RE-FrAMING EXCELLENCE IN ISLAMIC SCHOOLING: ELEVATING THE DISCOUrSE

A RAZI WHITE PApEr

NAdEEM MEMON

WHO IS DEFINING EXCELLENCE IN ISLAMIC SCHOOLING?

Despite the rapid growth of full-time Islamic day schools all over North America and Europe, we have yet to define excellence in these schools ourselves as a community. The challenges in many Islamic schools are well-known: high teacher turnover, inadequate school facilities, undertrained teachers, and the absence of curriculum standards for the teaching of Islam (Senzai 2009, Niyozov 2010, Zine 2008, Merry, 2008). In a growing number of schools, their potential is also equally known: high student academic achievement, high student acceptance to prestigious universities, and well-funded educational facilities with committed administrators and teacher staff (Keyworth 2009, Memon, 2009, Zine 2008). However, between extreme challenges and significant achievements, there is no rubric for being a successful Islamic school. As of now, there are schools that either do not measure up to a public school in terms of academic achievement, or schools that exceed the achievement levels of local public schools. What we do not have are schools that define excellence in relation to their own mission statements. Most Islamic schools define their institutional aims based on the following overarching themes: 1. Nurture a strong sense of Muslim identity 2. Teach Islamic values, history, and perspectives 3. Responsible citizenship and marketplace competitiveness guided by Islamic values Across all Islamic schools, the aims (with limited variance) remain consistent. Yet, there are no processes in place to ensure that teachers have the tools to achieve these aims.

TEACHER tRAINING SHOULD NOt BE LEFt tO CHANCE

Well functioning, high achieving Islamic schools hire teachers on the basis of their teaching credentials and subject-level experience, but have no way of gauging whether they will be able to integrate Islam into their curriculum and teaching. The assumption in Islamic schooling is that teachers who hold teaching certification and are Muslim (or are sympathetic towards Islam) are capable of achieving the overarching aims mentioned above. We, as a community of Muslim educators, have left the training of Islamic school teachers to chance. Unaware of the varying amounts of Islamic learning that individual teachers have attained, there is no guarantee that the teacher who will be teaching our children will know any more about Islam than we as lay people do. There is also no way of gauging whether a teacher is even committed to the

RE-FrAMING EXCELLENCE IN ISLAMIC SCHOOLING: ELEVATING THE DISCOUrSE

project of Islamic schooling. Is a teacher simply applying to an Islamic school because they cant find a job in a public school or are they really committed to the values and aims of Islamic schooling? What Islamic schools have left to chance, other faith-based schools havent. To prove that the problem exists, we can turn to Christian, Jewish, or Aboriginal schools in North America and notice that every community that has established separate schools with a distinct educational philosophy has also developed a teacher training program to ensure the consistent training of teachers. Protestant and Catholic teacher education programs exist across Canada and the United States through public and private universities. Similarly, there are 21 Jewish teacher education programs that include graduate studies and bachelor degrees in education across North America. Furthermore, nearly every faculty of education in Canada houses a teacher education program to serve the unique needs of the country Aboriginal schools and students. These communities have not left the training of their teachers to chance, so why have we?

CURRENt AttEMPtS At RAISING EXCELLENCE

It would be unfair to portray a complete absence of concern over teacher training among Islamic school educators. There are indeed offerings for professional development and teacher training, but what we currently have is either sporadic, underdeveloped, or inaccessible. Generally, Islamic school educators rely on professional development conferences, seminars, workshops and in-service programs to provide teacher training in Islamic teacher education. Most often teachers who conduct such professional development activities are educators with bachelors or graduate degrees in education, but rarely a background in the study of religious teacher education, faith-based education, or the philosophy of Islamic education. Currently, the training of Islamic school teachers consists solely of professional development opportunities that are largely sporadic and incomprehensive. The Association of Muslim Schools in the United Kingdom (AMS-UK) and the Council of Islamic Schools in North America (CISNA) offer annual professional development conferences in London, UK, and Chicago, U.S. respectively. In addition, there are professional development workshops offered by organizations such as the Ontario Association of Islamic Schools (OAIS), Islamic Schools League of America (ISLA), Kinza Academy (US), Muslim Education Foundation MEF (Canada), and individual consultants who offer similar services across North America, Europe, and Australia.

