“Children have the right to receive an education that presents the human experience in all its complexities and multiplicities. This includes the ways in which the quest for meaning has expressed itself through the development of religious thought.” (Sweet, 1997, p 11) The necessity of providing an inclusive environment for diverse students has been a pillar amongst effective teaching strategies for decades. With increasing changes to student population, educators need to go beyond multicultural awareness, amongst other aspects of diversity, to include the discussion of religious differences as well. Used as a framework for many students to understand and navigate through the world, religious differences and the discussion of is imperative, specifically within the public school setting, based on current literature and my qualitative research findings within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Although many people assume secular environments should not include any religious aspect, the public school classroom should not be an arena void of religious discussion. By informing teachers of key religious items and ways to conduct dialogue with students and parents, a more inclusive classroom for their school community can be fostered, which in turn allows students to understand one another more, creating a safe environment for further discussion and inquiry, and be better prepared for our diverse society. Detailed strategies and the tension that arise between student-student, student-teacher, and teacher-parent are discussed in my findings.

1. A Place for Religious Discussion to
Create and Strengthen an Inclusive
Public School Classroom
Master of Teaching (CTL),
Ontario Institute of Studies in Education
Alice Chan

2. Why this topic? Why now?
• 2001 Census: 67.85 per cent of F/T and P/T students
attending Toronto school identified themselves as being
religious
– What about 2011?
– What about the outlying cities surrounding Toronto?
• Adult perspective:
– Christian
– Father’s passing
• Student perspective - In-class bullying:
– Muslim girls versus Muslim girls
– Arab student versus non-Muslim students
• Employee perspective:
– Large corporations mask diversity

3. Past and current perspectives
Past (c. 1950s - 1970s) Current (circa 2000s)
• CBC (1959): many felt that • “Tempers flare over prayer in
exempting individual students schools” (CBC News, 2011)
from religious reasons was an • “Persichilli: It’s time to talk
inadequate means of dealing about religion in our schools”
with diversity (Toronto Star, 2011)
• “Part 3: Canada’s changing
• CBC (1978) radio interviews at faith” (The Globe and
Morningside re “Should religion Mail, 2010)
be taught in schools?” • Supreme Court of Canada in
– Yes: “It helps me be a better Chamberlain v. Surrey School
person”; “It’s important for the District No. 36
human condition”. (2002), Kempling v. British
– No: it should be for parents to Columbia College of Teacheers
decide, not the schools (2004), Multani (tuteur de) c.
Commission scolaire
Marguerite-Bourgeoys (2004)

4. Research Questions: How can teachers address
religion in an inclusive public school classroom?
• Is a safe and inclusive classroom environment truly possible
without the sharing of students’ religious beliefs, when
religion can be such a big part of students’ lives?
• How does the absence of religious discussion in class affect
religiously observant/practicing students?
• How do our schools reflect and prepare students for their
daily life, where they mingle with peers of various
backgrounds and faith groups in the GTA?
• What are the strategies teachers can use to include the
discussion of religion in the classroom?
• In what ways does a teacher’s understanding of religion
affect the way they conduct their class discussion on religion?

5. Methodology
• GTA – centric qualitative research based on literature review
and interviews
CA
Indepe-
EU Public Data Analysis
ndent
Schools
Schools
USA
Literature review
Interviews (5), Inter-faith
session, Canadian Centre for Data Analysis, Discussion, and
Diversity workshop Implications for Future Research

6. Current research
• Evans (2008), Dean of Melbourne Law School and member of Centre
for Comparative Constitutional Studies
– compares the information in the ECtHR (European Court of Human
Rights) with the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Code)
– 6 different forms of secularism: unitary religious education and plural
religious education are the 2 best options for whole class instruction
• Jackson (2002), Prof. of Ed. At University of Warwick, Prof. of Religious
Diversity and Education at the European Wergeland Centre
– 3 approaches to dialogue about religious differences:
1. Dialogical approach
2. Contextual approach
3. A mix of religious education and citizenship education
• Clarke (2005), Associate Prof. in Faculty of Education at University of
Regina
– Canadian perspective: definitions of secularism amongst religious
cases, in relevance to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom
(1982)

7. Government and Ministry documents
Federal Provincial Municipal/Board
Canadian Ontario Human TDSB: Policy P037: Equity
Charter of Rights Rights Code Foundation (1999)
and Freedom (1996) YRDSB: reference to Ontario’s EIES
(1982), re (2009)
religion in 2(a),
15.1, 15.1.2 Ontario’s Equity DDSB: Guidelines and Procedures
and Inclusive for the Accommodation of
Education Religious Requirements
Strategy (2009) Practices, and Observances (2009)
PDSB: Policy #54, re Equity and
Inclusive Education (2010), as well
as The Future we Want (1996), and
Manifesting Encouraging and
Respectful Environments (1996)

