Maltese Muslims and Education

Louise Chircop

A dissertation Presented in the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research in the University of Malta for the degree of Master of Arts (Comparative Euro-Mediterranean Educational Studies)

June 2008

ABSTRACT
LOUISE CHIRCOP
MALTESE MUSLIMS AND EDUCATION

This study focuses on the diverse ideals of identity, citizenship and justice with particular emphasis on how the ideals of Maltese identity and citizenship as portrayed in the National Minimum Curriculum and in normative discourse impact the Maltese education system. These are explored through the lens of Maltese Muslims, who have to contend with a curriculum that does not do justice to their history and religion. Consequently a number of Muslims have opted to send their children to Mariam Albatool, the only Maltese Islamic school. The study also concerns the right of Muslims to a quality education that respects their culture and religion and which does not marginalize them. In the liberal,

representative model of democracy equality and sameness are interchangeable. On the other hand, deep democracy focuses more on social justice. These models are explored with reference to the rights of Maltese Muslims to free Islamic education.

KEYWORDS
MUSLIMS MINORITY RIGHTS EDUCATION
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CITIZENSHIP DIFFERENCE

STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY

I the undersigned, Louise Chircop, hereby declare that the work presented in this dissertation is my own and has not been presented to any other faculty of any university.

Louise Chircop June 2008

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To my father whose kindness touched the lives of many To my mother who loves unconditionally Both have been an inspiration.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation might not have been written without the help and support of a number of people, to whom I am indebted. I would like to express my deepest thanks to Professor Ronald Sultana. Without his guidance, patience and encouragement I could not have finished my dissertation. His keen intellect and advice guided me along this journey which proved to be a formative experience. I thank Professor Andr Elias Mazawi for his suggestions in structuring the literature review chapter. I am grateful for the Imam at the Islamic centre, Mr. Mohammed el Sadi, whom I met on a number of occasions and who patiently answered my questions. Mr. Mario Farrugia-Borg, a Daeyah at the Islamic Centre, provided me with insights about Islam and about being a Muslim in Malta, as well as replying to my endless emails. I am also grateful for his assistance and feedback after reading the data chapters. My gratitude goes to a lovely Muslim woman who does not wish to be identified. The experiences she shared with me were an eye opener. I must also thank her for going through the data chapters and for answering my queries. Heartfelt appreciation goes to the parents who welcomed me into their homes and shared with me their thoughts about their childrens education. Their contributions made this dissertation possible. I also thank the teachers and heads of school who participated in this study. They provided another perspective and further insight to the plight of Muslims in schools. My sincere thanks go to the Head and staff of Mariam Albatool. They welcomed me whenever I visited the school and provided vital data. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Frans, my son Matthew and my daughter Denise. They inadvertently embarked on this journey with me, and had to suffer my moods, panic attacks, moments of desperation and my often rushed culinary attempts at what should have been dinner without complaining. invaluable. Their support and encouragement proved

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2

THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN SIMILAR RIGHTS AND EQUAL RIGHTS All Different All Citizens All Equal? Is Cultureless Citizenship Possible? Value-Based Pluralism The Politics of Difference Citizenship and Social Justice Social Justice and Education Conclusion

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.4 2.4.1 2.4.2

5 7 9 9 14 16 20 23 28

CHAPTER 3 3.0 3.1 3.1.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10

METHODOLOGY Objectives of Research Research Methodology Desk Research Tradition Researchers Stance and Bias Sample Access Sites for Data Collection Researchers Persona Time-Span Interviewing Process Ethical Issues Conclusion

29 29 30 32 32 37 39 41 41 41 42 42 44 45

CHAPTER 4 4.1 4.2 4.3

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SUBALTERN What the Other Thinks of Us Invisibility versus Assertiveness Prejudice, Racism, Islamophobiaor Paranoia? Conclusion

46 47 50 53 60

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CHAPTER 5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.3.1 5.3.2 5.3.3

OUTSIDERS INSIDE SCHOOLS The Teaching of Religion Curriculum, Religion and Citizenship Syllabi, Subjects, Textbooks, Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Hegemony A Eurocentric Curriculum What Textbooks TeachAnd What They Dont Teachers and Diversity in the Classroom Conclusion

62 62 69 73 74 79 85 87

CHAPTER 6

THE SCHOOL AND THE STATE: A STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE A: MARIAM ALBATOOL A SCHOOL FOR Muslims The Formation of an Islamic Identity Difference and Racism Peer Pressure and Peer Support B: A STATE SUPPORTED ISLAMIC SCHOOL A MINORITY RIGHT? Minority Rights Social Justice and Education Conclusion

89 90 90 94 98 100 100 104 105

6.1 6.2 6.3

6.4 6.5

CHAPTER 7 7.1 7.2 7.2.1 7.3

SYNTHESIS Recognition and rights of minorities Revising the curriculum Education across the board Justice democracy and education Conclusion REFERENCES

107 107 109 110 110 111 113

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Chapter 1

Introduction
Muslims in Malta are a very small minority. A good number are immigrants who came to Malta and then settled here with a Maltese spouse. A small group of Muslims consists of Maltese people who either converted to Islam or else were born of Muslim parents. The Maltese Muslim community is estimated at around 3000 Muslims1 of which 2,250 are foreigners, 600 are naturalised and approximately 150 are native born. The presence of Muslims in Malta is on the increase both due to mixed marriages and also due to the influx of undocumented migrants, many seeking refugee status, who regard Malta as a transitory place until they are resettled somewhere else. One must also point out that sometimes resettlement takes so long that migrants find it hard to leave. The Constitution endorses Muslims right to practice their faith as is stated in Chapter IV Article 32: Whereas every person in Malta is entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, that is to say, the right, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex, but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest, to each and all of the following, namely (a) life, liberty, security of the person, the enjoyment of property and the protection of the law; (b) freedom of conscience, of expression and of peaceful assembly and association; (c) respect for his private and family life,

Therefore, Islam and every other religion are technically on equal par with the Catholic faith. However, the constitution also states that: (1) The religion of Malta is the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion.

http://www.census2005.gov.mt

(2) The authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which are wrong. (3) Religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education (LVIII.1974.4). Therefore, Muslims are at a disadvantage. Although the state does not prohibit them from practicing their faith, it does not legitimise them as it does the Catholic Religion. In the eyes of the law, it is the Catholic Religion which is protected and given standing. The fact that no other religion is included in the constitution shows the hegemony of the Church in Malta. Despite the fact that an increasing number of Muslim pupils are attending schools there has been little, if any, effort to transform the curriculum and educational practices to be more inclusive. The National Minimum Curriculum states: In a society that is increasingly becoming multi-cultural, the educational system should enable students to develop a sense of respect, co-operation and solidarity among cultures. Security and peace in the region depend on the ability of people to co-exist despite their differences. The educational system should help students better understand individual, local and regional differences and should enable them to live a productive and meaningful life in a context characterised by socio-cultural diversity.(1999, p.24) Such a declaration, thus calls for integration of people coming from different social, ethnic and religious backgrounds among others, but in reality, nine years after the publication of this document, the Education Division has had little to offer to improve the school experience of children who come from different cultural and religious backgrounds. The discourse of inclusion in Malta is usually reserved for pupils with disabilities and even this form of inclusion raises a lot of question. There are no policies which facilitate a more inclusive experience and teachers are neither trained to deal with diversity in the classroom nor do they have the necessary support (Eurydice, 2004 and as we will see in the analysis chapters).

Moreover, the curriculum brings forth the idea of citizenship as that which is tied to the Catholic religion and therefore Muslims are left out in the cold by the same curriculum which should be moulding them to become active citizens as they grow older. As the state does not provide the Islamic religion as one of the subjects taught in school, Muslim children either have to receive an education which is aimed at Catholic children or else they have to attend Mariam Albatool, a private Islamic school in Malta. The subsequent chapters will provide insights on how Muslims fare in Maltese schools. The first chapter, the literature review, explores the thorny issues between

universalist concepts of citizenship and the more inclusive concept of differentiated citizenship. The first one claims that the state is just when it gives its people the same opportunities and rights. On the other hand, others argue that sameness does not These arguments are then taken into the realm of

necessarily translate into equality.

education to explore how the state, through its conception of justice and democracy, influences education policies and practices. The second chapter focuses on the methodology adopted to answer the research questions. It states the aims of the study and the reasons for choosing grounded theory methodology and critical discourse analysis as tools for drawing out the different meanings the interviewees contributions might convey. Other issues were addressed such as my biases, the interviewing process and ethical considerations. The data chapters began with a detailed analysis of the context in which Muslims live, a context full of prejudice and racism. This chapter also addressed the question of invisibility and how the cultural imperialism that prevails in Malta often persuades Muslims to remain invisible even at the expense of forfeiting their rights. This chapter is important because those interviewed often chose to send their children to Mariam Albatool because

they understood that societys hostile attitude towards Arabs and Muslims would be reflected in the practices of mainstream schools. The fourth chapter then provides a detailed account of the hegemony of the Maltese Catholic Church and how its influence permeates the curriculum. The teaching of the Catholic religion and the relationship between religion, citizenship and the curriculum are explored. The curriculum brings forth the idea that the Maltese identity is explicitly tied with the Catholic religion. Moreover, textbooks, such as the history ones, depict Muslims as archenemies, whose only aim was to harm the Maltese. It is clearly shown that the Eurocentric curriculum leaves little space for alternative identity development. Considering that a good number of Muslim pupils have at least one North African parent, these pupils find it difficult to identify with what is being taught, when their heritage is either ignored or vilified. The last data chapter is divided in two parts. The first part dwells on the reasons behind the parents decision to send their children to Mariam Albatool. The second section focuses on minority rights, and how Muslims are left with no choice other than to send their children to Mariam Albatool if they want them to receive holistic education in an Islamic culture. Therefore, the state is short charging Muslims who contribute with their taxes but then they are not granted free education for their children. How other European countries have addressed this issue is also explored in this last section. The final chapter presents a synthesis of the major findings of this study and the bearings these have on present educational practices. This chapter also addresses the issue of minority rights. Every finding is followed by policy recommendations and suggestions.

