THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) 2010 Seminars 30 November 2010 AHRC/ESRC PROJECT Young People’s Attitudes to Religious Diversity: Reporting on First Impressions from the Field Presenters: Dr Julia Ipgrave & Dr Elisabeth Arweck Chair: Prof. Leslie Francis Summary A three-year project (2009–2012) in the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) at the University of Warwick, funded by the ESRC/AHRC Religion and Society Programme, seeks to address a gap in knowledge by investigating the attitudes of 13–16 year-old pupils across the United Kingdom (England, Wales., Northern Ireland, Scotland, London). The increasing religious diversity in the UK presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the relationships between different social and religious communities and institutions. The media highlight difference and divisions in local and national contexts and there is recognition, at the level of government, that religion cannot be relegated to the private sphere. There is also a recognition that religious education and citizenship education in school can contribute to community cohesion by teaching about religious diversity. However, there is little research on pupils’ attitudes to religious diversity and the factors that shape such attitudes. The seminar focused on the first phase of the project, which involved focus groups discussions with young people in British schools, presenting some of their views and comments on religious diversity, mapping the various contexts of the schools visited, and drawing out some of the emerging themes. -2- IMPORTANT NOTE: Please note that the following reflects the early stages of the data analysis and is thus subject to revision. Further Details about the Contents of the Seminar Presentation The presentation was in four parts, with Elisabeth Arweck and Julia Ipgrave taking it in turns to address the following sections: 1. Project Background (EA) 2. School Contexts (JI) 3. Themes from a School (EA) 4. Themes across Schools (JI) 1. Project Background This section provided an overview of the project, giving details about its duration, the WRERU members involved, the wider context within which the project was conceived, the project’s objectives and its time-table. It outlined the framework within which the research to date has been carried out. The project started with a qualitative phase, which involved focus group discussions in secondary schools. The schools were located in various contexts across the four nations (Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, England) and London. London is treated as a special case because of its size and its distinctive patterns of diversity. It was envisaged that three schools would be visited in each ‘nation’ with three group interviews in each school. The intention was to investigate the key themes and issues the students identify with religious diversity and the variety of positions they adopt in response. This phase of the project started with the team developing a comprehensive document which considered in detail how the key research questions, sampling, theoretical framework (definition of diversity) and ‘contextualisations’ needed to be co-ordinated in the qualitative and quantitative phases of the project. The design of interview schedules was then based on this document, paving the way for the school visits. Literature searches were conducted during this phase as well, with a bibliography of relevant references being compiled. By late November 2010, focus group interviews had been conducted in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, and London. The number of schools visited exceeded the project’s target of 15, as did the number of interviews in some schools. -3- The range of schools (re composition, location, etc.) is as wide as access to schools permitted. The data analysis was at its early stages, but most, if not all interviews had been transcribed and analysis on a school by school basis was quite advanced. Further, the data from the school interviews had fed into the pilot questionnaire, as planned. 2. School Contexts (JI) As mentioned, the team sought to capture as wide a range of contexts as was possible. In terms of geography, both urban and rural areas were captured in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, England, and London. In terms of community, schools were characterized by a ‘mono-religious’ local culture, high levels of religious activity religiously active and religiously plural local communities religiously plural communities including a sizeable non-religious element low levels of religious activity locally low levels of religious activity but a separate, clearly defined religious group in close proximity In terms of the school’s approach to religion: —religion assumed —religion actively promoted —expressions of pupil religion supported —religion as school ethos —religion as a curriculum subject —religion struggling for a place in the curriculum 3. Themes from a School (EA) In order to provide a flavour of the kinds of responses which young people gave in answer to the focus group questions, one school of all the 21 schools visited was selected at random for the seminar. This was an academy, situated in a large industrial multi-cultural city in the Midlands. The academy is the successor of a community school and opened in September 2008 on the former school’s premises. By February 2010, the academy had moved into a new purpose-built building on the same site. Given the design of the new building, it projected a ‘corporate’ image, which was also reflected in the style of the pupils’ uniform. The academy has a dual specialism: business and enterprise as well as information and communication, which, too, -4- underline the corporate image. In terms of size, c 640 pupils + 110 students in 6th form were on roll (figures from November 2009). Although non-denominational, the academy had a ‘strong and caring ethos’ which is ‘based on Christian values’ (as stated in the school’s prospectus). These were also reflected in classroom displays. The catchment area and pupil body appeared to be mainly white, with some pupils from non-white ethnic backgrounds present. Three groups of pupils were interviewed in this school: they were mixed (in terms of gender and religious or non-religious identity), with 2 groups of Y8 pupils (12–13 yrs old) and 1 group of Y9 pupils (13–14 yrs old). The questions asked revolved around four broad areas: A) faith background/identity B) values C) encounter with diversity D) attitudes to diversity A selection of the pupils’ statements relating to each area was presented to convey both the diversity and commonalities between pupils’ attitudes. These statements raise a number of issues, including the question of identification (‘labels’), the importance of direct contact with people from different backgrounds and pupils’ different approaches to values, especially as they were in a school where ‘values’ are writ large. 4. Theme across Schools (JI) The final part of the seminar sought to identify themes which went across the schools visited. While generalised conclusions from what has been found are not possible—at least not at this stage—there are a number of interesting themes that run through the existing data. The one chosen for the purpose of this presentation was young people’s attitudes to the religiosity of their classmates in contexts where the young people are familiar with religion and religious practice in their own communities and in contexts where they are not—contexts within which religion is viewed as ‘normal’ by the students and those in which it is not. Briefly, the possible permutations can be summarised as follows: where religious engagement is viewed as normal and most students are engaged -5- where religious engagement is viewed as normal and a sizeable number of students are not engaged where religious engagement is viewed as normal and the school population is religiously mixed where religious engagement is largely associated with particular cultural/ethnic groups within the school where religious engagement is viewed as abnormal and only a minority is engaged Familiarity with religion in their community—or the lack of familiarity—is key to whether pupils view their peers’ religion as normal or not: if there is lack of familiarity with religion and religious practice, religion is perceived as abnormal. On the other hand, where there is familiarity with religion and religious practice, religion is perceived as normal. Analysis of the qualitative data collected across a number of schools suggests that familiarity engenders acceptance of the religious perspective, confidence in religious expression, and an affinity with the perspectives of other religions. It also suggests that lack of familiarity with religion can lead to lack of understanding of the religiosity of fellow students with a firm faith commitment, to negative attitudes towards their religiously-informed behaviour in particular, and to religious students being reluctant to express their beliefs openly. Our analysis at this stage thus tends towards a number of hypotheses about the links between familiarity with religion, religious literacy and religious tolerance—questions which lend themselves to further discussion and testing through the rigorous work of our WRERU colleagues in the quantitative stage of the project. Elisabeth Arweck & Julia Ipgrave December 2010