Education and Schooling
German, Turkish, German Turkish or Turkish German? New investigative video series passes the mic to ‘German Turks’
In 1961, the West German government signed a ‘recruitment agreement’ (Anwerbeabkommen) with its Turkish counterpart, paving the way for the migration of Turkish workers to the booming Federal Republic. Today, the vast majority of the three million men and women of Turkish heritage living in Germany can trace at least parts of their family history…
‘Towards the Islamic front’: A Dutch Calvinist party’s anti-Muslim turn
On November 1, the Dutch Parliament adopted a motion that children visiting mosques as part of school outings must not be compelled to pray according to Muslim rite. The motion, which the government must now implement in law, came after the emergence of video material showing blonde Dutch pupils kneeling and bowing according to Islamic…
Play exploring the Trojan Horse scandal aims to hear the voices of the Birmingham Muslim community
This August, a documentary play based on over two hundred interviews from over ninety witnesses, including some of the teachers, pupils, parents, and governors involved, will explore the Trojan Horse scandal. Its writers say it aims to give a voice to the Muslim community in Birmingham traumatised by the events.
New ‘secularism handbook’ distributed in French schools
L’Express recently acquired the revised “handbook of secularism at school” which was distributed on May 30 to all heads of school. “It’s a more developed version, more practical and also maybe more…voluntaristic,” than the one distributed under Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, said Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer. The new version is 82 pages–compared to the 32 page one before…
Study finds parents are pulling their children out of religious education classes so they do not learn about Islam
A study from Liverpool Hope University has revealed that parents are pulling their children out of religious education classes because they do not want them to learn about Islam. Four in ten school leaders said they had received requests to remove children from religious education lessons.