Chapter 2: Literature review

The struggle between similar rights and equal rights

2.1 All Different The concept of difference in societies is taken for granted. People acknowledge the fact that difference is inherent to social life, as every person is, in one way or another different from those around him or her. Sometimes differences are regarded as part and parcel of life, and while these may be addressed or ignored, their presence does not cause any grand rifts in society. One must say that the concept of difference has changed and has been challenged in many ways over the years. For example, John Lockes An Essay

Concerning Human Understanding (1689) brought about a transformation with regards to social differences. Until the Enlightenment it was thought that people were born with a designated place in society and thus a farmers child could in no way aspire to become anything else other than a farmer. However, Locke maintained that everyone is born with the same capacities; no one is more moral or more knowledgeable by virtue of birth. It is only ones experiences that shape ones behaviour. Therefore, the aristocracy for instance was no longer regarded as being the recipient of some divine bounty. Alternately, those who were poor could improve their standing because intellectual outcomes were not a product of human development but of the environment. Thus the concept of difference changed because a solution to address that particular disparity seemed to be possible through education. This new way of thinking was the catalyst of change. The different opportunities with regards to education became problematised and thus a site of struggle
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a struggle still not resolved to this day. This is of course only one example of how difference is conceptualised and how it is addressed. The Black Movement and the Feminist Movement are two other examples of struggles linked to difference. Therefore, the idea of difference depends on many prior ideas, which could only be acquired successively, and cannot have been formed all at once in the human mind (Kukathas, 2002, p.186). In the past, when people were generally destined to remain in their place of birth until death, travelling for the masses was unheard of, and when technology was non-existent the conception of difference was bound by the physical, cultural and social limitations of that time. However, in todays shrinking world, differences of all hues ethnic, cultural, social, religious, gender and others are bound to become more pronounced. According to Wieviorka (2004) it was in the 1960s that two leading trends in cultural differences emerged. The first one is the expression of these differences in all sorts of areas that took the form of new, or revived, cultural challenges that demanded public recognition of those associated with them(p.284). Movements that claimed to be national (e.g. the Corsican), homosexual, feminist, and ethnic emerged. According to the author, the social input of these groups was weak or vague. The second trend developed after the oil crisis. This time these movements combined demands for specific cultural recognition with social demands. There were those, on the one hand, such as the Muslims in France, who felt that they were victims of social injustice because of their cultural differences. On the other hand one finds those who believe that recognition of cultural differences of minorities was actually threatening the dominant cultural majority in the host society. According to Wieviorka (2004), With the emergence of these phenomena, we understand better that cultural difference is never for any great length of time dissociated from a set of social themes in which injustice, inequality, decline but also the selfishness of the rather well-to-do categories have their place (p.285).

The conflicts that arise from difference are sometimes a slow progression of events which set the ball rolling and call for society to address these differences in a manner which is more just. In Malta we have seen this through the Malta Gay Rights Movement, which was set up in 2001, when there was a collective coming out of the gay community. The movement, apart from providing support for gay, lesbian and transgender people, calls for the recognition of their different sexual orientation, because at policy level this minority is still totally invisible. At other times conflicts caused by difference arise, or are made visible all of a sudden, after some exceptional incident. A case in point is the way in which Muslims the world over were regarded in a different light after the events of 11th September, 2001. The increased securitization all over the world rendered all Muslims guilty of the terrorist acts mentioned above. 2.2 All Citizens Since 2002, Malta has witnessed an influx of immigrants from the African continent. Reactions to this phenomenon have been generally negative, very often citing their lack of right to stay here, to work, to receive benefits and so on. Therefore, one of the arguments against accepting immigrants, who come to Malta through unconventional means, are that as they are foreigners, undocumented at that, and as they are not citizens the state is not bound to support them. Therefore, one can safely say that citizenship can be expressed as a set of rights, namely civil rights, political rights and social rights (Turner, 1990) and immigrants who come to Malta without the necessary legal support do not qualify for and thus cannot demand any of these rights. Citizenship is used here in terms of whom to exclude and whom to include. It was Thomas Hobbes in his work The Leviathan (1651), who first described the way society unites to protect individuals from each other. He argued that people are selfish and
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many would go to any length to battle for their own advantage and power. If this was allowed to happen, without any regulatory force, people would be permanently at war with each other. For this reason society agreed to a social contract, that would stipulate the laws and rules it had to live by. Considering that people cannot be trusted, an authority was

created to enforce the terms as stipulated by the social contract. Jean Jacques Rousseau, on the other hand, in The Social Contract (1762) claimed that the state did not have absolute power and as such the contract could be broken if the state did not abide by the agreed rules. According to Rousseau, the more powerful members of society took hold of major institutions and instilled inequality as a permanent feature, as these institutions worked in their favour. Therefore it was necessary that government should be based on rights and equality of everyone. And it is essentially the term everyone which needs to be defined. Citizenship is normally automatically acquired at birth, as long as the parents are natives of the country one is born in (jus sanguins). For others, one is considered a citizen when one is born in the territory of the related state (jus soli). There are other ways in which one can acquire citizenship, for example through naturalisation. Thus, everyone is essentially exclusive as it refers to those who have in some way or another contributed to this social contract. Globalisation has also challenged this idea of citizenship and there have been arguments in favour of the concept of transnational citizenship, which resonates with those who want to extend rights and principles of political and social equality beyond the nation state boundaries (Fox, 2005, p.171). As can be seen, the notion of the citizen, in terms of the meaning of the word, in terms of rights and obligations changes according to perceived interests of the individuals as well as the state. To go back to the introduction of this

section, the state and the citizens of these island regard immigrants, especially African immigrants, as a burden and as such undesirable. 2.3 All Equal? The discourse linking citizenship and difference is often regarded as an oxymoron (Lister,1998; Volpp, 2007; Antonopoulos and Cos-Montiel, 2007). On the one hand, there is its universalistic concept, where citizenship is built on the notion that every citizen should be treated in an equal manner; equal as equivalent to undifferentiated and sameness. Conversely, such a treatment would automatically exclude all those who are different in one way or another, and thus do not fit in this universalist paradigm. Others advocate politics of difference (Young, 1990; Kymlicka and Norman, 2000), insisting that justice prevails only if differences are recognised and acknowledged. However, before delving into the depths of the multiculturalism and citizenship debate it is interesting to examine the concept of the assumed neutral or culture-free citizenship. 2.3.1 Is cultureless citizenship possible? Many advocates of assimilationist policies insist that culture cannot form part of the equation of citizenship. Citizenship should be formed on the republican model where the individuals rights are the topmost priority and as democracy contends that all citizens are to be treated as equal, then every citizen has the same opportunity to have his share of and contribute to the common good. They assume that justice will pervade because laws exist, and critics of minority rights argue that justice required state institutions to be colourblind (Kymlicka and Norman, 2000, p. 3). However, Volpp (2007) insists that there is no such thing as a culture-free citizenship. He draws on the example of the French Republican model to highlight the fallacy about Frances lacit.

Volpp contends that the French Republican tradition is marked by a Christianity that appears not visible to the French (p. 596). Moreover, certain religious practices, such as the celebration of Christmas, are regarded as universal cultural practices rather than perceived as specific religious dominance. Thus, the dominant group universalised cultural and

religious practices and made them normal and ordinary, while at the same time, when it comes to the others, that is, those who are perceived not to fall within the parameters of the dominant culture, problems materialise because they deviate from the norm and thus are not one of us. Young (1990) is also very critical of this presumed impartiality. She maintains that, claims to impartiality feed cultural imperialism by allowing the particular experience and perspective of privileged groups to parade as universal[and] the conviction that bureaucrats and experts can exercise their decisionmaking power in an impartial manner legitimates authoritarian hierarchy (p.10). Such a view is parallel to Connollys (1995) who notes that no culturally constituted constellation of identities ever deserves to define itself simply as natural, complete or inclusive (p.188 cited by McLaren, 1997,p.12). Similarly, Parekh (1999) writes: no political doctrine or ideology can represent the full truth of human life. Each of them be it liberalism, conservatism, socialism or nationalism is embedded in a particular culture, represents a particular vision of the good life, and is necessarily narrow and partial (par 10). Moreover, the systematic constraints on some groups may not be intentional but are embedded in unquestioned norms, habits, and symbols, in the assumptions underlying institutional rules and the collective consequences of following those rules (Young, 1990, p.41). This is exactly what Volpp meant when he said that cultureless citizenship is an impossible quest because even if at institutional level policies aim for cultural neutrality, it is impossible for one to totally divest oneself of ones identity and the end product of policies and rules would ultimately reflect the general consensus.

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Thus, the claim to cultureless citizenship can be regarded as a process through which citizens are assimilated in the universal culture. Wieviorka (2004) argues that assimilation requires not only that cultural specificities be invisible or excluded from the public sphere, but further that they disappear altogether in the melting pot, or crucible of the nation and therefore in the dominant identity of society (p.293). Consequently, Volpp explains that the headscarf debate was perceived as the battle between a culture-free citizenship and a culturally-laden other (p.571). It all started in France in 1989 when three young, Muslim girls decided to go to school wearing the headscarf. The head of school banned them from wearing the veil at school and this unleashed the debate on identity and the incompatibility of Islamic identity with the French concept of lacit. In 1994, right-wing Minister of Education Bayrou, issued a circular forbidding displays of visible religious signs in public schools. Defenders of the ban pointed out that schools should be neutral, inclusive and laque spaces (Kastoryano, 2006). Poulter (1997) remarks on the French political discourse and its assimilationist insistence on the denial of ethnic differences in a spirit of uniform citizenship (p.44). Such a stance, states Poulter, requires minority groups to surrender the distinctive characteristics of their separate identities and blend into wider society (p.46). Volpp (2007) quotes Jacques Chirac, who defended the ban on headscarves and said that one of the pillars of the republic - the principle of secularism - was as stake and that the schools must remain a privileged place for transmission of republican principles and a melting pot for equal opportunities(p.573). The President is then assuming that those who do not divest themselves of their particular culture are in conflict with the values of the Republic because cultural attachments are thought to inhibit ones ability to engage in citizenshipwhich is that to be a citizen of certain Western democratic states, particular values must be accepted as a baseline for

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membership (p. 579). McLaren (1997) is highly critical of this stance because when one regards difference as being simply textuality, as a formal, rhetorical space in which representation narrates its own trajectory of signification one would be disregarding the social and historical dimension of difference(p.525). Assimilation thus requires those who are regarded as different to divest of their identity so that presumably equality is maintained. Rosaldo calls this cultural stripping where citizens become transparent to the state (cited in McLaren, p. 522). However, Rosaldos argument about the invisibility of citizens is regarded by some academics and politicians as the optimal situation in a state because as Neumannova (2007) argues, The general presuppositions are that the principle of citizenship will guarantee the equality among citizens, both in civil rights and duties. Such principle of citizenship expects the state to show neutrality towards cultural and ethnic difference (p.4, my italics). Therefore it is presumed that the state is neutral because it does not support or show preference to any culture. Modood (2007) contests this idea and, drawing on the theory of Kymlicka, he considers that state neutrality is virtually impossible because Most polities will have a history in which one or more dominant cultural, linguistic or religious groups have fashioned institutions and conventions to suit themselves (p.25). Thus that state which expects the citizens who do not fall within the mould provided by it, to fit in, is to treat them as second class citizens and to disadvantage them in all sorts of ways (p.25). The Maltese context provides a similar, yet different scenario. It is similar in its presentation of one accepted idea of identity and citizenship. Its difference lies in strong ties between the state and the Catholic Church and thus can be considered as neither a secular, nor a culture-free state in terms of the French republican model. During the late 1980s and in the 1990s, in the wake of the governments application to join the European Union, a

