I recently decided to remind myself what being educated meant and the purpose of education. Through an internet search, I was able to download some interesting material. Alongside articles by the likes of RS Peters and Paul Nash, I also came across a speech by a Michael Gove, delivered to the RSA in June 2009, entitled ‘What is education for?’. While I learnt little from it, I did discover that it was here that the current Secretary of State had first publicly denigrated community cohesion saying that it “gets in the way of… education.”
Not surprisingly, as soon as the new government had the chance, it de-prioritised this very important area which goes to the very heart of our multicultural society. While in theory schools are still under a duty to promote community cohesion, it means little in practice. I am reliably informed that the subject rarely comes up during Ofsted inspections.
In Birmingham, which is currently home to some 187 communities, parallel and separate living is very much alive. In my new book ‘Dear Birmingham – a conversation with My Hometown’, I have stressed the importance of bringing people together through the instigation of a ‘One Birmingham’ programme.
While I would support Professor Cantle’s call to bring cohesion back on the schools’ agenda (‘Schools must play a key role in combating extremism, experts say’ TES 31 May 2013), in my view they alone cannot be expected to deal with this major area. The source of many of the problems and issues about conflict and ‘un-community’ lies beyond school, the response to them equally needs to involve the whole community. Here, we would also do well to remind ourselves of the ‘Strategy for positive activities’ put in place under the previous government. One paragraph in particular is relevant here:
“Participation in positive activities also provides opportunities for building relationships with positive role models, and for mixing with, and bridging gaps between, young people from different ethnic and faith groups as well as different generations – thereby building community cohesion.”
My first words were written on a takhti. This was a wooden board, about A4 size. We used to cover it in local clay. When it dried, it created a light surface for us to write on. We would use a bamboo pen, dipped in ink. Then, when the teacher had seen the work, I would wash the takhti in the dirty water of the pond that was there just in front of the school. I also had a slate, again about A4 size. This was used for working out the sums. For this we used chalk, bought from the village shop.
All this seems a long time ago. So much has happened since. I seem to have travelled a great deal of distance since those days when I sat on the dusty floor of the school. We used to look forward to rain because it would mean ‘no school’; the floor was too muddy to sit on.
The school had just the one teacher for my first three years there. He would start the lesson with each class and then hand it over to the monitor. Although, I did not formally become a teacher until I was twenty five, in reality I began my training almost on the first day of my primary education. I had a reputation for my love of learning and my sense of responsibility. By the time I reached class 4, we had another teacher. This seemed to be his first teaching job.
After five years there, I went to secondary school. This was even further to walk; about an hour each way. Here, we sat on benches and had more teachers and a wider choice of subjects, including English, Arabic, Farsi alongside Urdu and Maths. We now wrote in note books, known as kaapies. I was still recognised as a responsible and hard working student. During my three years there, only once I was caned. This was when a few of us were questioning some of the school rules which was seen as inappropriate behaviour. So, they tried to teach us a lesson.
Then, I came to the UK. During my couple of years of schooling, once I won a prize for writing an essay. Outside of school, I also won an Urdu story writing competition. Before I left school, I had my first article published, in Urdu, in Saltley News. This was a bilingual community newspaper, edited by my mentor, Sultan Mahmood Hashmi. He was famous for starting Urdu journalism in the UK and had established the first weekly newspaper, Mashriq.
My interest in writing was to continue. Soon after leaving school, I had a long short story published, also in Saltley News. I also had a number of my letters published in the national Urdu papers such as the Daily Jang and Akhbar-e-Watan. The subjects ranged from importance of teaching Urdu in Britain, opposing the presence of Pakistani political parties in the UK and supporting the rights of Pakistani women, especially education of girls. A few years later, I began to write in English. This felt such an achievement; to see my English to be good enough for publication.
And now, some quarter of a century later, I have just published my first book, Dear Birmingham. I write, I tweet, I blog. I don’t any longer write on paper, let alone a takhti. All my writing is on my dear Ipad 3.
