazila nor the philosophers are part of the general
Muslim consciousness and one has to approach scholarly works on
Islam to learn about them (Fakhry, 1997; Sharif, 1963-66). It is thus
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

not likely that a syllabus designed through the consensus of reli

communities will reflect such points of view. This is where 't
ticular skills and understanding that religious studies can b
religious education have not been fully explored or developed
context of the school curriculum', leaving it vulnerable to p
criticism (Baumfield, 2004). Though this paper has focused
teaching of Islam, similar questions about the content of
being raised about other religions as well (Doble, 2005).
What has been the dominant response of the RE professio
this politicisation of content? Many appear to have adjusted t
have consequently focused more on pedagogy of RE than the con
Furthermore, the RE content, given that it is based on the c
nity's self-perception, which often sees openness to other re
traditions as fraught with dangers, seeks to highlight the uniqu
distinctive within each tradition. This has contributed to RE's stress
on diversity and difference, often at the cost of under-stressing th
commonalities. However, as noted above, social cohesion in a plura
society needs simultaneous recognition of differences and common
alities. Thus, both these responses - excessive focus of pedagogy and
diversity - need to be reconsidered.

4. RE's EMPHASIS ON PEDAGOGY AND DIVERSITY

Proponents of RE as a contributor to social cohesion have argued

that it does so through several means. Firstly, by helping pupils
develop skills to analyse situations and to engage in open-minded
discussions, RE fosters attitudes that are necessary for negotiations in
a pluralistic society. Secondly, by exposing students to more than one
religion, RE facilitates mutual understanding and promotes respec
and tolerance. Thirdly, RE provides opportunities to reflect upon
existential questions and limit-situations that concern all human
beings and are claimed to be at the foundations of religions.
It is to be noted that these arguments are pedagogical in nature
In fact, pedagogy rather than content appears to be the centre o
attention in the recent discourse on RE. The stance of Baumfield
(2003) that the 'key issue is not so much what we should teach as h
we should teach RE' is typical in this regard (p. 174).
An analysis of several issues of the British Journal of Religious Ed
tion (BJRE), a leading RE journal of Europe, was carried out to a
the emphasis given to various aspects of RE. The journals stud
were from 1998 to 2005. A total of 96 articles were considered.
Drawing upon a similar work by English et al. (2003), the artic
were divided into the following themes:
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

* Models and methods

* Educational theory
* RE and social plurality
* Policy and administration
* Classroom experiences
* Denominational RE
* Content of RE in schools
* Others (Analysis of BJRE, relationship between RE and Religiou
Studies)

It was found that about a third of the articles were on theory, whether
curricular or pedagogical. Next in number were the articles concern-
ing models and methods pertaining to research on RE. There were
only eight articles that were concerned in any substantial manner
with the content of RE in schools. For example Homan (2000) dealt
with the use of artefacts in RE classrooms. Similarly, Bauser and
Poole (2002) explore the presentation of the relationship between
science and religion in the RE curriculum.
Perhaps one of the reasons RE teaching remains much weaker than
in other humanities subjects (Ofsted, 2003) has to do with the fact
that the pedagogy and content of RE are underpinned by different
philosophical underpinnings; the former seeking to promote
openness towards diversity and the later trying to satisfy religious
communities.
The other response to the politicisation of content has been to
stress distinctiveness of religious traditions. The need to recognise
and appreciate difference is undeniable. However, some authors such
as Watson (2004) see this to be an end in itself, claiming that the dis
tinctiveness of RE vis-a-vis other subjects like citizenship education lies
in its celebration of diversity and encouragement of dialogue. Such
claims raise the question about the premises of the dialogue. It may
be argued that common procedural values are a crucial pre-requisite
to meaningful dialogue. To view the celebration of difference as an
end in itself may be regarded as politically correct, in practice how-
ever, it is debatable whether this is either possible or desirable.
Groups in society, whether religious or other, are different not
only in terms of the values they adhere to but also in terms of the
resources, power and influence they have. Unless a society arrives at
a consensus on its basic procedural values through which it can
negotiate differences and interests, there is a constant threat that the
most politically and/or economically dominant group may impose
its values on others. Procedural values provide safeguards to all, most
of all to the least powerful. The challenge is how to arrive at them.
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

