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When the French government banned students from wearing conspicuous religious clothing in public schools earlier this year, it highlighted a broader issue that would need to be raised around the world.
Two questions lie at the heart of the issue of public education and religion in general. How far should public schools go in catering to students with religious beliefs? And to what extent should religious freedom be curtailed to ensure the unity and neutrality of schools?
Conflict with or discrimination against students who wear religious clothing is rare in Australian schools, say most commentators. There were reports of veil-wearing Muslim students being harassed immediately after the World Trade Centre bombings, but the incidents were isolated.
So what policies and principles underpin this seemingly accepting and peaceful state of affairs?
Australian students are permitted to wear religious clothing at state schools, the only condition being that items such as the Muslim headscarf, or hijab, are the same colour as the uniform. Outlandish pieces of religious jewellery may be forbidden, but not because they are religious.
Freedom of religion is protected in Australian schools, and the subject of religion is not banished there, says John Gore, from the NSW Department of Education and Training (NSWDET). The separation of church and state is not as absolute in Australian schools as it is in countries such as France and the United States, he says.
“The Education Act in NSW defines 'secular' to include a general religious education. So in Australian schools—it's the same in other states—students learn about other religions. That's important, because some people talk about government schools as though nothing religious happens in them, which is not correct.”
Australian curricula provide numerous opportunities for learning about religion, including the subject Studies of Religion offered at senior school level. The number of students taking the course has increased significantly in recent years.
In primary school a range of religions are covered in the compulsory Human Society and Its Environment, says Gore who is the chief education officer for this learning area.
There is also a provision for special religious education in schools. This occurs when authorised representatives of approved religions (including non-Christian) come to the school to teach students backed by their parents' nomination.
NSWDET also has training courses and written resources on teaching religion in schools, and dealing with the needs of students with different beliefs. For example, there is a course run for primary teachers in the Penrith and Mount Druitt area of Sydney, and the publication Belief in Action is distributed to all government schools.
NSWDET is preparing a resource that provides practical information on the major faiths. “For example, the Muslim festival Ramadan has been flagged as a concern for some government schools because the fasting from dawn to dusk puts extra demands on students,” says Gore.
Schools normally make an effort to provide for students with particular religious beliefs, he says. “In schools with a high Islamic population, every attempt is made to meet the needs of students who need to pray five times a day. A prayer room may be offered, and sometimes, under supervision, people from outside the school can come in and assist those students. Students of any faith can use the prayer room, and I've not heard of any problems with this arrangement.” Port Hacking High in Sydney's south was one of the first schools to do this, in 1980.
Religious difference
While these trends point to a robust tolerance in Australian schools, they are not universal. One Muslim student told Educator that a school principal refused her request for a prayer space. “She told me it would lead to other religions needing their own classroom for prayer, which would be too hard to accommodate,” said the student.
Other experts draw a sharp distinction between the protection of religious freedom and catering for and celebrating religious difference.
“In my experience, religious difference is protected in state schools,” says Dr Heather Foster, a religious studies lecturer at the University of South Australia. “But I don't think schools have the resources or time to really celebrate all the religious traditions. In most cases they probably pick the majority ones present within the school and don't interfere with those who are from different religious backgrounds.
“I know a Muslim woman who recently started to take her daughter to a Muslim school in Adelaide because of things like the food offered in the canteen.”
While most state schools don't cater for the dietary needs of different religious traditions, Foster agrees that they take steps to cater for religious differences in the classroom. Religious freedom is an important aspect of making people feel safe at school. “But it's a two-way street. It's really important, that when you are giving someone from one religion a supportive environment, you are not impacting needlessly on other students' right to feel safe.”
Melbourne high school teacher Fiona Ludbrook says there is a range of attitudes to wearing the hijab at her school, even among the Muslim students. “Not all our Muslim girls wear the veil, but there would be at least one in each class and often four or five. Those from the most fundamentalist backgrounds wear the veil from puberty, but others get to choose. Some girls from Muslim backgrounds are quite opposed to wearing it. So you get a wide spectrum and some pretty heated discussion about it from time to time.”
She says she would hate to have to wear a veil, but believes it can't be interpreted merely as a sign of submission. “A lot of the girls and their mums who wear the veil are just as outspoken as anyone else in the school, and many clearly choose to wear it. Often outsiders can focus on overt, visible signs like the hijab without realising that there are forms of oppression in many different religions.
“I've been teaching Muslim girls for so many years, I tend not to even notice the veil these days. After a while, you don't even see it.”
But Ludbrook acknowledges that teachers in religiously diverse student bodies have many challenges. As well as teaching Muslims during Ramadan, she cites teaching Brethren students who are not allowed to use technology or study texts that contain swearing. Another example is taking responsibility for ensuring that Seventh Day Adventist students don't have a blood transfusion should an accident occur on a school excursion.