Today I had the privilege of visiting a new headteacher, 5 weeks into headship. I observed his joy and excitement in anticipating the challenge of what lies ahead. We got into a conversation about how to get under the skin of a school and community, its complexity and richness. How do you change a culture and take the school on to where it now needs to go? We acknowledged that there is no one model or process that provides the answers and that leadership and school improvement is multi-faceted. Consequently each leader needs to skilfully choose the right tools, processes and initiatives as they respond to the particular dynamics they face.
So with all the rich resources at the disposal of the 21st Century Head with the plethora of guidance, research papers, programmes, NLE’s, SIP’s available, how does this new headteacher steer his course and find where to start?
As an educationalist I too have wondered if there is too much out there, do we get lost in the depth and breadth and complexity of it. Or can we draw together the strands of wisdom from existing practice and thinking and produce a simple model that combines these strands in a logical format. Improving from WithIn is a model for school improvement that seeks to do just that; present a logical model which is flexible enough to tailor to different contexts but that contains key dimensions and an underpinning philosophy to guide the leader.
Improving from WithIn came about from considering the new Ofsted framework and the challenge of producing learning experiences that are both motivating and engaging and during which progress is made. What support do teachers need to do that consistently and how do leaders invest in developing that same motivation and engagement for the teachers? Teachers who are motivated and engaged are far more likely to be able to motivate and engage their pupils.
Underpinning Philosophies
I believe the journey begins with identifying your philosophy of education. I have noticed that there are 2 prevailing underpinning philosophies of education, the first that children are empty vessels and as educators we pour in knowledge and fill them up, the second that children come with huge potential and existing strengths and preferences, here our job is to draw out of them those unique gifts and facilitate their learning and development. They are, of course, not mutually exclusive but if, like me you favour the second this will have implications about the job of a teacher.
The next fundamental consideration relates to what do we know and believe about how adults learn and improve their performance. Here, there are two key theorists that have shaped my thinking. Firstly Richard Boyatzis work on Intentional Change Theory. Boyatzis argues that for adults to make change that is sustained they need to be motivated and that motivation is created by a pull towards an ideal. His model provides a series of discoveries that support the individual in achieving change.
The second is Daniel Pink. In his book Drive, Pink argues that when you take basic human needs out of the equation, there are 3 key drivers that motivate us; autonomy, mastery and purpose. These motivators are intrinsic and more effective than extrinsic ones such as money or negative forces, the threat of punishment.
These theories along with the wisdom gleaned from the discipline of coaching and the emerging field of positive psychology demand that we reconsider how we lead school improvement. School improvement cannot be ‘done to’ but needs to harness the energy of intrinsic motivation within its community and be driven by its members. Leaders need to create the climate within which motivation and engagement are likely outcomes for the adults as well as the children.
The Improving from WithIn Model
The 6 dimensions provide a logical way of approaching school improvement applying this thinking.
Alignment
Starting with Alignment, the task of clarifying the core mission, developing a vision and identifying the values so that all practice can be aligned is the foundation on which to build.
Climate Creation
The climate is created by consistency of adult behaviours (firstly leadership behaviours) Consistency of behaviour becomes, ‘the way we do things round here’ or the ethos of the school. Members of the school community continually receive unconscious messages about how they should behave from the norms they observe around them. In relation to school improvement, how critical it is that those norms create the ‘pull’ Boyatzis refers to.
Copyright Forward Partnership 2012
Leading Change
How do leaders bring about change so that the community is pulled towards the ideal and not demotivated by external drivers? Leading change is well researched but to do it well requires effective leadership skills and behaviours. Shaping adult behaviours to create that positive climate will demand self-awareness, honesty and an ability to reflect on and adapt one’s own leadership behaviours accordingly. In order to do this well many leaders need a safe sounding board or coach to confide in.
We now come to the ‘outcomes’ side of the model.
Innovation
Innovation when truly effective arises out of a desire to make things better, to solve problems or to master new skills. It is a creative process which needs to be owned by the innovator. It is often a cycle that requires experimentation, trial and error, revision and refining. Despite the prescription education has experienced teaching remains a creative profession; in an environment where fear of failure or blame is eliminated teachers are free to innovate and take risks.
