‘I don’t necessarily identify myself as a Muslim [RE] teacher?’: considering the limitations of the category ‘Muslim’ in the case of ‘Muslim RE teachers’

Abstract

Given the current context of Prevent and Fundamental British Values, there has been a surge in academic and political interest surrounding Muslim identities in British educational contexts. Noting this 'religious turn' in educational debate, Panjwani & Moulin-Stożek (2017) have questioned the mobilisation of 'Muslim' and 'Muslimness', suggesting that there are limits to such identification. This paper considers their critique through an exploration of how 'Muslim RE teachers' understood and experienced their personal and professional identities, based on recent qualitative research conducted with 21 'Muslim RE teachers' across England.Findings reveal that notions of being a 'Muslim RE teacher' are heavily contested, and instead highlight a fluid and dynamic spectrum of configurations of the participants' 'Muslim' and 'RE teacher' identities. The paper argues in support of the above critique, demonstrating that the assumed primacy of their 'Muslimness' limits the multiplicity of these participants' identities, and so does not reflect their empirical understanding and experience. The paper then suggests a move toward a more sophisticated understanding of identity, encapsulated in the notion of the 'RE teacher who is Muslim'.

‘Neutrality’, Muslimness and the whiteness of RE professionalism

“…Everington's (2014Everington's ( , 2015 work in particular has begun to highlight the way the visibility of 'Muslim RE teachers' affects their pedagogy through their use of 'personal life knowledge', as a way to bridge the ontological gap between their personal faith identity and their professional teacher self. Similarly, I have previously written about how 'Muslim RE teachers' bridge the personal-professional gap in their understanding of themselves as teachers (Vince 2019). This is now compounded by the professional discourse of the 'neutral, objective RE teacher', and the recent intrusion of Prevent, and its implications for these hypervisible religious actors (Farrell 2016).…”