Some of the greatest contemporary political thinkers have st

with this question (Habermas, 1970; Rawls, 1999; Taylor, 199
Parekh Report argues for values such as 'people's willingness
reasons for their views, readiness to be influenced by better arg
than their own, tolerance, mutual respect, aspiration to pea
resolution of differences, and willingness to abide by collec
binding decisions that have been reached by the agreed proc
as preconditions for democratic dialogue (Runnymede Trust,
The argument can be taken a step further towards the ne
agreement on common substantial values as well. Recent wo
anthropology and psychology have argued for reconsiderin
place of human universals in social as well as ethical spheres (
1991; Haidt and Joseph, 2004). 'When we look closely at the
lives of people in divergent cultures, we can find elements th
in nearly all of them - for example, reciprocity, loyalty, resp
(some) authority, limits on physical harm, and regulation of
and sexuality' (Haidt andJoseph, p. 55). Whether caused by p
needs of survival or by innate structures of the brain, we are h
both human differences and universals. When one thinks about one's
close friends, one may note that they are apparently very different to
oneself. However, no two individuals are the same. What enables some
interactions to become friendships while others remain at lesser
levels of interaction? Without ruling out the complexities involved,
it is proposed that close relations are marked not only by the differences
but also by a sense, even an inarticulate one, of the commonalities.
It is this deeper unity that allows for a comfortable co-existence with
differences at other levels. The line between difference as a source
of strength and as a source of conflict is very thin. Fruitful co-existen
needs an appreciation that beneath the differences, there ar
commonalities.
Historically, belief systems, language, blood relation, colour o
ideology have provided this sense of deeper 'metaphysical' un
across divisions. Today, while they continue to be important unifyin
bonds, increasingly, and rightly, they are being deemed as insufficie
and in some contexts detrimental. But, this only underlines the exis
ence of and the need for human universals. To some, the notion of
human rights provides such deeper unity. Others have sought to
ground it in 'modularity of mind' (Fodor, 1983). Still others are not
certain that we can find such a bond. Within the context of religious
diversity, people have advocated a stress on spirituality rather than
religiosity as a possible way forward. Perhaps we are living in a tran-
sitional phase where older bonds are not sufficient and new bonds
have not yet emerged fully but are needed. Thus, even though there
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

may be some truth in the fashionable position that today we

have common values, there are some procedural values on which
people agree and which have the potential to lead to the crea
a much needed set of common substantial values in due course.
Although some may disagree, there is a strong case for the vie
the celebration of difference should not be seen as an end in itself
for RE. To appreciate difference it must be transcended by a sense
of deeper unity across cultures - a sense of human universals.

5. CONCLUSION

While the legal move from an essentially Christian instruction to

multi-religious education is nothing short of a paradigm shift
there is a need to make another shift. It is to adopt the education
spirit in the practice of RE as well, especially with regard to i
content.

Increasingly, educators are noting the inherent tens

within the very phrase 'religious education' and are switch
native conceptions such as 'religion in education' an
about religion'. While this semantic shift is underway
that only when the actual content of RE reflects this chan
underlying tensions be overcome. As shown above,
teaching of Islam is concerned the content of RE is such t
out much that ought to be part of 'education about
includes much that should not be.
RE professionals must fight for an educational approach to
content of RE and must themselves give more attention to it.
An educationally sound content will highlight the internal d
sity, dialogue and change within a religion. Thus, students wo
find that the languages they already belong to have deep links
the public language they need to learn. Such an approach will
bring out the symbolic and humanistic trends within religions, wh
can help them in both respecting as well as transcending differ
across religions. The approach, in short, brings us back to Ber
point, namely that of human beings having both common as
as different values because of which we can relate to people a
cultures and societies.
Students need both instruction and education in religion, but
is imperative to delineate the respective roles of families and c
munities and those of schools and other public spaces. While stud
should acquire 'second languages ... in the context of families an
communities' schools should be a place where they learn the fi
language of public and civic discourse. In fact, as far as commun
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 AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES

schools are concerned, it is suggested that the term 'religious

tion' be abandoned and replaced with 'education about religi

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Correspondence
Farid Panjwani
Aga Khan University-Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations
3 Bedford Square
London, WC1B 3RA
Email: [Link]@[Link]; muqqafa@[Link]

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