Motivation
Encouraging intrinsic motivators or developing the ‘pull’ will mean changing the narrative that drives the school. Do the stories told in staff meetings or on teacher days reinforce the perception of ‘done to’ or do they harness the drives of autonomy and mastery that Pink refers to? One way companies are doing this is described in Drive, the concept of ‘FedEx Day’s. Developed by the Australian company Atlassian, workers are given a day to work on anything they want to, as long as it is not part of their regular job. The next day they have to report back to their colleagues with what they have created. What would happen if teacher days were like this and what would be achieved?
Engagement
On such days would teachers lose themselves and become so engaged in their non-commissioned work that they achieved the state of ‘flow’ or ‘completely focussed motivation’ (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ) Having experienced such engagement, what learning or higher level of performance might result. Just take a look at twitter and see how many teachers are engaged in passionate debate about their work or look to number voluntarily sharing their resources and ideas via the TES. There is evidence of an engaged profession. How well does the school encourage this engagement, or celebrate the climate of meaningful purpose along with behaviours associated by going the extra mile and a generosity of spirit that arise from it.
And finally, what of the new headteacher who inherits a school in crisis, for whom there is so much that has to be done quickly. Pacesetting, authoritative and sometimes coercive leadership styles seem the obvious way to begin? Just a word of caution, how many of the teachers in those schools have been de skilled and lost their professional self-confidence by negative messages and differing advice from external experts? Whilst it might be appealing to believe that the only way to improve the school is to refer to extrinsic drivers, the latest Ofsted framework or targets; it is worth considering the impact of extrinsic drivers on motivation and understanding that compliance is not real and embedded change.
I have come to the conclusion that it is not what we do that needs to change but how we do it. The spirit that lies behind what we do needs challenging. We also need to develop a strong belief in the profession to find its own solutions. Improving from WithIn offers a model for school improvement which requires a different approach and leaders who are brave enough to loose the reins and let the creativity and resourcefulness of their staff flourish.
Daniel Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, (2009)
Richard Boyatzis, Intentional Change Theory, Richard E. Boyatzis, (2006) “An overview of intentional change from a complexity perspective”, Journal of Management Development,
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, (1990)
What a privilege to have another group of young people choosing to be in a writing group with me and to describe it as “great and fantastic opportunity”, “golden opportunity” , “amazing course”, “lifetime opportunity”, “perfect chance” “honour” and as a blessing. One student even got carried away to say “if I do get chosen I may have a higher chance of winning the Nobel Prize”.
In making a case to be included in the group they said:
“My target is to reach my full potential and release the writer within me”
My top priorities are:
Education
Success
Being the best I can be
The writing workshop “will hopefully open my imagination to help me think outside the box”
“Reading is one of the things that make my life great. When I am reading, I lose myself so much into the book that I am not aware of what’s going on around me”
The writing workshop “will benefit me not only in my reading and writing in English but also boost my level of confidence”
The writing workshop “will inspire me to become a better writer”
“I have never been lucky to have a chance to apply for a place on a course like this”
“No matter how brilliant your work is, I believe there is always room for improvement”
The writing of authors such as JK Rowling and John Steinbeck “is almost addictive to read as it’s wild and interesting”
It would be fair to say that Islamabad Airport presents a picture of the current state of the country whose capital city it is named after. Actually, in the good old Pakistani tradition, it has been renamed by the current government as the Benazir Bhutto International Airport. If there is a change of government at the next election, it could be renamed as Nawaz Sharif or Imran Khan Airport. Let’s wait and see.
This airport is main entry point for foreign visitors to enter Pakistan and gain their first impressions of the country and its people and where they breathe a sigh of relief when sitting in the departures lounge, having probably decided never to return.
When left the airport in my current home of Birmingham, checking in was the quickest and most orderly I had ever experienced. But, when leaving Pakistan I had decided to arrive in plenty of time; at least three hours recommended on my ticket. I had a bag full of books’ with plans to buy a couple more from the duty free shop. So the more time, the better. Sadly, in the end I was left with little reading time.