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debate developed about the Maltese identity. According to Mifsud Bonnici (1989), former President of Malta, our physical attributes are witness to our past. Our different physical characteristics (although always referred to as white) make it difficult to define the typical Maltese. However, our culture defines our identity. A very important aspect of Maltese culture is without doubt religion.
Il-kultura morali tag]na hi kultura li tag]ti valur kbir lill-ir[ulija kif ukoll lill]nienaHija kultura Ewropea, fis-sens li l-bqija ta l-Ewropa, b]alna, issawret mill-valuri nsara.(p.xiii) Our moral culture gives great value to gentlemanly behaviour as well as to charityit is a European culture, in the sense that Europe, like us, was formed on Christian values

Such a declaration is diametrically opposed to the notion of cultureless citizenship as portrayed by the French. It is, however, just as hegemonic in nature, as it assumes a single identity founded on European, Christian values. This dominant culture maintains its position of power through its institutions, such as the educational system as shall be seen in Chapter 4. Thus, those who do not subscribe to such an identity are made to feel outsiders as described in section 1.2 above. They might not be overtly excluded but certain policies and legislative measures may be either discriminatory in their regards, or else their needs might not be adequately met. Consequently they may feel that, even though they would appear to have a strong prima facie claim to a national identity, the way in which this identity is socially constructed serves to exclude them from belonging to it (Bond, 2006, p.611, italics in original). In their different ways, the French and Maltese universalist concepts of identity and citizenship do not take into consideration the differences that exist within their countries and this results in the marginalisation and exclusion of those who choose not to be assimilated in the majority culture because according to this ideological system, everything that is not classed as national is seen as suspect in terms of identity (Bertossi, 2007, p.3).

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2.3.2 Value-Based Pluralism One of the phenomena encountered as a result of globalization is that cultures, beliefs and values are not constrained to different spaces but have become present in nearly every society. There are very few groups left which have been untouched by this process and thus one now finds oneself in a position where one has to negotiate between the abstract conception of rights and the concrete notion of difference. Watkins (2006) states that Indispensable to that negotiation is the advent of international human rights regimes, but this has raised its own set of complications regarding political and cultural difference. Some uphold a confident belief in the universal applicability of human rights, while others are wary of compelling all nations to adopt what may be viewed as a culturally biased conception of rights (p.628). Therefore, according to the above mentioned author, applying the universal concepts of human rights across the board could essentially be regarded as an imposition of one presumed superior belief over others. Isaiah Berlins work on value pluralism stresses that while values may be incompatible, they cannot be considered as having more or less worth than others. According to Berlin values are incommensurable, that is, there is no common measure for comparison (Cherniss and Hardy, 2008). For this reason, if we apply this argument to the previous section about citizenship and its cultural components, one cannot exclude others on the basis of having different values. Zakaras (2004) maintains that Berlin is no defender of cultural particularism He attaches a singular importance to the project of understanding and empathizing with unfamiliar cultures and values, and in so doing opposes parochialism of all sorts (p.497). It must be noted, however, that Berlins position has divided liberals in two main camps. On one side there are those who regard liberalism as standing primarily for the autonomy of the individual person while on the other liberalism is identified with maximal

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toleration of the beliefs and practices of different social groups(Crowder, 2007 p.121). According to Wentzell (2003), The idea of moral perfection is an illusion, and consequently the idea that any one social system or even set of institutions can best exemplify or promote the good life for all is folly (p.2). Liberalism, from the perspective of value based pluralism, is thus better than other authoritarian or illiberal regimes to accommodate the diverse lifestyles and cultures present in our societies. Wentzell reiterates that pluralism does not bind the state to develop a multicultural ethic; rather it encourages the notion of tolerance. Volpp vehemently argues against the idea of tolerance: Tolerance suggests that there is a dominant majority extending its beneficence to a minority communityThus, a state that espouses the value of tolerance masks the fact that tolerance is always conferred by the dominant while its object is inevitably figured as something more lowly(p.601). Moreover, apart from the issue of domination, tolerance suggests that while people of different beliefs, cultures, ethnicities and lifestyles may form part of the same state, it does not necessarily mean that they are living together - they may be living peacefully apart, each group within its own ghetto. Maltese Muslims, for example, are tolerated, they enjoy the universal rights as other citizens do. They have to fulfil their obligations towards the state as all citizens must do, but that is the extent to which they are included. In fact, when there was the drawing up of the new national curriculum in the late 1990s, the Education Division did not consult with this community and, interesting to say, the community did not insist that Islam and Islamic culture should also be represented in the curriculum. This proves that pluralism does not necessarily create a duty to promote diversity (Crowder,p.137 as cited in Wentzell, p.10), but may simply provide niches for different groups to live without persecution. On the other hand, there are those who argue against acceptance of pluralism in the public sphere. Malik (2002) believes that a pluralist society, where different cultural values

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are regarded as having equal worth, will not lead to cohesion but contribute to a more fragmented society. He argues that, It is very difficult to support respect for difference without appealing to some universalistic principles of equality or social justice (par. 8). Thus he insists that if society wants to be just, it must treat its citizens as equal individuals, but their cultures should in no way be part of the picture. Culture, faith, lifestyle, feelings these are aspects of our private lives and should be of no concern to the state or other public authorities (par 22). Therefore such scholars are putting forth the idea that justice can only be maintained if collective identities are not accorded any special privileges in public policy. Malik further argues that some societies and some cultures are better than others: more just, more free, more enlightened, and more conducive to human progress (par 10). Such a statement diametrically opposes Berlins thoughts on pluralism, but Malik is certainly not a voice in the desert. Tebble (2006), in his discussion of identity liberalism claims that the state must not only pursue assimilationism internally but must adopt policies of exclusion and, in extremis, repatriation with respect to communities whose values are deemed incompatible with those of the liberal national culture (p.472, italics in original). It is evident that while the assimilationist stance adopted by Malik and Tebble does not augur well for minority groups and their quest for belonging. Isaiah Berlins value pluralism, while not as radical and exclusionary as Maliks and Tebbles argument, does not necessarily address the issues of minority groups. In the following section I will discuss if and how politics of difference enable and encourage participatory citizenship. 2.3.3 Politics of difference A different discourse seeks to find convergence between citizenship and difference. In the arguments presented in the above sections, in a presumed secular, culture-free state,
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individual autonomy and choice is regarded as the ideal way in which one is able to live as a citizen. The supporting argument is that the state does not bind one to invisible chains that are brought about by religion and culture and therefore one is freer to make decisions and choices based on ones personal values. On the other hand, the value pluralist approach professes that in order to live in harmony, a society made up of people of different cultures, ethnicities, religious beliefs and lifestyles needs to accept that values might be different, but all have the same worth - thus the idea of tolerance of differences. However, neither of these discourses take into consideration that for a multitude of reasons, some peoples or groups standing in society might be impaired when compared to others. Mc Laren (1997) argues that class, race and gender stratification and objective constraints and historical determinations restrict the choices of some groups (p.8). Besides restriction in freedom of choice and expression may also be the result of discrimination against their beliefs, culture or way of life or else legislation does not provide for their particular needs. In such instances individuals and groups fall on the margins of society, in a position where their invisibility with regards to legal provisions becomes diametrically opposed to their visibility due to being different. The laws which aim to treat every citizen the same transform some of the citizens, primarily those who for one reason or another fail to live up to this presumed universality, into the others. Moreover, the notion that sameness

automatically translates into equality is unequivocally challenged by Young (2005) who regards the hegemony of the majority as an oppressive force on minorities:

Identifying equality with equal treatment ignores deep material differences in social position, division of labor, socialized capacities, normalized standards and ways of living that continue to disadvantage members of historically excluded groups. Commitment to substantial equality thus requires attending to rather than ignoring such differences (p.1).

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She argues that the liberal stance taken is that of cultural neutrality but contrary to the assumption of neutrality modern societies comprise multiple cultural groups. Some of these groups invariably control the state as well as important institutions, thus inhibiting the ability of minority cultures to live fully meaningful lives (p.8). Consequently the politics of difference contend that for institutions to be just, they have to accommodate and support cultural differences2. This entails, according to Craig (2007) that all cultural groups are recognised and engaged in the process of determining the principles of social justice and acting on those principles (p.99). However, not everyone shares the opinion of the above scholars. Some claim that in acknowledging differences one would be simply essentialising and stigmatising people (e.g. Malik, 1997; Ayirtman,2007; Cushing, 2007). Both culture and identity are fluid constructs, that is, they are not stuck in time and place and thus change due to social interaction. Therefore, those who make claims for justice on the basis of cultural identity find themselves trapped in a fixed time and place, and give the impression of something which is static. McLennan (2001) argues: Whilst it might be accepted that all human beings are in some significant way culturally formed and culturally located, the notion that everyone inhabits deep, coherent and relatively unchanging cultures is disputable. Even if the social is coterminous with the cultural, subjectivities, groups and practices can be envisaged as working within a great variety of cultural formations, which are themselves in any case dynamic and fluid rather than static and all-determining (pp.390-391, italics in original). Eisenberg (2002) further claims that when differences are acknowledged and are granted equal recognition, social cohesion collapses because recognition of differences encourages groups to remain insular. She cites Barry who contends that politics of difference rests on a rejection of what we may call, in contrast, politics of solidarity (p.300 cited in Eisenberg,
2

Youngs idea of cultural difference includes differences of class, race, sexuality, age, ability and culture (1990, p.13)

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p.17). Miller, (1995) considers policies which recognise special rights for minority groups or which allocate formal representation in legislature to ethnic groups undermine the common identification upon which community solidarity relies (cited in Eisenberg, 2000, p.17). If these groups think that they are marginalized and that injustices are committed towards them because of their specificity, it does not make sense for these groups to claim particular rights on the basis of their perceived difference, instead they should forge a relationship with the majority based on trust and solidarity: if we believe in social justice and are concerned about winning democratic support for socially just policies, then we must pay attention to the conditions under which different groups will trust one another, Trust requires solidarity not merely within groups but across them, and this in turn depends upon a common identification of the kind that nationality alone can provide (Miller, 1995, p.140 cited in Eisenberg, p.18).

