Teaching and Learning in Diverse and Inclusive Classrooms

Writings on diversity and inclusion have been slow to consider religion along with such facts as gender, ethnicity, class and disability. Yet there are many students and families for whom personal religious belief and practice are important. The right to hold a particular belief, religious or secular, should be accepted as part of a wider spectrum of rights to equal participation in education. Done poorly, education about religion can bore students and achieve little. Done well – and not just through formal religious education lessons but in other subjects and in the life and ethos of the whole school – it can engage students, build knowledge, sharpen ethical thinking, contribute to community cohesion and make religious extremism less likely. Teachers may find themselves holding very different views about religion to those held by their students. There are various ways of dealing with this – schools typically have policies about such matters as religious dress and time for prayers. More generally, religion can be thought of as a controversial issue, namely as one where a range of positions may rationally be held. In most instances the cardinal rule is for teachers to respect students – and vice versa – even if they don't agree with them