Weeks of protests outside Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham came to a temporary end in June when Birmingham Civil Court imposed an exclusion zone around its site.
The demonstrating parents, mainly of Muslim faith, were unhappy with the school’s delivery of LGBT relationship education. Parents said issues surrounding sexuality were confusing their children, and also contradicted their religion, the BBC reported.
Religion and belief are protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. However, so is sexual orientation, and the latest Government curriculum for primary schools encourages teachers to deliver age-appropriate LGBT teaching.
Author of A-Z of Inclusion in Early Childhood Mary Dickins believes the case shows more specific guidance and support is needed when faith is believed to clash with early years or primary curriculum and ethos. ‘Awareness-raising and equality training are sorely needed,’ she says.
Early Years Alliance (EYA) inclusion manager Nicola Gibson suggests while it can be ‘really challenging’ for settings, there are fewer clashes caused by religious differences in early education. ‘Morally we just seem to get it right because we work so closely with parents,’ she says. Ms Gibson says the EYA helpline receives few calls about problems based on matters of faith. However, she says practitioners must be careful to ensure they are inclusive of all religions and beliefs for children, parents and staff.
‘We have some settings that say they practice all religious beliefs and all festivals – how can you do that properly? It becomes tokenistic,’ says Ms Gibson. While she stresses educators do need to deliver teaching on a broad range of religions, she suggests settings focus on the beliefs reflected in their communities. ‘Settings should show families they are truly valued by inviting staff and families to share their beliefs so this information contributes towards other activities, which explore the real lives of local families,’ she says.
Ms Gibson also encourages settings to ensure they understand the difference between religion and belief, so they don’t make the mistake of trying to meet family or staff needs that are not legally required. ‘You could have someone who says, “We’re all Star Trek fans in this family and we want everyone to dress up”,’ she suggests. ‘The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that “a belief must be more than merely an opinion or idea. It must attain a level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance, must be worthy of respect in a democratic society and must not be incompatible with human dignity”.’
Early years settings can be faith-based and give priority to children of their religion. But it is unlawful to refuse admission to children of different faiths if places are available. As well as having to uphold duties of the Equalities Act, the Early Years Foundation Stage says providers must ensure every child is not disadvantaged because of religion.
Christ Church Primary School in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets delivers a Christian-based nursery curriculum to children who are mainly Muslim. Among its 34 children, only nine are non-Muslim. Every day, practitioners read them a short story from a children’s bible, and young members of a local church run activities and assemblies.
However, the children celebrate all religious festivals, including Diwali, Christmas and Rosh Hashanah, and pay visits to mosques, synagogues and temples as well as churches.
‘Our school is respectful of the beliefs of others. The whole school, including staff, celebrate festivals with each other,’ says early years lead and nursery teacher Jo George. ‘The children do not appear confused about God and Allah as they think that this is the same thing. They absolutely love taking part in the nativity and it’s well received and attended by the parents.’
Ms George says having a Christian ethos does not impact on managing staff. But it is important for early years staff to consider employees’ religions to ensure workplace practices are inclusive.
Action for Children nursery manager Kelly Thornton oversees two nurseries in Derby – Spring Nursery Rosehill and Spring Nursery Homelands. Their high levels of Muslim children are reflected in staff’s beliefs. Ms Thornton says managing staff holidays can be challenging. ‘We know when it’s Christmas, but with Eid and Ramadan the dates change every year [as they are based on the moon]. Staff come in a couple of days before and say they need two days off – and everyone wants those two days off.’
Ms Thornton says staff have to take turns to have the time off. Similarly, children can sometimes not attend nursery for a whole week over Eid, which affects funding.
At Action for Children’s Spring Nursery Northumberland Heath in Erith, manager Zoe Smith has to accommodate a staff member’s daily prayers. ‘She uses the staff room,’ explains Ms Smith. ‘Everyone is aware she’s gone in to pray and not disturb her. She’s only out for a couple of minutes.’
Ms Smith says accommodating religious practices just takes a little more organisation. ‘With the ratios, it might have to be a member of management who covers her, which I don’t mind doing because that’s her belief.’
Reflective questions:
1. Do you know the religions and beliefs of all your children and staff, and are their practices incorporated into your activities?
2. Do you keep a calendar of all major religious festivals and plan activities around them?
3. Do you ensure all staff accommodate other religions without discriminating?
case study: Dharma Primary School
The Dharma Primary School in Brighton was the first in Britain to be based on Buddhist values. Founded by a group of parents 25 years ago, its nursery delivers EYFS to 20 three- to five-year-olds while incorporating Buddhist practices such as mindfulness, meditation and yoga.
Head of early years Alison Mayo says Dharma is not a faith school, rather it delivers a Buddhist-inspired ethos of promoting kindness and tolerance. The setting is open to children of all faiths, and has Catholic and church-attending Christians on its register. It has never accommodated children of other major religions such as Islam. ‘They’ve never applied to come, unfortunately,’ says Ms Mayo. ‘The parents who send their children really want to learn about Buddhism and Buddhist practice themselves. We offer a lot for parents – meditation groups and day retreats at the school at weekends.’
Daily activities at the nursery are similar to other nurseries, with Buddhist practice woven throughout. Snack times, for example, are sounded by a bell that calls children to sit around a large table and join in mindful eating. ‘We teach them that’s a time to do a quiet breath and come back to yourself,’ says Ms Mayo. ‘We have a thank you song which we sing together. We ring the bell again and everyone talks about whether they liked the food or not. Mindful practice links in with the EYFS because we’re looking closely at things, learning through the senses.’
The nursery celebrates other religions; for example, Chinese New Year as some Chinese families attend – and Christmas. Staff come from a variety of backgrounds, although the school does seek to employ people with an interest in mindfulness. ‘The way we teach it is through modelling – staff need to be able to model that,’ says Ms Mayo.
legal case study: Kenton Pre-School
Education inspectorate Ofsted investigated a complaint at Asquith Kenton Pre-School and Day Nursery, Harrow in 2010 after a mother complained staff fed her son tuna instead of the vegetarian diet demanded by the Hindu faith.
A report in The Harrow Times said the inspectorate issued the setting with a notice to improve. The nursery had a policy of giving vegetarians food on green plates and serving meat on white plates. The mother had a photo of her son being served lunch on a white plate and claimed a member of staff told her about the incident.
Clintons law firm partner Layla Bunni says staff at the nursery were not discriminating against the boy’s religion, rather they had failed to adhere to health and safety standards when providing for the child. ’Unless the staff member had decided to disregard the wishes of the parent because they thought the religious beliefs they had were bonkers – that would be discriminatory,’ she says. ‘That’s why Ofsted stepped in because this is more about the nursery itself and how it’s providing services to the child and the parent.’
Ms Bunni says parents have the right to request an early years setting complies with their religious requirements, and that employers within settings must always make adjustments to accommodate staffs’ faith-based needs. If, however, a setting can demonstrate it is impossible to meet a child’s needs, or if an employee could not perform a required aspect of the job as a result of a religious belief, then a setting would have grounds to refuse the request.
‘For example, if there were extra resources that needed to be put in place and the family wouldn’t pay for them, there would be a justification there,’ Ms Bunni suggests.