The case against politics of difference is further amplified by the argument that in opting to focus and struggle for group and minority rights, one would be undermining individual rights. This could be seen in some of the arguments brought forward in the headscarf debate referred to above. It has been argued by many that allowing Muslim girls to wear the hijab to school would lead to the coercion of those who did not want to wear it but were pressured by family or community members to do so. Thus, Weil (2004) admits, Either we left the situation as it was, and thus supported a situation that denied freedom of choice to those the very large majority who do not want to wear the headscarf; or we endorsed a law that removed freedom of choice from those who do not want to wear it (par. 1). Kukathas (2002) agrees with Weil as she says that preferential polices used to

address inequality between groups may well increase inequality between individuals in society (p.189). That is, if the state accorded preferential treatment to Muslims on the basis

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of their different belief, it would be compromising equality between the Muslim girls, who would not have the freedom of choosing whether they wished to wear hijab or not. It is evident that there is no magical formula that solves the dilemma between individual rights and group rights and their place in the multicultural citizenship debate. While Soutphommasane (2005) contends that Multicultural citizenship insists we recognize cultural difference among citizens and the unique identity of an individual (p.403), Green (2006) insists that individuals should be assigned liberal rights but no special rights should be accorded on basis of group membership because then society would be less free (pp.3-4). Conversely, Bond (2006) claims that while people may enjoy full formal citizenship, they can still be excluded from belonging to the nation in which they live. Clearly, as I have stated elsewhere, laws which promote individual equality do not necessarily encourage just treatment of people who are different than the majority. According to Modood (2007) , Citizenship consists of a framework of rights and practices of participation but also discourses and symbols of belonging, ways of imagining and remaking ourselves as a country and expressing our sense of commonalities and differences, and ways in which these identities qualify each other and create should create - inclusive public spaces (p.128). It is evident that citizenship discourse must aim towards being inclusive and accepting, as otherwise it will only succeed in alienating those who do not form part of the hegemonic culture. 2.4 Citizenship and Social Justice Citizens expect to be treated fairly by the state. States, as we have seen, have different conceptions of what constitutes fairness. Mainstream liberal theories claim that as adults are autonomous they should be held responsible for the choices they make (Brighouse, 2003). This line of thinking induces states to regard fairness as granting citizens

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similar rights and equality of opportunity the morally proper distribution of benefits and burdens among societys members (Young, 1990, p.15). Moreover, as Squires (2006) asserts, egalitarian liberalism transfers gender, culture, religion and other differences to the private sphere and views these differences as contingent and politically non-pertinent (p.5). Young (1990) regards the distributive paradigm as focusing too much on material worth and tends to ignore the social structure and institutional context that often help determine distributive patterns (p.15). Young does not ignore the importance of

distribution but claims that in the quest for attaining social justice one has to consider how domination and oppression act upon individuals and groups through the institutional context. In this context she includes any structures or practices, the rules and norms that guide them, and the language and symbols that mediate social interactions within them, in institutions of state, family and civil society, as well as the workplace (p.22). Therefore, in order to address social justice one has to be aware of how oppression operates at various individual, cultural and institutional levels. She identifies five faces of oppression violence, cultural imperialism, exploitation, marginalisation and powerlessness and these in their own way, obstruct the path of justice. Young contends that particular forms of oppression appear in different groups and therefore, the issue of difference has to be addressed for justice to prevail. Bell (1997) describes oppression as pervasive because social inequality is seen as woven throughout institutions and embedded within individual consciousness (p.4). She continues that oppression restricts both self-development and self-determination because it denotes structural and material constructs that significantly shape a persons life chances and sense of possibility (p.4). According to Hardiman and Jackson (1997) there is a distinction between violence and social oppression, because the latter is an interlocking

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system that involves ideological control as well as domination and control of the social institutions and resources of society, resulting in a condition of privilege for the agent group relative to the disenfranchisement and exploitation of the target group (p.17). Later on, Young (2005) develops the arguments for politics of difference and

distinguishes between the politics of positional difference and the politics of cultural difference While both share the same concerns and challenge difference-blind liberalism, they are distinct models. Politics of cultural difference address issues of autonomy for minority cultures or toleration of religious differences. On the other hand politics of

positional difference concern the status meaning of occupational positions, and the normalisation of attributes that count as qualifications for them (p. 5). She argues that failure to distinguish the difference between the two models, may lead to obscuring certain specific forms of group based injustice, such as racism or the normalization of certain capacities, which cannot be reduced to issues of cultural difference (p.5). Fraser (1997, cited in North,2006), on the other hand, describes the central problem of justice as being recognition rather than the equal distribution of goods. However

stressing cultural recognition alone undermines redistributive efforts to improve the lives of the marginalized, exploited citizens in the current political economy, dominated by Western capitalism (p.508). Therefore it is vital to combine politics of recognition to politics of redistribution because then one would be addressing both economic disadvantage and how it obstructs equal participation in the social sphere and biased cultural norms which work against some groups. The concept of social justice cannot be detached from that of a democratic community, argue Furman and Shields (2003). They make a distinction between the

concepts of thin democracy and thick or deep democracy. Thin democracy refers to the
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understanding of democracy based in classical liberalism where every citizen has one vote (thus everyone is considered as equal) and democratic decision making reflects the will of the majority. Thus according to various authors cited by Furman and Shields (p.8), such a conception of democracy amounts to tyranny of the majority. Bell (1997) explains that this sort of tyranny was described by Gramsci as hegemony, where power by the dominant group is maintained through the voluntary consent of the dominated. She continues: Hegemony describes how a dominant group can project its particular way of seeing social reality so successfully that its view is accepted as common sense, as part of the natural order, even by those who are in fact disempowered by it (p.11). In contrast, thick democracy attaches significant value to such goods as participation, civic friendship, inclusiveness, and solidarity. Thick democracy tolerates significant diversity in conceptions of the good as well (Strike, 1999, p.60 cited in Furman and Shields, 2003, p.8). These arguments identify clearly the links between thick democracy and social justice, as thick democracy provides the required platform for politics of difference. 2.4.1 Social Justice and Education Political theorists who operate on an egalitarian plateau (Squires, 2006) seem to assume that adults find themselves in society as fully formed independent individuals. Brighouse (2003) contests such a claim because individuals become autonomous through a process of education and upbringing that is shaped by the society in which they are children, and the assignments of authority over them that society endorses (p.2). Consequently, institutions which are entrusted with the upbringing of children should be examined to find how and why they are unjust for some students (Naidoo, 2007). Furthermore, Nieto (2000) argues that a concern for social justice means analysing school policies and practicesthat devalue the identities of some students while overvaluing others (p.183, cited in Naidoo, 2007, p.24).
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Globalisation, immigration, political and social upheavals have presented new challenges for conceptions of citizenship and education (Banks, 2001). Homogenous nations are being transformed into cosmopolitan ones and therefore it is not necessarily ones race, language, culture or beliefs that provide a firm ground for citizenship (Callan, 2004). As a result the concepts of social justice and democratic community in education have acquired a new intensity and urgency which is driven by the above mentioned factors as well as an ongoing awareness of the economic gaps between mainstream and minoritised children the increasingly sophisticated analyses of social injustice as played out in schools, including the unintended injustices that may arise from national policy initiativesand a sense of the need to prepare children to participate in democratic processes within an increasingly multicultural society (Furman and Shields, 2003, p.2, italics in original). Faulks (2006) claims that while governments are constantly being pressed to respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse society, and Despite the abundant rhetoric on building a system that is open, inclusive, democratic and centered on the needs of all students, there has been little investigation on assessing the institutional culture, processes and outcomes of education systems in relation to social justice and transformational change (p.2)

According to Faulks (2006), citizenship as a political tool is inherently flexible and has been employed by politicians from all sides of the political spectrum. As schools do not operate in a socio-political vacuum (Kiwan,2007, p.235), Faulks considers that The ways in which citizenship is defined ideologically by the government of the day will of course affect the form and effectiveness of education in schools (p.124). Therefore, the state will promote the education it deems compatible with its view of democracy and participation. Thus, if governments believe that the thin democracy model is the more just, they will promote a similar model for education. Carr (2006) reiterates Faulks observation when he writes that Governments have the power to shape ideas, on the one hand, and reject them, on the other (p.9). Borg

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(2006) for example, demonstrates the distinct intensions of the Maltese government and the similar ideals of the Catholic Church in their presentation of the citizen in the National Minimum Curriculum (1999): Both the final draft of the National Curriculum and the Archbishops statement equate Catholicism with the Maltese nation and citizenship, and both consider marriage and the family two pillars of the Catholic orientation to be integral parts of what it means to be an exemplary and serious Maltese citizen (p.64). Apart from the fact that the Church and the State seem to think that the importance of a sound marriage and family values pertain solely to Catholics, through the curriculum they aim to project this vision of citizenship as the desirable and accepted view. In doing so, however, those children who are living a different reality, perhaps with a single parent or who are not Catholic would have difficulties to identify with such a vision. This is a clear example demonstrating the valuing of some identities more than others as mentioned by Nieto above. In overvaluing some identities, one would be devaluing others. North (2006) argues that social recognition is vital for individuals to grow. When institutions do not value persons because they have a different culture one witnesses the development of social patterns of representation, interpretation, and communication that result in cultural domination, invisibility and disrespect (p.513). Various scholars construct justice in education in different ways among which they mention guaranteeing equitable funding, inclusion of children with disabilities, and responding appropriately to religious diversity (Furman and Shields, 2003, p. 11). The authors cite Bogotch (2000) who believes that neutral structures should be challenged as they reproduce societys dominant culture and values. Therefore, social justice in education is taken by Furman and Shields as being a deliberate intervention that challenges fundamental inequities that arise, in large part, due to the inappropriate use of power by one group over another. To
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supplement a hegemonic or neocolonial use of power with power that is agentic requires education that takes seriously the intrinsic worth and value of all individuals and the communities to which they belong. Educational leaders for social justice embed an explicitly moral practice in values that undergird an ethic of a deeply democratic community (p.13). Therefore, schools need to focus on multiple aspects of inequality. Injustice in education can occur in the relationships between pupils and teachers as well as in education policies that consider that a one size fits all curriculum, allocation of resources and educational programmes constitute just practices. When the state considers sameness as identical to equality it would not feel the need to recognise difference. According to Banks (2008), the universal conception of citizenship results in the treatment of some groups as second-class citizens because group rights are not recognised and the principle of equal treatment is strictly applied (p.131). Such is the case of France where immigrants have to surrender their language and culture to become full citizens. This assimilationist ideology is not free of consequences. Tomlinson (2008) claims that the same ideology was present during the Thatcher governments. The view of citizenship and national identity was too simple and it was encapsulated by traditional imperialistic beliefs in unproblematic British values which largely excluded the history and presence of minorities (p.171). Where such ideologies prevail education provisions are also aimed at assimilating pupils in the majority culture and is a means of social oppression that involves a relationship between an agent group and a target group that keeps the system of domination in place (Hardiman and Jackson, 1997, p.17). However, with its aim to eradicate the community cultures in favour of a more neutral one where there is one idea of the common good and common values, this type of education alienates students from their family and their community. Moreover they also become socially and politically alienated within the national civic culture (Banks. 2001,