There were a number of flights leaving around the same time. Nothing unusual about that, given it’s an airport and an international one. But given it was built many decades ago, the staff and the systems (is there such a thing!) are unable to cope with the demands of today.
Anyway, I entered the airport and joined one queue after another. The place was crowded beyond limits, with passengers but also with staff, with their varying uniforms to, no doubt, denote different roles and status. Perhaps they will downsize when the new airport opens next year or find them real jobs within a proper system.
After at least a couple of hours of just standing around in a noisy environment, I did not know whether I would be finished in time to catch my plane, given all the queue jumping that was going on assisted by the airport’s employees. It was now that I began to get agitated. My friends and family will bear me out that it takes some doing to get me worked up like this. An airport employee, almost in the passing, had told me that I needed at least one, possibly two copies of my passport, duly verified by someone somewhere at the airport. I thought to myself why had I not been told about this before, especially as the practice had been in place for a few years. I thought they could have told me when I booked my ticket on the Internet, when the airline staff phoned me soon after I had booked my ticket or even when I was phoned in the village, twice, to be told the plane had been delayed. Why wait till now when I am three or four people away from being given my boarding pass? So, I said to the staff member that I was not now going to drag my suitcase and hand-luggage, heavily laden with my reading books, across to the other side of the airport so that I can photocopy my passport to satisfy some jobsworth. I said I would take my chance and see what happens when I reach the end of the queue. I thought they can photocopy my passport if they want to.
So the wait continued. A little while later, when I was probably two people from the end, the man behind me said that he also did not have copies of passport. By this time I had come off my the proverbial high horse. I said to him: “how about he keeps and eye on my luggage while I copy my passport and when I return I could watch his stuff so that he can do his copying?” He seemed a trusting sort, a big thing in such a low-trust environment of the airport and country generally. He gave me his passport and said that I could copy it for him and he would pay me. I took his passport and went away for a few minutes and got the job done. When I gave it to him he offered to compensate me for the cost incurred. I said “no worries” and refused to take the money. We didn’t really start up a conversation as happens with me often. We did not find out where we were from, where we were going, even our names. Just as I was about to go forward, I saw the man helping the lady behind him and then, refusing to take her money. Who knows she might have done the same for the person behind her and the little act of generosity -costing me 70 Rupees, 50 pence in English money , just enough to get on the bus for one stop- might have continued forever along the long line of passengers desperate to catch their plane!
Venue: Barber Institute, on the campus of Birmingham University.
A room full of people; about 50 in all. Out for an unusual cultural experience. So good to be surrouneed by such people.
Two poets, both female. The third poet, male, could not get a visa.
First poet on stage, with the translator, from the organisation that arranged the event; the Poetry Translation Centre. The poet could not see in the poor light so decided to stay in the corner. The translator stood in the middle of the stage. For some reason it was decided that the English translation would be read first. So the translator would read from her position, centre stage, and then the poet would read in her own language from the sidelines. Surely it should be the other way round!
Thankfully, the second poet read her poetry first and then the translator read the English. This worked. You could see who the main act was and who the translator.
Both the poets were wearing quite Western clothes. I wondered whether it would have worked if they had just come from Iran or Afghanistan with their heads covered or in full burqa!
The first translator/organiser made two references to Afghanistan; both negative. First she referred to it as the worst country in the world. I thought to myself; how would I feel if I came from there. We have quite a few in our city who do. But then this evening was not for them as the audience or the poets amongst them. She then said, when about to translate a love poem, “this is quite surprising given what has gone on in that country”. Does this mean people in Afghanistan don’t or can’t write poetry? Is poetry only written in nice peaceful places like in the west? Don’t we have the War Poets? What gives her the right to stand here and damn a whole country. I am sure awful things are going on there. I am equally sure that there is beauty, poetry and birdsong; something they tried to ban many years ago. I wrote about it at the time.