RE-FrAMING EXCELLENCE IN ISLAMIC SCHOOLING: ELEVATING THE DISCOUrSE

There are three institutions that offer structured offerings that are longer term training programs: 1. Islamic Teacher Education Certificate (ITEC) offered by Shakhsiyah Foundation in Slough, United Kingdom 2. Masters in Islamic Education offered by the Markfield Institute of Higher Education (MiHE) in Leicestershire, United Kingdom 3. University of Vienna Teacher Training Program for Islam as a Religion teachers These existing offerings are certainly an achievement and the direction in which we as a community must begin to move toward. However, what are needed are programs that provide a framework of excellence. The offerings listed above remain narrow either in their focus on graduate studies, a different demographic (i.e. Islam teachers in public schools), or are unable to provide more than a series of disconnected courses.

OUR SOLUtION: THE ISLAMIC TEACHER EDUCAtION PROGRAM

The Islamic Teacher Education Program (ITEP) presents a solution that frames excellence for Islamic schools. ITEP is an online certified teacher-training program designed specifically for teachers in Islamic schools. It engages teachers with the vision of education from an Islamic perspective and how to apply that vision in their schools and daily practice. Specifically, the program consists of three courses that explore the vision, curriculum and instruction of Islamic schools. The program also provides practical guidance on how to teach from an Islamic perspective.
Vision Curriculum Instruction

Course 1 Islamic Education: Purpose and Pedagogy Course 2 Integrating, Infusing, Initiating: Designing Curriculum for Schools Course 3 Implementing Islamic Pedagogy in Private Schools

The ITEP contribution towards a framework of excellence resides in our definition of an Islamic Pedagogy. Our understanding of pedagogy is rooted within educational philosophy discourses that conceive of it in its broadest sense. Pedagogy from this perspective encompasses all elements of the process of education beginning first and foremost with the aims of education. Curriculum content and instructional strategies are shaped by overarching educational values. This serves as our framework.

RE-FrAMING EXCELLENCE IN ISLAMIC SCHOOLING: ELEVATING THE DISCOUrSE

An Islamic Pedagogy is the principles of education in Islam that inform both what we teach and learn, and the way we teach and learn. Islamic Pedagogy is rooted in a singular purpose of education, to know Allah. However, this purpose can be achieved with a multitude of educational approaches. An Islamic Pedagogy provides a framework of the principles of education derived from the Islamic tradition that influence our approaches to schooling. An Islamic Pedagogy is not limiting, directive, or an attempt to revive teaching practices of the past. Rather, an Islamic Pedagogy has the potential to adapt, create, and innovate using guidelines rooted in Islam. In its essence, an Islamic Pedagogy defines the Islamic in Islamic schooling not simply through what we teach or how we teach it, but by defining why we teach and learn. By rooting our conception of the purpose of education itself, Islamic schools will gain a rubric for assessing and adapting contemporary approaches in schooling with the principles of education in Islam.

THE POtENtIAL FOR CHANGE

Framing a teacher training program around the idea of an Islamic Pedagogy will empower Muslim educators with a vision for education. It connects the aims of Islamic schooling to all facets of a teachers day: why we teach, what we teach, and how we teach. And students by virtue graduate with a similar sense of interconnection in their own personal and professional lives. When we speak of excellence in Islamic schooling, we measure not simply academic achievement, but achievement that is measured by a rubric of faith-consciousness. Frameworks shape discourses. Islamic Pedagogy is a framework that has the potential to set the standard for excellence in Islamic schooling globally.

RE-FrAMING EXCELLENCE IN ISLAMIC SCHOOLING: ELEVATING THE DISCOUrSE

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