More broadly, Ludbrook admits to struggling when a religious practice comes into conflict with her own (atheist) belief system. “For me, for one cultural group to impose its ideals on another is cultural imperialism in any size, shape or form, so that does create difficulties for me.”
Nonetheless, the public school system is proving that different people can live together and discuss their differences, she says. “It's an absolute asset because students get to mix with such a wide section of different beliefs and values. They learn from each other's experience.”
PAUL SOMERVILLE is a freelance writer.
Education is the key to ensuring that people from all religions feel safe and included, be it at school or anywhere else, says Dr Heather Foster, a religious studies lecturer at the University of South Australia.
“We fear what we don't know, and fear often comes from complete ignorance,” she says. “I think it's really important not to judge other religions, but to gain an understanding of them.”
She tells the story of sending a student to interview a Hindu Brahman priest. “The encounter totally overwhelmed him. The student said, 'He was just like us—he was normal!'”
There is immense value in a state school system where people of religious beliefs have to learn together, says Foster. “When you meet people of different faiths, you learn about the similarities as well as the differences. You learn that, basically, there are similar ethical values across our religions.”
But a lot of sensitivity is required when teaching about religion. “I remember hearing of an Indian boy attending a Catholic school who came home distressed after a class discussion on Hinduism. The teacher told him he was going to come back as a dog in his next life. The child felt terrible, and it gave a negative view of reincarnation to the other students.”
Teachers often make the mistake of teaching religions as if they were completely different to the host religion, she says. “Schools that offer religious studies as a senior subject are often Christian and, although they have to teach Buddhism or Hinduism, they tend to do it from a Christian perspective. At my university, we teach from the perspective that all religions are valid in and of themselves for the believers of that tradition. When it's taught at school, that part can go missing.”
While the French government has been quick to point out that its new laws ban all conspicuous religious gear, including Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, there is little doubt they have been introduced to target the most obvious example, the Muslim headscarf, or hijab.
The laws need to be interpreted in the context of France's bloody history of religious conflict, which has led to a state fiercely independent of church influence. Also significant are recent waves of immigration, which are perceived as a threat to French identity. A rising Muslim minority now exceeds 10 per cent of the French population, including 20–30 per cent of those under 25.
Belgium, which also has a significant Muslim minority, is considering a similar law. Numerous German states have prohibited headscarfs and other religious clothing for public servants (including teachers), although the bans do not affect students.
The laws are not about the hijab per se, but rather address the problems that religious fundamentalism can create in state schools, says Patrick Gonthier, secretary-general of the French teachers' union.
“Since 1989 we have seen a new stream of reactionary Islam in France that wants to occupy a greater place in the public arena, and also in public schools.”
He cites Muslim student activists in public schools who refused to be instructed about religion in history lessons, would not respect equality between men and women, and told French-born female Muslim teachers that, because of their religion, they had no right to wear lipstick.
“We saw that these events could well have been the tip of the iceberg,” says Gonthier. “Many teachers called for a law that would clarify the situation in schools.”
Surveys indicate that French support for the legislation may be as high as 70 per cent. Three out of four teachers and, surprisingly, half of Muslim women are in favour.
Compliance with the laws has been high. A BBC report just after they were introduced said 100 Muslim girls in France faced expulsion because they refused to stop wearing the headscarf at school. Gonthier says discussions with such students have reduced this figure to about 20, most located in less secular eastern France. The laws make it clear that expulsion should be a final resort, taken only after efforts have been made to negotiate with dissenting students.
Despite that, two girls from Mulhouse in France's east were expelled in October for refusing to remove their headscarves. The students, aged 12 and 13 were excluded from the state school they attended leaving them to either continue their education by correspondence or attend a private school. French Education Minister Francois Fillon said that 70 Muslim girls and three Sikh boys were still refuing to compy with the ban.
Opponents, many of them outside France, say the laws will stigmatise Muslims, encouraging rather than quelling Islamic radicalism. They say the laws jeopardise religious freedom and have the potential to reduce diversity in state schools.
Fiona Ludbrook, a teacher at a Melbourne high school with a significant proportion of Muslim students, is concerned that the French laws will push students out of the state system.
“The fundamental issue for me is that education is a human right. I'd hate to see us go down the French route because I think it would lead to hard-line fundamentalist schools being set up and students leaving the public system to attend them. I'd rather have the diversity of students in the one place—a secular place—where there can be dialogue.”
Says Gonthier: “Like most European countries, France has laws that strictly separate church and state. We believe that faith is a private matter. According to the laws, religious signs are prohibited only in public schools—not in the street or in other parts of society.”
He denies that the laws are likely to cause a mass exodus of Muslims from public education. “In the north of France we have only one secondary school for Muslims, with perhaps 40 pupils. The majority of Muslim migrants have a very quiet faith. Many are very close to the public school system because they know the benefits and opportunities it offers their children.”
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