8. Interviewee Criteria
GTA public
school based
Self identified Taught students
with a belief from diverse
structure religious beliefs
Educator
Differing Recommended
perspective practitioner
from others within school

9. Christian teacher-librarian
Interviewees
(middle school) Sikh social sciences teacher,
previously taught religious studies
(high school)
Gay atheist teacher Christian TDSB
(middle school) educator currently
seconded to OISE and
a member of the
TDSB Equity
Roundtable
(principal, and
previous elementary
and high school
teacher)
Jewish guidance counselor
at an independent Jewish
K-12 school; advocate for
multi-faith discussion

10. Findings
• Identity:
– “We have students coming from a variety of backgrounds and I think faith is a big
part of students’ identity. So if we’re asking them to check that at the door, there’s
a whole part of them that isn’t going to be there. ” – Meagan*
– Students are aware and interested, i.e. interfaith group and World Religions
• Supporting documents exist, but…
– Teachers who are comfortable and already knowledgeable discuss
– Teachers who have students that comfortably sharing about their faith have
religious discussions
• Stereotypes:
– Have students aware of offensive language, i.e. “Oh my God” or “God damn it”. All
3 teachers said this had to be addressed because some students were offended.
– 9/11 has raised many negative Muslim stereotypes ; they need to be addressed.
• GTA versus the rest of Ontario
– Both TDSB and PDSB educators feel their board is raising awareness well but are
not confident about rest of province
• Conflicts will/have arise
– Students, teachers, parents, public

11. Strategies offered from research and
interviews
• The importance of dialogue:
– Dialogue amongst students based on their personal faiths or beliefs;
allow students to be the knowledge base
– Informal and formal
– Lessons to include discussion should be prepared based on teacher’s
understanding of student community (Kumashiro, 2000)
– Northern Ireland schools, (Wessler, 2011)
• Teacher education:
– Open-minded teachers, based on desire to teach the holistic student,
not just teach the subject
– PD and Workshops on:
• Religious diversity
• Communication with parents
– Similarities vs differences; equity vs equality

12. “Because I Had a Turban”, (Joshi, 2007)
1. Know your own students. There are a lot of religions in the world. Start with
the ones present in your classroom.
2. Learn our ABCDs. We don't need to be theologians, but we can at least learn
the:
– Architecture: Know what the house of worship is called, like mandir (Hindu), masjid or mosque
(Muslim), and gurdwara (Sikh).
– Books: Know the name(s) of the religion's holy text(s).
– Cities: Know the names and locations of the religion's holiest cities, like Amritsar
(Sikhism), Mecca and Medina (Islam), and Varanasi/Benares (Hinduism).
– Days: Know the names and meanings of the religion's major holidays, like Diwali and Holi
(Hinduism), Ramadan and Eid ul' Fitr (Islam), and Vaisaki (Sikhism).
3. Recognize religion as part of students' social identities. Understand how
this makes religion especially salient for some students, and how the family's
religion may be important even to students who don't see themselves as
"religious."
4. Avoid the urge to "Christianize" religions and holidays. e.g., saying
"Ramadan is like Lent" or "Janmastami is like Christmas."
5. Include religion in our curricula whenever it's appropriate. Discuss how
different religions deal with the concept at hand.

13. Implications for the future
“… the more you see the connections, you see the
similarities because without knowledge you only see the
differences because those are the ones that are
highlighted by the media. But the more knowledge you
have the more you understand the similarities.”
- Myriam*
“…growing up in a small town I would say that when you
come away from a city centre, I don’t think that it’s taught
as well. So, I think it depends where you are because we
live in a Metropolis that’s very multicultural so you have to
talk about it but I also think that’s because parents
advocate and stuff. If we don’t have so many people
advocating then would they say anything? I don’t know.”
- Laiba*

14. • “Children have the right to receive an education that
presents the human experience in all its complexities and
multiplicities. This includes the ways in which the quest for
meaning has expressed itself through the development of
religious thought.” (Sweet, 1997, p 11)
• “The relationship between the education system and
religion is difficult. Religion should stay out of schools, but
when the school system becomes a repository for all the
tensions in our society, the two have to survive together.”
(Persichilli, 2011).
• “Ignorance is a root cause of intolerance, contributing to
religious prejudice and discrimination, including persistent
anti-Semitism and growing Islamophobia.”
(Haynes, 2011, p 51)

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