SHM Productions Ltd

Learning and Skills Council: Faith Project (Muslim Learners)
Understanding Minority Mindsets and Providing Informed Support in Learning, 2006-08

In the aftermath of the London bombings on July 7th 2005, the Learning Skills Council (LSC) recognised that there was a national hype surrounding Muslims in Britain. It was this context that brought the lack of faith-based support for Muslim students in further education to the attention of the LSC.

The LSC hired SHM with the overarching project objective of informing strategies for supporting Muslim students in further education. Primarily, the LSC wanted to increase the calibre of faith based support for Muslim students within England’s further education institutions, in part by highlighting where the inadequacies lay in the understanding, within further education, of what faith based support might entail. To this end, SHM engaged with national and regional LSC staff, Muslim students in schools, faith schools, colleges and universities, Islamic foundations and community organisations, college, school and training provider staff and Muslim parents and community leaders.

SHM undertook four projects designed to increase the LSC’s understanding of the needs of Muslim students in the further education system.

Programme Brief

SHM was asked to research and define strategies which would improve Muslim students’ experiences in further education, and to identify practical actions which could be taken to introduce support mechanisms for Muslim students into the further education landscape.

Specifically, Projects 1 and 2 aimed to find out what the nature of such support, specific to Muslim students, would be.

In Project 3, these findings were disseminated across the country, and used to generate actions towards the projects ultimate objective through a series of regional conferences.

The goal of the fourth project was to produce inspiring materials for communicating advice and guidance to Muslims in further education and to their parents.

In order to successfully fulfil the needs of the programme, SHM employed a variety of research methods and techniques, which actively engage those members of the public most able to help us in our research.

For Project 1, SHM facilitated three participatory workshops with each of the four Muslim Learner groups we set up around the country. So as to ensure the best possible cross-section of participant views and opinions, the workshops were conducted among Muslim students in a variety of settings, such as faith schools, colleges and community centres. Key to the success of these workshops was the method employed by SHM. The participants constructed fictional case studies which profiled Muslim students in Britain today. This allowed the participants to reveal sensitive information – perhaps their own views and experiences – without having to speak publicly on what they might otherwise have found too personal to discuss in such an environment.

For Project 2, we designed and distributed a quantitative survey to test the hypotheses gleaned from Project 1. We distributed the survey to approximately 800 students, half of whom were Muslim. The survey addressed Muslim students’ perceptions of, for example, family, faith and education. The survey findings matched the expectations which arose from Project 1 and so ensured that our strategy for Project 3 was founded in consistent qualitative and quantitative research.

Project 3 took the form of a series of workshops in which Muslim students designed a conference on the provision of faith based support in further education institutions. SHM then ran this conference for college, school and training provider staff.

Project 4 involved interviewing and filming a number of Muslim role-models, chosen by SHM.

SHM has provided the LSC with research reports for Projects 1 and 2, regional strategy papers for Project 3 and a series of case studies, photographs and film clips, for Project 4, which can be used as communications and guidance resources. But more than this, SHM’s work has filled a gap in the Learning Skills Council’s activity, by informing the initial faith agenda, and considering its implications for further education. Furthermore, SHM’s technique and approach to the project has itself added value to the LSC’s work in understanding Muslim students; our empowering methods of facilitation, and our non-prescriptive approach to our research throughout the project, has allowed Muslim students to shape and inform the project at every moment, thus enhancing its ultimate value.