Professional Development

Discovering Muslims in Britain

This free six-week online course will teach you about Muslims in Britain and how to understand and explore Islam from a sociological perspective in the RE classroom.

It will introduce you to the importance of lived accounts of religion, the basics of Islam as a religious tradition, the diversity of British Muslim identities, and how to use different kinds of data within RE.

Your trainer will be Matt Vince.

Who it’s for

• Teachers who teach about Islam at a Primary or Secondary level
• Teachers who may be looking for support in developing a scheme of work about Islam and Muslims for their RE curriculum
• Educators who may wish to improve their subject knowledge about Islam.

What you’ll learn

On completion of the course learners should be able to:

• Describe basic beliefs and practices in the Islamic tradition
• Consider the ways Muslims understand and practice Islam within a British context
• Understand aspects of the history of Muslims in Britain and how this has shaped contemporary Muslim communities
• Approach the study of religion from a socialogical disciplinary lens, using basic concepts and methods of analysis
• Incorporate these ideas in your teaching and learning in the classroom.

Topics covered

• How can we understand religion in society?
• What does Islam mean to Muslims?
• How do Muslims follow religious sources of wisdom and authority today?
• How do Muslims practice their faith?
• What is the history of Muslims in Britain?
• Where are Muslim communities located?
• What is a mosque?
• How do Muslims express their faith through the arts?
• How do Muslims in Britain experience Islamophobia?

Equipment

You will not require any specialist equipment and only need access to a computer with a good internet connection.

Delivery

The course will be delivered fully online.

• Learners will engage with illustrated articles, videos, quizzes and an online discussion forum.
• There will be a topical weekly live webinar led by leading experts in the field, and an opportunity to post questions before and after the webinar.
• Each week consists of 2 – 3 sessions that take approximately 1 hour to complete.
• The online forum will allow delegates to discuss questions with each other and with a tutor, in an unrestricted timeframe. Via a virtual ‘office hour’ the course tutor will reply to questions within a maximum of 72 hours.
• Delegates will be encouraged to use the online forum to present their experiences at certain places in the course.
• The course is scheduled to take 6 weeks.

Benefits

This course has been developed by a team at the Islam-UK Centre, who specialise in sociological research exploring Muslims in Britain, alongside experts in other fields of Islamic Studies.

Knowledge covered in this course is not available comprehensively from other sources. The course also showcases current pedagogical thinking in RE through the application of various disciplinary lenses. This approach has the endorsement of the Muslim Council of Britain, the Muslim Council of Wales and RE Today - one of the leading professional bodies for RE teachers in Britain.

The course is accompanied by a fully-resourced scheme of work that includes teaching PowerPoints, lesson plans, pupil worksheets and other associated resources. Learners also have access to Cardiff University library resources, as well as collections of free extra resources for each topic.

The course also offers reflection on how to implement your learning in your RE teaching.  Successful completion is rewarded with a certificate.

The course offers an opportunity to network with other RE teachers from around the UK, and to share experiences and ideas.