Policy into practice Community cohesion
Anne Longfield
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The issue: Next month, England's first Inter Faith Week will take place from 15 to 21 November. The event aims to foster strong relations between people of different faiths and promote understanding.
Organised by the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Inter Faith Network for the UK, schools across the country are encouraged to run different activities.
The website, www.interfaithweek.org, features a range of resources for schools to give them ideas for activities during the week. In a culturally diverse society, it is important that children are educated in tolerance and understanding of other faiths so it is great to have dedicated organisations and schemes in place to make sure this happens.
CASE STUDY 1
The website Britkid (www.britkid.org) has been developed by an experienced teacher in partnership with several third sector organisations. It is designed to support young people's understanding of different cultures. Presented through the eyes of children, it is based around nine fictional characters from a variety of ethnic backgrounds who discuss issues of race, ethnicity, crime and discrimination in the UK. There are also teacher resources such as free lesson plans and activity sheets to support detailed learning of the issues raised.
Originally set up as an educational tool for use in areas where young people do not have frequent contact with minority ethnic groups, the website has been running for 11 years and had more than 150,000 users. Teacher feedback is "overwhelmingly positive" and the site is frequently updated.
CASE STUDY 2
Wolverhampton City Council has been offering classes in community languages on Saturdays at local schools. In 2001, the authority won a European award for best practice in this area. All learners also participate in the celebrations of different festivals, including Eid, Christmas and Diwali, to help encourage community cohesion.
Bantock Primary School has seen its numbers increase steadily for classes in Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali and Hindi, and around 120 students currently enjoy the range of languages offered. With support from the council's Community Languages Project, the classes are designed to prepare students for GCSEs and A-levels in the languages and instil passion and pride for community language learning.