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p.6). Another consequence of assimilationist strategies in education is that minorities would make great efforts in order to be able to educate their children in their own schools. A case in point would be the increasing demand for Islamic schools in Europe, where Muslim children can be educated within an Islamic environment. Strike (1998) contends that there might be great resistance to schools which aim to assimilate minorities into the dominant culture, especially when these disparage and do not respect their culture or their religion (p.204). He quotes J.S. Mills to emphasise his point: A general state education is a mere contrivance for molding people to be exactly like one another; and as the mold in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominant power in governmentit establishes a despotism over the mind (p.204). Educational practices which reflect the perspectives of those in a privileged and dominant position are thus unjust because they silence minorities and they are not granted any space wherein they could bring their life experiences (Furman and Shields, 2003). Socially just education bound by the notion of deep democracy, takes into account both individual rights and the good of the community and thus meets the demands of a diverse society. Strike (1998) cites Gutmanns notion that democratic education should be the vehicle whereby the goods that constitute a good life ought to be products of reasoned and collective deliberationGutmann sees democratic schools as places in which citizens should engage in collective and democratic deliberation about the goods that constitute a worthwhile life and as places where the capacities and values that make democratic deliberation possible are learned (p.207). Consequently, social justice and democratic community are integral to the construction of understandings of learning that are holistic, that acknowledge the whole person (Furman and Shields, p.19). Individuals whose worth is acknowledged become empowered are more inclined to become active participants in society. Young (1990) regards participation in

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public discussion and processes of democratic decision making as integral to justice. She argues All persons should have the right and opportunity to participate in the deliberation and decision making of the institutions to which their actions contribute or which directly affect their actions (p.91). Referring to what Brighouse said above, that children are the product of their educational systems, educational provisions for different children have to be embedded in the ideals of social justice and democracy if one wishes to witness a just society. Conclusion This literature review focused on citizenship and the different conceptions of justice with a particular focus on education. This dissertation is aimed to address the educational practices in Maltese schools and how these leave an impact on the small minority of Maltese Muslims in schools. Education, as I have mentioned in the above sections, can be conducive to encouraging pupils and students to become active participants in civil society. Curricula, school ethos and pedagogies applied influence pupils and students lives, both inside and outside the school. It can be said that education contributes to the formation of citizens. How are these influencing Maltese Muslim pupils? What opportunities are provided to Muslims, as different, who are at the same time citizens? Why do Muslim parents prefer send their children to the only Maltese Islamic private school, sometimes adding to their financial burdens? How do teachers and administrators regard the presence of Muslims in mainstream schools? And finally, is our education system socially just? Does it really consider and cater for the differences that are present in our schools and in society? I will attempt to answer these questions in the analysis chapters. The following chapter indicates how the study was conducted and the research methodology undertaken in order to be able to answer these questions.

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Chapter 3

Methodology

3.0 Objectives of research Schools are witnessing an increase in diverse pupil populations (Bartolo et al., 2006, p.305). Pupils come to school and bring along different cultural and religious experiences. They might live in different family units than the traditional one of two parents and children. Pupils have different abilities and disabilities. Indeed, the National Minimum Curriculum (1999) acknowledges these differences and calls for schools to celebrate diversity. Among all the different groups that can be found in our schools, I have chosen to focus this study on one particular group that of Muslim pupils. Statistics regarding Muslims attending state schools are not available as the Education Division does not collect data regarding religious beliefs. On the other hand, the student population at Mariam Albatool the only Maltese Islamic school in Malta is around 120. The Maltese education system is founded on Christian values and the curriculum purports a Christian view of life. Therefore one must consider the position of Muslims, and how the whole set up affects their identity, their development as citizens and their view of their Islamic culture. This chapter describes the development of this study and the processes of data collection and analysis that were employed in order to try and find out whether our educational system is conducive in engaging Muslim pupils to become active citizens. Through the data collected and analysed I was able to determine whether they sit on the margins as outsiders and different, whether

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they are invisible or else form part of a healthy environment in which the schools perspective of diversity has made it possible for all the pupils to feel that they are respected and valued members. 3.1 Research methodology I chose to conduct qualitative research first of all because qualitative methods are able to generate information which is very detailed. Moreover, considering the subject under study, there is greater opportunity to get to the real and most sensitive issues than if the data is pre-categorised as in questionnaires (Cohen and Manion, 2000, p.272). I also chose qualitative research methodology because I was concerned with meaning with the ways in which parents and teachers made sense of their experiences. As Woods (2006) states, The qualitative researcher seeks to discover the meanings that participants attach to their behaviour, how they interpret situations, and what their perspectives are on particular issues (par. 3). Moreover, direct contact with parents, teachers and head teachers was necessary because it would have been difficult for me to understand their actions and behaviours without understanding the framework within which they interpret thoughts, feelings and actions. Ideally such a feat would have been accomplished through conducting observations in schools where it is easier to examine the type of interaction that takes place in such settings, but considering other work commitments, I decided to conduct semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews helped sensitive issues to emerge more clearly as insight was gained not only through the answers but also through incidental comments, body language and perhaps the things which are left unsaid. While quantitative research might have given me access to more respondents, I would have missed the feelings generated

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during interviews. This has been confirmed by Maykut and Morehouse (1994) who explain that The data of qualitative inquiry is most often peoples words and actions and thus requires methods that allow the researcher to capture language and behaviour (p.46, cited in Berry, 1999).

Interviews have been used extensively for data collection across social sciences and in educational research. From an instrument of pathological diagnosis, they have been transformed into a tool of modernist democratisation and ultimately social reform (Fontana and Frey, 2005. p.695). Interviews are being conducted to promote change rather than to find whats wrong, and they have moved on to focus on social amelioration (Fontana and Frey, 2005, p. 695). This is exactly the scope of my study to give Muslims in Malta the opportunity to express their views and concerns about the perceived educational experiences of their children. I conducted semi-structured interviews as these gave me the opportunity to use a set of questions that formed a framework within which I had to remain in order to keep within the parameters of the research. Simultaneously this type of interviewing approach also allowed me to digress and probe for more insightful information so that I was able to draw out a more complete story. Prior to embarking on the project, I conducted a pilot study to ensure that wording used in the questions was clear and understood as meaning the same to both the interviewer and the interviewee. For example, I had used the term inclusive education by which I meant education which is sensitive to the needs of different pupils. However, during the pilot interview, the interviewee understood inclusive education as meaning inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools. Therefore, I changed the term inclusive
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and described what I meant by it. (Have you ever had the opportunity to work in a setting where you had pupils of different religion, culture, ability, race in your class?). I must also point out that the results of this study cannot be generalised beyond this specific setting. Nevertheless, further research could be conducted after deriving universal statements of general social processes (Bogdan and Biklen, 2003, p.32) from this study to see whether they would apply in other settings and subjects where minorities are present. 3.1.1 Desk research The formulation of the dissertation questions were guided by the desk research conducted about Muslims in Europe. Initially, I intended to compare my findings to what is happening in France and the UK. As the research took shape I found that richer data could be elicited if I did not limit my comparative element to these two countries but took other European countries into consideration. 3.2 Tradition Grounded theory has been considered as the ideal research tool in investigations of relatively uncharted waters and also to gain a fresh perspective in a familiar situation (Piantanida, Tanais and Grubs, 2004, p.327). Grounded theory is data driven and the research situation lent itself well to such methodology because my aim was to try and identify the perspectives and perceptions of Muslims with regards to the education of their children in Maltese schools, as well as the challenges that the education system itself has to contend with in this regard. I did not have a hypothesis which I needed to test, but the aim was to understand the research situation and build concepts from the details provided by the interviewees. There is a dearth of research regarding Muslims in Maltese schools and thus through grounded theory methods there is the potential of bringing to light the

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experiences of Muslim pupils in a Christian educational system and the reasons behind opting for the alternative - Islamic education3. Corbin (2005) claims that Since the purpose of the researcher is to generate theory, the user of grounded theory method does not enter the field guided by pre-defined theoretical formulations, though the researcher may have an underlying general perspective or belief systemThese perspectives often influence the questions that are raised and the take on analysis. Any theory that results from such a process represents participants responses and interpretation of events (which when retold by participants become reconstructions of actual events). As data the reconstructions are filtered once more through the eyes of the researcher who then constructs a theoretical formulation (p.49).

While my experience in schools did give me a general idea of how teachers and the educational system regard and address difference (see section 2.3), the interview questions were designed to allow the interviewees express their views, rather than confirm or contest my ideas. The generation of theory, requires that the researcher follows a specific process which would enable him or her to identify recurring themes. Once I transcribed the first

two interviews I went through them slowly and analysed them in order to draw out and identify categories, find relationships within these categories and identify core concepts which describe these relationships (Heuhls, 2005, p.329). The first part of the process thus focused on concepts where incidents and events were analysed as potential indicators of phenomena. Such a procedure is referred to as open coding. For example, if during an interview one of the participants told me that the European Union calls for states to treat everyone in the same manner I labelled this as equality. Then, when I encounter other such incidents throughout the other interviews, once these are compared and I find that
According to Douglass and Shaikh (2004), Islamic education is a generic term for four types of educational activity. The type of education referred to throughout this dissertation is education for Muslims which includes the religious and secular disciplines (p.3). According to Mario Farrugia-Borg, from the Islamic centre, Islamic is the correct term to use when referring to organisations thus Islamic schools.
3

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they resemble the same phenomenon, these were similarly labelled. Pandit (1996) explains, Only by comparing incidents and naming like phenomena with the same term can the theorist accumulate the basic units for theory(par 3). The second part of the process, axial coding (referred to as reflective coding by Wilson Scott, 2004) is regarded as the cornerstone of developing theory (Corbin and Strauss, p.7, cited in Pandit, 1996). According to McCaslin and Wilson Scott (2002), during the axial coding process, one has the task of reassembling the data in meaningful ways. This is done by connecting the concepts elicited during open coding with dimensions within the context. For instance, during the course of the analysis I identified other concepts, such as equality and discrimination. At this stage of the process I grouped together and categorised them under a more abstract term, in this case - Justice. Reflective coding is concerned with developing the data into schematics that explain the interactions in terms of priorities emerging from causal conditions, processes explaining conditions, process dimensions and the relevant context (McCaslin and Wilson Scott, 2002, p.10). During this stage, Wilson Scott (2004) compares analysts to investigative reporters because they have to ask the questions why, when, where, why, how and what are the resulting consequences (p.115). The answers to these questions will then point towards an emerging pattern from the concepts and categories. A third element of grounded theory selective coding involves generalising relationships between a category and its concepts as well as other categories. At this stage of the process the central category that binds all the other categories in the theory is identified and related to other categories. This is the emergent theory. Corbin (2005) argues that emergent theory implies that there is only one truth and thus she subscribes to the constructionist view of theory development because the constructionist viewpoint

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acknowledges multiple realities or multiple ways of interpreting a specific set of data (p.49). This process would identify which areas the researcher wants to focus on. Thus future interview questions (in my case) were formulated accordingly in order to be able to develop the theory as it emerges. There is no specific number which detects when one has done enough interviews and analysis to generate a theory. It is of utmost importance that one continues sampling until saturation is reached - that is, until no new evidence emerges from subsequent data (Moghaddam, 2006, par. 31). One must be aware that saturation is based on the conceptual power and coherence of the theory being generated and not on the sample size. Piantanida et al., (2004) suggest that one must keep on interviewing until nothing new is said by interviewees and then, to be on the safe side, one should conduct one other interview (p.337). Thus a theory can be considered as saturated when it is rich in detail and stable when challenged with new data. An integral part of the process towards the drawing out of the theory was the use of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a tool to help me to understand the meaning conveyed by the interviewees. McGregor (2003) asserts that Discourse analysis challenges us to move from seeing language as abstract to seeing our words as having meaning in a particular historical, social, and political condition. Even more significant, our words (written or oral) are used to convey a broad sense of meanings and the meaning we convey with those words is identified by our immediate social, political, and historical conditions (par 3).