Then we came to ask questions. I had no plans to say anything. A few comments and questions later, I put my hand up to suggest that in future they should always have the poet ‘centre stage’ and the translator on the side. I am afraid this did not go down well. The organising lady/first translator said she didn’t like being criticised and would have preferred it if I had had a quiet word with her on her own.
I felt bad about making her feel uncomfortable.
The evening ended. One person came to me and said she had agreed with what I had said. She could see the organiser had been defensive and didn’t really want to hear any critical feedback. We also had an interesting conversation about the need for white Brits to learn minority languages especially Urdu in places like Birmingham; local education as she had worked in Birmingham schools teaching English as a second language; her visit to Pakistan /Kashmir …. We exchanged cards so might be getting together for a coffee given we live near each other.
How about an evening of Urdu poetry and literature from Birmingham Pakistani community! But the audience would have to change their expectations as the local Pakistanis are just that; local! Equal citizens instead of exotic outsiders.
I had better get back to reading some more of Orientalism or should it be Everyday Racism. Maybe I should read something safer!
Venue: Barber Institute, on the campus of Birmingham University.
A room full of people; about 50 in all. Out for a bit of exotica? Maybe I shouldn’t judge or prejudge.
Two poets, both female. The third poet, male, could not get a visa.
First poet on stage, with the translator, a white woman. I think she is someone big in the organisation that arranged the event; the Poetry Translation Centre. The poet could not see in the poor light so decided to stay in the corner. The translator stood in the middle of the stage. For some reason it was decided that the English translation would be read first. So the translator would read from her position, centre stage, and then the poet would read in her own language from the sidelines. Surely it should be the other way round!
Thankfully, the second poet read her poetry first and then the translator read the English. This worked. You could see who the main act was and who the translator.
Both the poets were wearing quite Western clothes. I wondered whether it would have worked if they had just come from Iran or Afghanistan with their heads covered or in full burqa!
The first translator/organiser made two references to Afghanistan; both equally appalling. First she referred to it as the worst country in the world. I thought to myself; how would I feel if I came from there. We have quite a few in our city who do. But then this evening was not for them as the audience or the poets amongst them. She then said, when about to translate a love poem, “this is quite surprising given what has gone on in that country”. Does this mean people in Afghanistan don’t or can’t write poetry? Is poetry only written in nice peaceful places like in the west? Don’t we have the War Poets? What gives her the right to stand here and damn a whole country. I am sure awful things are going on there. I am equally sure that there is beauty, poetry and birdsong; something they tried to ban many years ago. I wrote about it at the time.
Then we came to ask questions. I had no plans to say anything. A few comments and questions later, I put my hand up to suggest that in future they should always have the poet ‘centre stage’ and the translator on the side. I am afraid this did not go down well. The organising lady/first translator said she didn’t like being criticised and would have preferred it if I had had a quiet word with her on her own.
The trouble was that in the environment that had been created it was I who felt the bad guy.
“Even in times of recession the political debate around migration should be more positive”, so said Helen Clark in a recent article. She is the head of the UN Development Programme and former Prime Minister of New Zealand. We know that, whether it was a sense of adventure or desperation which caused them to uproot themselves, migrants often have a desire to better themselves. Often coming from places which lack opportunities, on arrival they take full advantage of whatever facilities surround them. This can be true of both adults and children. Is it time in education we also reconsidered our perspectives in this respect?
Looking at the recent figures from Birmingham City Council, over 62% of children in our schools are non-white. If we assume all of them are of ‘migrant-heritage’, that is a lot of young people in a large community such as ours. What difference does their presence make? Is it always negative as ‘host’ parents tend to assume?
Although, many of our schools find their immigrant heritage students work harder and are more motivated than the rest, sadly, the discussion tends to focus on the negatives. We are used to talk of what immigrant children lack or what a drain they are on the system.
What is often forgotten is the good that can result from the arrival of these students, each of whom bring with them a new outlook. Their arrival can lead to improved behaviour in the school as well as raised standards. In a world used to taking a deficit view of immigrants it is very easy to over look their assets and strengths. To help us understand this a little better, we could do worse than take a look at the case study provided by Martha Bigelow of an immigrant girl.
