Multi faith schools work
I’m on the Schoolswork Academy course this year [will be info on the training page about this soon], and a couple weeks ago we had our 4th conference (there are 6 throughout the year). We’ve covered loads of different aspects of schoolswork, but here’s something that struck me about culture and context in schools.
During this conference, it was great to learn about culture and context. One thing that I had never thought about was how we should treat our young people differently depending on their backgrounds. For example, the way that we give out food when some young people from different cultural or faith backgrounds may have strong views on what they eat.
One thing that I found very interesting was looking from another persons faith point of view at Christians and how they might generally sum a Christian up in the same way that Christians may make assumptions about people of other faiths. So often we may judge them by what happens because of the country they are from and not see them as an individual who has a faith.
It was really helpful stuff!
I agree, its helpful firstly to imagine how anyone who is not a Christian might view us and our motives for going into schools. Secondly, it got me thinking about how we should be able to have intelligent and real conversations with others of different faiths and beliefs rather than be ignorant of them.
I suggest that just as God can give us ‘in roads’ into people’s lives through circumstances or common interests, we can also connect with young people of other faiths as they can understand the concept of a ‘belief system’ etc etc.
I found the sessions we had on working with other faiths opened my eyes again to this and the importance of staying in touch with the messages our young people are picking up around them.
I’m so glad to see this conversation on the site. I was a teacher of multi religious RE in Leicester for 11 years, and I think that the enrichment of my faith through connections with other faiths is something to be thankful for. I’ve never been drawn to change my faith in any way really, but I have learnt to admire many other religions, and to learn from them. In our work for 16-19 RE for all, dare2engage, we have increasingly found that a platform for Christian visions and ideas is best when it is shared, sometimes with memebers of other traditions and sometimes with atheists or agnostics. nothing to be afaraid of in a plural society, I think
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