Consequently CDA was a necessary tool when I needed to draw out the meanings behind seemingly similar expressions uttered by different people. For example, if a Muslim parent and a teacher said that Muslim pupils are treated in the same manner as the other pupils, while they both used the same wording, the meaning was different.

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Moreover, van Dijk (1993) considers CDA as a tool which one can use to focus on the role discourse plays in the (re)production and challenge of dominance (p.249). He defines dominance as the exercise of social power by elites, institutions or groups, that result in social inequality, including political, cultural, class, ethnic, racial and gender inequality (pp. 249-250). Through the use of CDA I was able to detect those instances where subtle nuance or excuses were used in order for the dominant group to retain the status quo. For example, two teachers, when challenged about the teaching of the Catholic religion in state schools replied Its the religion of the majority, thus implying that minorities have no other option other than conform or be excluded. I must add while my interpretations of discourse are valid, they do not constitute the only truth. As Gee and Green (1998) point out, Validity is not constituted by arguing that the analysis "reflects reality" in any simple way (Carspecken, 1996; Mishler, 1990) for two reasons. First, humans construct their realities, although what is "out there," beyond human control, places serious constraints on this construction (thus, "reality" is not "only" constructed). Second, just as language is always reflexively related to situations so that both make each other meaningful, so too is discourse analysis. The analysis interprets its data in a certain way, and those data, so interpreted, render the analysis meaningful in certain ways and not others" (p.159).

Clearly, CDA can be a useful tool when applied to grounded research methods. The spoken and written word are undeniably powerful and thus CDA is necessary so that one can effectively analyse, interpret and regard social life, as reflected in the text or spoken word, in a critical manner. Moreover, Charmaz (2001) emphasises that, A major strength of grounded theory methods is that they provide tools for analysing processes, and these tools hold much potential for studying social justice issues (p.507-508). Thus grounded theory methods and CDA seemed the ideal combination to use in order to carry out my research.

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3.3 Researchers stance and bias As a teacher for a number of years I have observed that while we contend that our schools are inclusive and the diversity within our schools is a reason for celebration, in actual fact our educational system can be considered as the epitome of exclusion. Perhaps the fact that we stream our pupils according to perceived ability can be considered the most obvious form of segregation (see for example Cachia, 1997). However, there are more forms of exclusion that we may be little conscious of and I strongly believe that exclusion on basis of religion is one of them. The daily school programme is often replete with religious activities, from prayers, to mass, from Catholic religious education, to Lenten talks, Christmas celebrations and so on. Therefore, those who are not followers of the Catholic religion may find themselves excluded. Moreover, I have observed more subtle means through which pupils might be systematically excluded - not by the system itself but through action by or inaction of teachers and administrators. For example, I heard teachers who blamed a pupils lack of achievement or bad behaviour on reasons extraneous to the school such as, Ghax dak missieru Gharbi (Thats because his father is an Arab), or Il-genituri separati (His parents have separated), and even Ghax ommu tahdem (His mother works)( see for example Chircop, 1997 and Azzopardi and Gauci, 2003). Such utterances certainly are not a reflection of the whole teaching profession, but they did set me thinking that we tend to create the undocumented minorities daily - the low achievers, the troublemakers, the immigrants, the religious minorities. Thus I felt that it was important to reflect on how just our educational system really is. Mehra (2002) considers the relation between the researchers beliefs and the choice of topic as natural and inseparable: A researcher's personal beliefs and values are reflected not only in the choice of methodology and interpretation of findings, but also in the choice of a research topic(par 15).
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The above-mentioned experiences helped me to reflect and become aware of what to look for and what questions to ask. I was very careful not to project my views, neither in the questions I asked nor during the course of the interviews. This was certainly not an easy task, but with the help of my tutor and by means of actively engaging in critical selfreflection, I managed to rephrase those questions whose content clearly reflected my bias. Moreover, I was conscious of the fact that participants would be less likely to say what they feel if they are concerned about the way in which I might judge them. Nevertheless I cannot consider my research to be a purely objective exercise, if such a task is possible at all. It is evident that no one can write in such a detached manner that ones values, ones history and ones experiences are not reflected to some extent in ones analysis of the research. Mehra (2002), borrows Kriegers (1991) argument and considers that the external reality, that is, the outer world, and the internal reality, our history and experiences, are inseparable. Krieger further argues that the knowledge of the external world is only a small part of what our total knowledge can be; what we ever really know is, in essence, self. Thus, the reality we all see is based on our understanding of the world, which in turn is based on our knowledge of the self (par 22).

Therefore, hard as a researcher might try, it is impossible to design and carry out research which is void of bias. According to Bogdan and Biklen (2002), Qualitative researchers attempt to seek out their own subjective statesbut they never believe they are completely successful. All researchers are affected by observers bias (p. 34). Hammersley and Gomm (1997) are also in accordance and imply that sociological analysis is always from someone's point of view, and is therefore partisan (par 1.5). However this should not be considered as a point against qualitative research. On the contrary, Mehra believes that the interaction between the interviewee and the researcher helps to create knowledge. Thus, I think that

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my awareness and my observations of what I saw happening in the schools in which I taught actually helped me to construct better questions and my empathy with the interviewees made it possible for them to build trust and thus they were more willing to share their experiences with me. 3.4 Sample My primary intention was to collect data through interviews with Muslim pupils in secondary state schools. I checked which schools had Muslim pupils and sent letters to heads of schools together with letters they had to give to these pupils. The Data Protection Act (2001) does not allow the schools to divulge personal information about its pupils. Therefore to contact parents of Muslim pupils in order to get their consent to interview their children, I had to send letters through the heads of schools. The majority of Heads accepted to hand over the envelopes but two did not, and did not give a reason for their refusal. Another head called to explain why she could not hand over the envelope to a particular pupil, as at the moment the parents were going through a separation and they were contesting the custody of their child. Notwithstanding the fact that a good number of letters were forwarded (about 40) I had extremely weak response as only two parents agreed to allow me to interview their children. This might be significant because it shows certain reluctance on the part of Muslims to be the focus of attention and reflects to a certain extent the self imposed invisibility of this community. Thus I had to change my focus from the pupils to that of the parents and widen the perspective so as to include all types of schools, not just state schools. I asked the Administration of Mariam Albatool School to forward some letters to parents of pupils who attended that school. Two replied and from then on the way of selecting people was through the snowball sampling: I asked the interviewees to forward

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my telephone and email address to any of their Muslim friends who were interested to be interviewed. Again response was not very good as only one contacted me. When I discussed this with one of the interviewees she said that when she had been conducting a study about Muslims for her dissertation she experienced the same difficulties. I also contacted one interviewee by phone after I saw a letter penned by him in one of the local newspapers. He then provided me with three more contacts. A friend of mine who teaches at another school also put me in contact with another Muslim couple who send their children to a private school. Thus I have a sample of ten Muslim parents who send their children to state, church or private schools, one of which is Mariam Albatool. The Imam, Sheik Mohammed el Sadi, was also interviewed. I spoke to the Head of Mariam Albatool on a number of occasions when I visited the school. There was also another Muslim parent with whom I spoke at length before conducting the interview. While they were not interviewed formally due to our busy work schedule and the difficulty in finding a time in which both of us were free, they were an invaluable source of information. The teachers, heads of schools and learning support assistants were chosen either through contacts I had made when I contacted the heads of schools or else through personal contacts as well as snowball sampling. Most of the teachers and Learning Support Assistants I interviewed work in state schools, one teacher works in a Church School and two in a private school. One head of school also works in a state school while the other is the head of a church school. I interviewed eleven parents and ten teachers. This sample is by no means representative of all Muslim parents, teachers and administrators and the findings cannot be generalised. However, I believe that they do give an indication of how our educational system reaches out to the minorities within it or else pushes them away.

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3.5 Access Access to interviewees was mostly through personal contacts. Friends suggested people they knew who in turn contacted others on my behalf. This in itself was a very laborious task as some of those contacted did not want to be interviewed and so I had to spend a lot of time looking for people willing to share their encounters with educational practices in their schools or in the schools their children attended. 3.6 Sites for Data Collection The interviews took place at different locations. While I always suggested a number of sites where to conduct the interviews, it was ultimately the interviewees who chose the site where the interview was to be held. This made them more comfortable to share their experiences with me. Some interviewees asked me to go to their home, others came to mine. I interviewed a couple of persons at the Islamic Cultural Centre at Paola. There were some teachers whom I interviewed at their school. The heads of school were also interviewed at their respective schools. Two interviewees preferred to meet at a Caf, which proved to be unwise for recording purposes. 3.7 Researchers persona I approached the potential interviewees in person or through email or on the phone. I informed them about my interest in the experiences of Muslim pupils in Maltese schools, and my wish to interview them. I assured them that confidentiality was to be kept at all times, but some were still reluctant to participate. Some of those I approached declined to participate mostly due to family commitments. Those who participated did so out of their own free will and at no point did I insist, although I made it clear that their contribution would be vital to my dissertation.

