Higher Education Funding Council for England
Religious Literacy in Higher Education
Leadership Workshop
Friday 22nd October
City University, London
By Paul Weller
Professor of Inter-Religious Relations
University of Derby
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Lightening Input on
“Why Religion and Belief Equality
Matters and What HEIs Can do About It”
Sophie Gilliat-Ray:
“Issues of religion and higher education hit the headlines….very
rarely: more usually the religious and spiritual lives of academic
staff and students go unnoticed, even within the universities
themselves.”
But Gilliat-Ray also went on to note that,
“The outbreak of disturbances between different religious groups
on campuses does occasionally, however, subvert the normal
lack of interest.”
[Gilliat-Ray, S. (2000), Religion in Higher Education: The Politics of the
Multi-Faith Campus, Ashgate, Aldershot, p. 1]
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Does Religion and Belief Equality Matter
And Do Universities Do Anything About It?
A Changing Scene
Inclusiveness in religion and belief is a matter of justice and
equity for HEI staff and students
HEIs need legal compliance
and good practice in relation to religion and belief for their own
benefit
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Basic Principles for
“Why Religion and Belief Equality Matters
and What HEIs Can Do About It”
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
www.derby.ac.uk
Religious Discrimination in England & Wales
Research (1999-2001): Key Findings
 religious groups with a large proportion of visible minorities,
particularly Muslims, identified problems also with the policies
and practices of organisations.
 numerically smaller groups often felt their existence goes
unrecognised by educational institutions, policy makers and
service providers even where these work hard to include
“majority-minorities”.
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
 consistently higher levels of unfair treatment were reported by
Muslims than by most other groups, with such unfair treatment
more often being “frequent” rather than “occasional”.
Religious Discrimination in England & Wales
(1999-2001): Key H.E. Findings
 substantial levels of unfair treatment were also reported in
relation to the attitudes and behaviour of staff.
 comparatively less unfair treatment was reported from the
practices of universities and colleges, and even less from
university and college policies.
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
 in general, the highest reported incidence of unfair treatment
in relation to universities and colleges was from the attitudes
and behaviour of students.
Religious Discrimination in England & Wales
Research (1999-2001): Cited Examples
 dress (Hindus)
 teaching curriculum (Muslims, Zoroastrians)
 timetables (Jews, Muslims)
 holidays (Jews, Muslims)
 As one interviewee observed re religious holidays and festivals:
“I don’t understand. These are even education institutions. The
holidays are even printed on calendars now.”
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Cited examples of unfair treatment in Universities and
Colleges included the following:
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
www.derby.ac.uk
URL
http://www.derby.ac.uk/religion-and-society
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Religion and Belief, Discrimination and
Equality in England & Wales Project
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
www.derby.ac.uk
URL
http://www.derby.ac.uk/religion-and-belief-in-HE
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Religion and Belief
in Higher Education Project
Participation and Disclosure
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Religion and Belief in Higher
Education Research Project
Thematic Area 1:
Thematic Area 1:
Participation and Disclosure
People of diverse backgrounds need to feel safe in HEIs
Do HEIs/SUs promote good relations between religion/belief groups?
HEIs/SUs should be zones in which respectfully robust debate is possible
Can religion and belief groups freely express their views within the law?
Organisational “tone” and leadership orientation is key to progress
Do staff/students experience HEIs as seeing their religion or belief as
mainly connected with problems, benefits or as a matter of indifference?
For organisational approaches and progress benchmarking data is needed
Are staff/students content for religion/belief monitoring to take place?
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Rationales and Research Questions
Accommodating Different Religious Observances
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Religion and Belief in Higher
Education
Thematic Area 2:
Thematic Area 2: Accommodating
Different Religious Observances
The ability to manifest religious freedom is key to its practical meaning
How far do HEIs make provision for staff/student religious worship/meeting?
Staff/students need to be able to participate in HEI events with integrity
How inclusive (re religion & belief) are HEI/SU institutional events?
The use of contracted time is key to staff religious observance in HEIs
How do HEIs respond to staff time requests re religious observance?
Fair assessment lies at the heart of student experience in HEIs
What do HEIs do re assessment taking account of student observance?
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Rationales and Research Questions
Discrimination and Harassment
Relating to Religion and Belief
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Religion and Belief in Higher
Education
Thematic Area 3:
Thematic Area 3: Discrimination and
Harassment Relating to Religion & Belief
Inclusive institutions are better recruiters of both staff and students
What barriers re religion/belief do staff/students encounter in HEIs/SUs?
Unexamined policies/practices are as big a problem as direct discrimination
Do HEI/SU staff/students know how to address religion/belief discrimination?
Regular mechanisms enable good communication and engagement
Do faith/belief groups contribute to HEI/SU policy/practice development?
Religion/belief related harassment should be taken as seriously as extremism
From where do HEIs/SUs draw for expertise on how to deal with harassment?
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Rationales and Research Questions
Issue Recognition and Pandora’s Box
“….what’s missing are the practical steps, plans of actions
and guidance for taking those steps; establishing a way of
accommodating differences and needs they are coming to
understand”
Quotations from respondents in the Religious Discrimination
in England and Wales Research (1999-2001)
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
“….there’s an element of a ‘Pandora’s box’ whereby even
though the staff should feel empowered, there is the fear
that if you recognise the diversity of the staff they will start
asking for unmeetable demands…”
What Can be Done: Laws, Policies,
Codes of Practice, Data, Peer Pressure
“You need reporting, bench-marking data, peer group
pressure.”
Quotations from respondents in the Religious Discrimination
in England and Wales Research (1999-2001)
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
“You need to make people aware, to have access to
information, but you also need a way of making such things
not optional - establishing these as key responsibilities is
key; that’s possibly where the law comes in….but once you
establish an obligation you need to establish a way of
following up by providing resources and guidance.”
Thank You For Listening
www.derby.ac.uk
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SCIENCES
Over to you!