The oldest of 10 children, Fadumo, is of Somali background. When she was 6, her family fled Somalia due to the civil war in the late 90s. They spent the next 8 years in a refugee camp in Kenya before ending up in the US. She was now, at age 14 years, to have her first exposure to formal schooling.
Fadumo had a supportive family. She saw her mother as a strong role model. The expectation in her family was that she and all her siblings would study and one day obtain good jobs.
Her mother closely monitored who her daughter’s friends were. She believed that it was better not to have friends at all if they were not ‘good’. This was internalised by Fadumo. She resisted making friends, thinking they might distract her from her study.
At school, she was able to show her teachers that she cared about her studies. She had a flawless attendance record and always did her homework. She made the best use of the world that surrounded her and all the facilities it had available. If she needed a quiet place to study, she would go to her local library. If she needed help with her school work, she would hop on a bus to another neighbourhood where there was a homework club.
I was a Somali girl!
Reading about Fadumo, made me realise that I was also a ‘Somali Girl’ and continue to be so, given my love for lifelong learning. I also had the benefit of high parental expectations. My father, especially, was very influential in my success. Given that he lived in Pakistan while I was in the UK, he would encourage me to work hard in my education through his letters. I took his advice very seriously. I was a keen user of my local library and even enrolled at evening classes while still at school, quite likely the first pupil to do so from our school. Because I was not an adult, who these classes were aimed at, I had to get a letter of permission from my Headteacher.
My father would ask me how I was getting on at school. Was I working hard, doing what I was asked to do by the teachers? He would remind me that in our culture, teachers are our spiritual parents and should be respected accordingly.
Dad would ask me how I spent my time after school. Did I associate with the right kind of friends? I was able to tell him that I had little time left to spend with friends, good or bad. In any case, I was of the view that my friends were a distraction to be avoided given few of them seemed to value education. Like Fadumo, I was often amongst the minority of children who paid attention to the teachers and did, as asked, the simple things of not talking or doing my homework. I also attended everyday without fail. Why shouldn’t I given my school was much more interesting than being at home.
Arrival of immigrant children does not just result from newcomers arriving from other countries but can also come about as a result of within-country people movement. In my role as an Independent Education Adviser, I occasionally come across schools telling me that the arrival of ‘immigrants’ is causing consternation amongst white parents who worry that their own children will be held back. Someone needs to tell these parents that these visible minorities- with their headscarves and prayer requests- are not immigrants but second or third generation British citizens. The parents also could do with being informed that the demographic change may help to improve behaviour in the school and possible raise standards. Mind you, some of the teachers in these schools have also given me the clear impression that they wish things were like in the good old days ie with a different colour of pupils.
Research[1] by Steve Strand and Joe Winston at Warwick University has pointed out that ‘immigrant’ pupils can often have higher aspirations than their peers from white communities. They found that the white teenagers showed the lowest aspirations. All of them had come from families who had lived the longest in the neighbourhood.
I hope, next time you are told that your school is to have migrant heritage pupils, you and your parents may think a little differently. Mind you, you may already have a few ‘Somali Girls’ including those who actually are from that country. Like Bigelow, you may have your own stories of newcomers who are model students.
[1] Educational aspirations in inner city schools, Strand S and Winston Joe: Educational Studies vol 34 no 4 October 2008, 249-267. ,
Venue: Barber Institute, on the campus of Birmingham University.
A room full of people; about 50 in all. Out for an unusal cultural experience. It’s nice to be surrounded by such adventurists.
Two poets, both female. The third poet, male, could not get a visa.
First poet on stage, with the translator, from the organisation that arranged the event; the Poetry Translation Centre. The poet could not see in the poor light so decided to stay in the corner. The translator stood in the middle of the stage. For some reason it was decided that the English translation would be read first. So the translator would read from her position, centre stage, and then the poet would read in her own language from the sidelines. Surely it should be the other way round!