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3.8 Time-Span The process of making contacts and conducting the interviews took about six months (from November 2007 to April 2008). This was due to the fact that at first I found it extremely difficult to come across persons who were willing to be interviewed. Secondly, my work as a teacher and my own family commitments did not allow me much free time in which I could conduct interviews. In fact, fixing an appointment with parents was often an act of enterprising time management on both sides. Moreover, I had to transcribe

interviews in order to be able to identify themes, topics and categories that would guide the direction of the following interviews, as this is an important aspect of any research guided by grounded theory. 3.9 Interviewing process As I have already stated above, there were three teachers and one LSA with whom I had been acquainted and thus the interviews started immediately without any preliminary small talk. On the other hand, the other interviewees were total strangers to me and so I felt the need to establish a good rapport and put the interviewees at ease (Guion, 2006, p.23) before conducting the interviews. The interviews were conducted either in English or Maltese, depending on the preference of the interviewees. In two cases, where both parents were present and one of the parents was Maltese, the interviews were in both languages as the Maltese parent often felt more comfortable with using the native language, especially when talking about sensitive issues. On average interviews took about forty-five minutes, the longest being two hours and a half. The reason for such a long interview was that one of the parents, who was not Maltese, had first hand experience of racism and islamophobia and was very critical

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about the way in which Arabs are treated by the Maltese and the way Muslims are essentialised in the media. It was agreed that after I transcribe the interviews, and if any further questions arose, I would email the transcript to the interviewees with my queries and they would write back with their answers. I had to resort to this method because of my work and family commitments as well as the interviewees busy schedules. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. All interviewees were aware that recording would be solely for collecting data for my dissertation and therefore confidential. One of the interviewees felt very uncomfortable with the idea of being recorded and we decided to switch off the recorder as it was hindering the interviewee from expressing herself freely. However she offered to type down her answers if I sent her the questions by email. I thought that this was better than trying to fill in the answers during the interview as I would be busy writing and miss any nuances in her answers. I still interviewed her, albeit without recording her. During the course of the data collection process the recorder broke down twice, once for a couple of minutes and the second time for a good part of the interview. In both cases data was lost and in the first instance, we used email to remedy the issue of the data lost. In the second instance I decided to interview the person concerned again, especially as she was eloquent and expressed herself well. Before devising the questions for the interviews I had read extensively about Muslims in Europe, identity, education and social justice. Therefore I was able to identify issues that I thought would be worthwhile to investigate. Designing open-ended questions, however, proved to be quite difficult at first, as on reflection, some of the questions gave

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away my bias and those who were going to answer, would surely be influenced. In the end I managed to revise the questions into more open ended ones. 3.10 Ethical Issues The aims of qualitative research are to try and understand human interactions and the social world in which these happen. Qualitative research deals with the intimate, with the personal and thus very often the researcher has to contend with dilemmas and ethical issues throughout the course of the study and which have to be addressed accordingly. Contacting potential interviewees was the first dilemma I came across. I felt that I should not interview colleagues because I felt they would feel obliged to accept because of our relationship, and would be embarrassed to refuse. Contacting other teachers as well as parents was quite a discouraging task at times. Bogden and Biklen (2003) argue that research participants should enter the study voluntarily and thus I tried to contact potential interviewees, with whom I was acquainted, either through e-mail or else by sending text messages. I think that in this way, they would have been freer to decline to participate than if I had contacted them by phone. In fact one of them did refuse to participate in the end. Considering the nature of my research and the limited number of potential interviewees the issue of confidentiality was of utmost importance throughout the study. In a small island like ours, and keeping in mind the even smaller Muslim community, it could have been very easy for some readers to identify participants. Bogden and Biklen (2003) state that Anonimity should extend not only to writing, but also to the verbal reporting of information (p.45). In view of this ethical issue, I decided to do away with profiles

altogether, gave all the participants pseudonyms and gave only details which were essential for the strength of the arguments.

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As Fossey, Harvey, McDermott and Davidson (2002) clearly point out, the relationship between the researcher and the research subject should be open and honest throughout the whole research process. For this reason, I explained to the participants the objectives of my study so that they would be aware of what was expected of them before embarking on the project. Furthermore, I offered to send them the transcript back for their approval but respondents found this unnecessary. Therefore I only sent the transcripts back when I needed any clarifications. However, I still gave the participants my contact numbers and informed them that they could pull out of the study any time they wished. As I wrote the data chapters, I sent them to three separate interviewees. This was done for validation of interpretation as well as to transform my project into a coconstruction between the researcher and participants (Corbin, 2005, p.49). Conclusion The nature of my dissertation was oriented towards understanding the experiences of those considered as Others by many throughout the education system. The research methods applied through the course of this study were intended to generate insights about the reality of schooling for Muslim pupils in Maltese schools, which is under-researched locally. The process was long and at times laborious but the data gathered together with the literature research made analysis and comparison possible and hopefully a fruitful endeavour.

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Chapter 4

Through the eyes of the subaltern4

The Preliminary report of the 2005 census estimates that there are around 3,000 Muslims residents in Malta and there are less than 200 Malta born Muslims. The nonMaltese Muslims come from various countries forming a multicultural group. The ethnic and cultural differences have gradually combined to make one distinct community with Islam as its common denominator. Muslims are dispersed in the Maltese community and as Ranier Fsadni (2001) wrote, The Maltese community, as such, is a community of worship; individuals go back to a life lived among non-Muslims (p.9). My project explores the experiences of Muslims within our educational system. However, I think that it is of primary importance that I establish the context in which the study takes place. According to Bigelow, Childs, Diamond, Dickerson and Haaken (2000):

It is the context that provides much of the meaning. Something that seems the same has a very different significance in different social settingsthis is a basic principle in analysing social phenomenon: Nothing can be understood in and of itself, apart from its social context. Context matters (p.3). Therefore, I analysed what this subaltern group said during the interviews and referred to incidents or events that took place locally and which justify the often critical stance taken by Muslims with regards to Maltese society.

Subaltern was used by Spivak (1988)to refer to the perspective of persons from regions and groups outside of the hegemonic power structure. She argues that it is not a word to replace oppressed or Other. In post colonial terms subaltern refers to everything that has limited or no access to the cultural imperialism.

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During the course of the data collection it became apparent that the Muslims I interviewed had very clear images of what goes on through the minds of most Maltese. Muslim is synonymous with Arab in Maltese psyche and apart from being the object of contempt, the word Arab is often used to homogenize and unify the Muslim community into one single race, irrespective of ethnic and cultural differences. As Fsadni (2000) wrote: The general ignorance about Islam in Malta is appalling and is matched only by ignorance about Arabs (who are not all Muslims, of course; and neither is the majority of the Islamic world Arab) (The Times, January, 7, 2000, p.9). Moreover interviewees who were not

Maltese said that their foreignness made them the target of racist and islamophobic comments. Veiled women as opposed to those Muslim women, who did not cover their hair, were also more prone to attract unwarranted attention. The experiences they have all gone through shaped their views about Maltese society and also determined, very often, the choice of school for their children.

4.1 What the Other thinks of us To most Maltese, citizenship is synonymous with nationality. Therefore, anyone who is not Maltese (that is, who does not look Maltese) is considered as barrani (foreigner), irrespective of citizenship. It is also generally assumed that all Muslims in Malta are foreigners. It must be noted however, that not every foreigner is regarded in the same light. It is evident that some are accepted much more than others. One interviewee, who hails from Libya, captured this in her comment: You look up to Europeans and down on Arabs. It is not right for the Maltese not to have respect from Europe and then they do the same to Arabs. So I think about it. One day it was not like that, but now because of Europe they start being snobs. A Maltese Muslim, Josef, was also critical of the attitude of the Maltese towards Arabs and Muslims. As an example he brought up the reaction of the general public to the
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introduction of the Arabic language in the late 70s. He said that it is important to refer to the what was happening in that period to be able to understand the present situation better. Briscoe (2006) also argues that if one wishes to understand the effects of discourse, one must look at the socio-political context in which it is produced and consumed. A sociopolitical context is always the product of history (p.1). Thus the resistance shown by the pupils in schools was a reflection of the discourse against Arabs that was developing, which Sciriha (2001) captured in her study, and was also mentioned by Josef:
L-G]arbi kellu stigma wkoll, apparti li kien hemm ra[unijiet politi`i warajh, kellu stigma, U dan l-G]arbi g]alfejn? U dan l-G]arbi xnambuh? Imbag]ad kellek ukoll na]a politika li kienet tg]id li l-G]arab tal-]abba\i\ li it wasnt fair, lanqas. Dan kollu [ej minn hemm. Ji[ifieri dan kollu mibni u jirrifletti fla]]ar mill-a]]ar li l-Maltin g]andhom superiority complex towards the Arabs u inferiority complex towards the Europeans Li huwa \ball. Dan huwa lparadoss, dan huwa l-estrem tasso`jeta Maltija - li a]na na]sbu li tTaljani u l-Ingli\i huma a]jar minna imbag]ad a]na na]sbu li a]na a]jar mill-G]arab, li mhu l-ka\ fl-ebda wa]da. Arabic had a stigma as well, apart from the political reasons behind it, Why study Arabic? What do we need it for? Then you had one side of the political spectrum that used to call Arabs tal]abba\i\5and that wasnt fair either. All that is happening now has its roots in those times. That is, all this is built upon and reflects, at the end of the day, that the Maltese have a superiority complex towards the Arabs and an inferiority complex towards the Europeans. This is a mistake. This is the paradox, the extremes in Maltese society that we think that the Italians and the British are better than us. Then we think that we are better than the Arabs which isnt the case in either.

Such behaviour is also the vestige of a nations colonial past. Kamat (2004) mentions Gandhi and Fanon who reiterated that political independence is not truly liberating unless it involves a struggle against the cultural domination of the coloniser. She quotes Nandy (1983) to illustrate the dilemma of the post-colonial condition, [C]olonialism colonises minds in

Habbaziz is a type of herb from Arab countries and was found in Malta during Arab rule. In the seventies the Nationalist Party objected to Dom Mintoffs politics and so they used to refer to Arabs, especially to Libyans tal-Habbaziz to ridicule Mintoffs policies as well as a demean the Arabs.

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addition to bodies and it releases forces within colonised societies to alter their cultural priorities once and for all(p.273). Another interviewee, who was not born in Malta, further illustrated the Maltese scenario with regards to this colonial mentality when he was talking about the rampant racism that exists against Libyans and made this scathing observation: How can one human have the right to take a cigarette and put it on his face and tell him you are not allowed to go to the disco? Because he is a Libyan. Now this one will go and talk in Libya to hundreds of others. Isnt this the way to induce hatred? Peoples behaviour, they should realise this is the wrong way. Not to say Oh no, the Englishman is coming from England you start cleaning outside the road, now this because an Englishman is coming (my emphasis). Therefore while physical colonial presence is a thing of the past, the same cannot be said for colonialism of the mind (Kamat, p.273). Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici (1989) then Education Minister, in his address to the National Congress on the Maltese cultural identity, went to great lengths to explain that Maltese culture is European, one main reason being that it was formed by Catholic values just like the rest of Europe. Interestingly, when he spoke about the Maltese language, he said:
Tkellimna bi lsien li \ammejna u g]anejna, i\da li ne]]ejna minnu le``essi ta ]sejjes ]arxa. (p.xiii) We speak a language which we kept and enriched, but from which we removed excessively harsh sounds.