Thankfully, the second poet read her poetry first and then the translator read the English. This worked. You could see who the main act was and who the translator.
Both the poets were wearing quite Western clothes. I wondered whether it would have worked if they had just come from Iran or Afghanistan with their heads covered or in full burqa!
The first translator/organiser made two references to Afghanistan; both equally appalling. First she referred to it as the worst country in the world. I thought to myself; how would I feel if I came from there. We have quite a few in our city who do. But then this evening was not for them as the audience or the poets amongst them. She then said, when about to translate a love poem, “this is quite surprising given what has gone on in that country”. Does this mean people in Afghanistan don’t or can’t write poetry? Is poetry only written in nice peaceful places like in the west? Don’t we have the War Poets? What gives her the right to stand here and damn a whole country. I am sure awful things are going on there. I am equally sure that there is beauty, poetry and birdsong; something they tried to ban many years ago. I wrote about it at the time.
Then we came to ask questions. I had no plans to say anything. A few comments and questions later, I put my hand up to suggest that in future they should always have the poet ‘centre stage’ and the translator on the side. I am afraid this did not go down well. The organising lady/first translator said she didn’t like being criticised and would have preferred it if I had had a quiet word with her on her own.
I felt bad about making a comment which had made her feel uncomfortable.
Then just as the discussion was being wound-up, a member of the audience, probably an Afghan, commentd with sometheing like “my country had not been a part of Persia”. I think by this time the organising lady was probably thinking “who are these awkward people?”
The evening ended. One person came to me and said she had agreed with what I had said. She could see the organiser had been defensive and didn’t really want to hear any critical feedback. We also had an interesting conversation about the need for white Brits to learn minority languages especially Urdu in places like Birmingham; local education as she had worked in Birmingham schools teaching English as a second language; her visit to Pakistan /Kashmir …. We exchanged cards so might be getting together for a coffee given we live near each other.
How about an evening of Urdu poetry and literature from Birmingham Pakistani community! But the audience would have to change their expectations as the local Pakistanis are just that; local! Equal citizens instead of exotic outsiders.
I had better get back to reading some more of Orientalism or should it be Everyday Racism. Maybe I should read something safer!
It was a privilege to be able to use my mother tongue- Pahari- , Urdu as well as English to facilitate a group of Muslim leaders in Dudley. I used to wonder what the point of me improving my non-English languages was. Now I understand. It was for times such as these that I have been reading my weekly Urdu paper and other material.
Surely, there must be more groups from within communities such as the Pakistanis whose preferred language of communication is their mother tongue(s). Presumably, they stay away from situations which are English-speaking.
I wonder whether we will ever move to the same level of provision for minority language communication and interpreting as that for groups who are dependent on British Sign Language.
The purpose of the event was to share information on safeguarding of children in religious organisations as well as to receive feedback from the people who work in such situations. Here are the notes from the Muslim group I facilitated:
1.Religion is very important to the Muslims of Dudley. They want their children to have proper understanding of Islam and be able to read the Quran. They also value their children being taught Urdu so they can communicate with the older generation and appreciate their cultural heritage.
2.It is important that the teachers teaching the above are properly qualified and are able to provide authentic education. The community is very keen for Urdu to be taught in mainstream schools but when it comes to Islamic teaching they would like that job to be done in mosques.
3.It is often the case that mainstream approaches are imposed on minority communities. When subjects such as safeguarding are considered it is important to take proper account of minority perspectives and context instead of expecting minorities to simply fit.
4.Language can be a barrier so it is important to have bilingual staff generally and especially in sensitive service areas such as safeguarding
5.The group raised the issue of safeguarding in the wider environment. Muslim children often have to put with abuse and taunts on the way to and from the mosques. The Council needs to take appropriate preventative action. Schools also have an educational role.
6.Lack of resources is a major problem for the Muslim community. They have to rely on the collections from their members who often come from a community which is disadvantaged. Lack of resources could give rise to safeguarding problems
7.It is important not to exaggerate the problems. The Muslim community is fully committed to safeguarding. They need help to develop the infrastructure.