It is clear that the harsh sounds he is referring to are the guttural sounds of some Arabic letters. Interestingly, he used the word ne]]ejna (removed), as if this was done consciously, a deliberate attempt to distance Malta from its Arab heritage in order to take on its European identity, as if being European gives one superior status. It is evident that people of North African and Middle Eastern origin, even when they are officially citizens of Malta, feel they are treated differently, with less respect and they are

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aware of the prejudices that are harboured against them. Thus it is difficult for them to integrate wholly and participate in Maltese society. Parekh (1999) writes:

Although equal citizenship is essential to fostering a common sense of belonging, it is not enough. Citizenship is about status and rights; belonging is about acceptance, feeling welcome, a sense of identification. The two do not necessarily coincide. One might enjoy all the rights of citizenship but feel that one does not quite belong to the community and is a relative outsider... (par. 19). This sense of being the outsider, the other, the unwanted, was experienced by Frantz Fanon when he went to France and people called him Negro. Young (2003) notes Fanons response: to experience the pain of, as he puts it, being sealed into that crushing objecthood. Later he realizes that the problem goes even deeper. That being turned into an object, the object of a pointing finger and a deriding gaze, is only the exterior part. What also happens is that those in such situations come to internalize this view of themselves, to see themselves as different, other, lesser (p.21).

Throughout the interviews, there was this silent assertion that they do feel that they are powerless, and that as their number is too small to make any significant difference to politicians, they are reluctant to air their concerns and put themselves in the limelight. Their silence has, in fact, further contributed to their invisibility in Maltese society. 4.2 Invisibility versus Assertiveness As I explained in the methodology chapter, I found it extremely difficult to find Muslim parents willing to be interviewed. This in itself confirms the reluctance of Muslims to be singled out and have their concerns brought to the attention of the public. Their reserved approach might be linked to their small community and their feelings, even if not overt, of being somewhat second-class citizens. This feeling of being lesser, as described by Fanon above, is captured in the answer a Maltese Muslim gave when asked why they did not lobby for minority rights:
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Mela b]ala komunita Musulmana rridu n\ommu saqajna ma l-art hawnhekk u rriddu n\ommu fmo]]na li a]na minoranza \g]ira ]afna , li iva g]andu jkollna `erta drittijiet bla dubju i\da ma d-drittijiet nistg]ux nippretendu li tag]na jtellfu minn dawk talma[[oranza assoluta.

As a Muslim community we have to be realistic hereand we have to keep in mind that we are a very small minority, that yes, we should have certain rights, but without any doubt we cannot that our rights will be granted at expect t the expense of the absolute majority. (my emphasis)

Samira, whose daughter attends a primary state school answered thus when asked whether she thinks her daughter has a right to learn Islam at school:
Ma nippretendix li g]andhom jieqfu lo]rajn biex titg]allem it-tifla tieg]i I cannot demand that others should stop so that my daughter learns. (my emphasis)

Clearly these two Muslims believe that the hegemony of the majority cannot and should not be questioned. The words they both used, which I have highlighted in bold, convey their lack of expectation with regards to them being granted minority rights. They seem to think that by granting them different rights, they would be trampling on the rights of Catholics, which should not be the case. Moreover, they seem to imply, that being a minority precludes them from obtaining rights, even though they are Maltese citizens. Hardiman and Jackson (1997) regard the stance taken by these Muslims as a result of social oppression. Among the various elements of social oppression they mention the following: The agent group has the power to define and name reality and determine what is normal, real, or correct; and Psychological colonisation of the target group occurs through socialising the oppressed to internalise their oppressed condition and collude with the oppressors ideology and social system. This is what Freire refers to as the oppressed playing host to the oppressor (1970) (p.17).

Thus it seems that the dominant social system has conditioned Muslims to the extent that they accept their position of subordination without complaint.

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The choice of remaining invisible is perhaps made out of self-preservation, for fear of social repercussions. One of the interviewees, Maysam, narrated an incident to try and explain how intolerant and ignorant some Maltese are. Maysam does not wear hijab and so she is able to merge with the crowd without any particular difficulty. As she was waiting for the bus to leave, a veiled woman sat in the seat in front of her. The person sitting next to Maysam commented Tghid dawn jemmnu? (Do these believe?). However, the interviewee chose not to answer and instead turned and started looking out of the window. Her silence seems to confirm Youngs (1990) idea that: Groups oppressed by structures of cultural imperialism that mark them as the Others, as different, thus not only suffer the humiliation of aversive, avoiding, or condescending behaviour, but must usually experience that behaviour in silence, unable to check their perceptions against those of others (p.134). It has to be noted that perhaps Maysam was not silent, but voiceless, that is, she did not answer back because she thinks that she, like other Muslims in Malta, are powerless to change the status quo and her silence simply confirms this. 4.3 Prejudice, Racism, Islamophobiaor Paranoia? The study conducted for the European Parliament (2007) about Islam in the European Union states claims that the Muslim community in Malta is respected and the Paola cultural centre has not encountered any adverse reactions (p.141). The hijab is not an issue and women are free to wear it in public institutions. Besides, the Imam is given every opportunity to visit hospitals and prisons (p.142) and space has also been provided in prison where Muslims can pray. I would like to comment on a phrase the document used and which I have quoted above: The imam is given every opportunity to visit hospitals and prisons(my emphasis). The words in italics suggest that the state is benevolent enough not to object to the imams presence in hospitals and prisons. Such a statement implies that this right is not

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taken for granted as happens with catholic priests and nuns. Thus, while Islam, like all religious organisations, has had the same legal rights since 1991, it does not enjoy the same status. This study seems to convey the message that Muslims do not find any barriers to socially participate in the communities they live in. It is true that one has not witnessed a movement against Muslims, such as that presented by the British National Party. Nevertheless, this does not conclude that Muslims in Malta are accepted as equals or that the Maltese do not harbour prejudices against them. In fact, every one of those interviewed was able to tell of some unpleasant experience that he, she or a Muslim member of the family went through because of their religious beliefs. The religious identity of the Maltese is very much part and parcel of everyday life, even for those who are not practicing Catholics. While one can say that other religions are tolerated, this does not automatically translate to acceptance of differences. Therefore, the very small community of Muslims is bound to feel the oppression of this religious hegemony. One parent, Maria, who is Catholic but whose husband in Muslim said:
Taf kif a]na l-Maltin. Kif i]arsu lejn lG]arab u l-Musulmani. Jien u r-ra[el tkellimna u dde`idejna li g]andna na]sbu fil-[id tat-tifel l-ewwel. U la qieg]ed Malta idde`idejna li a]jar intellg]uh Kattoliku. You know how the Maltese are. How they regard Arabs and Muslims. My husband and I discussed this issue and decided that we should see what s the best for our son. And as we are in Malta we decided that it would be better to raise him as Catholic.

This parent, who has been subjected to racist comments and even a violent attack because she married a Muslim, portrays a situation that says a lot about the lack of space Muslims have in Malta. As parents, she and her husband feel that their son would not be considered as equal to other Maltese citizens if he were brought up as a Muslim. Therefore, one way in which they could deal with stigma was to negate or deny their son a part of his identity
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because it is easier to be accepted when one conforms to societys expectations. What this family has experienced seems to be similar to Kahns findings, that in Britain Muslims were sometimes pressured into compromising on their religious identities in order to be accepted as part of the mainstream (cited in Modood and Ahmad, 2007, p.201). In the Maltese context, Muslims might find it doubly difficult to assert their religious identity because the Catholic religion permeates every aspect of social life. Therefore, as Mayo (2001) argues: It is more likely that one discovers greater opportunities for the assertion of different cultures in settings which are characterised by a spirit of secularisation than in settings wherein, for instance, a particular religious culture is hegemonic (e.g. Catholicism in Malta) (p.180). This hegemonic culture, according to Young (199O) draws a line between what is universal and what goes against the norm. Maria and her husband chose to place their son within the dominants group experience so that he would not be marked as the other and stigmatised. According to Goffman (1963 cited in LeBel, 2008) one of the stigmatising conditions is tribal identities such as gender, religion, race and nationality and LeBel (2008) maintains that as a consequence of stigma members of stigmatised groups are devalued and discriminated against by the general public and often suffer from social exclusion and status loss as a result (p.410). Muslims and Arabs (and their non-Muslim family members by association) are constantly being devalued. An interviewee overheard two academics discussing the situation one of their colleagues found herself in:
Smajt wie]ed jg]id: Taf xi [ralha X? Tg]idx kemm g]anhom inkwiet imsieken. Jien ]sibt li nqalag]lhom xi mard imma mbag]ad kompla: It-tifla tag]ha qed to]ro[ ma Libjan. I heard one say: Have you heard what happened to X? They are really worried poor things. I thought that there was an illness in the family but then he continued: Her daughter is dating a Libyan.

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Such comments imply that there is something wrong with dating a Libyan, not because this man is particularly different, or has any defining characteristics that make people reluctant to have any contact with him, but because he is hails from a specific country and race. This has been confirmed by a number of teachers, especially those teaching in girls secondary schools, who have heard the pupils comment on this topic. Leary and Schreindorfer (1998, p.20 cited in LeBel, 2008) claim that such people are stigmatised and thus socially excluded to such an extent that they are assumed to pose a threat to others, contribute inadequately to the common good, violate social standards, and/or induce aversive emotions in other people (p.410). It must be noted, that such a negative reaction to Libyans and Arabs seems to be a constant presence across Maltese society. Muslims can pray either in the only Mosque, in Paola, or in prayer rooms in Sliema, Swieqi and St Pauls Bay. These prayer rooms have proved to be a bone of contention between the neighbours and the Muslim community that frequents them. The reasons given by the neighbours were various, from the noise caused by prayer early in the morning and in the afternoon, as well as by the shoes left lying outside the apartment (maltatoday, Nov 2007). However, the underlying reasons may be others as comments on maltastar.com, an online newspaper, show: This is also causing a sense of insecurity in the neighbourhoodWe Maltese are known for keeping out invaders, but this seems past History. Today it is different. We are giving Malta away without realising itIt seems that visitors who come to settle in Malta have more rights than us CitizensA few years ago, we were worried about being invaded by workers from EU countries once we became full members. However it seems that we were not worried about being invaded from other regions. .(TalMars, 9 July, 2007) . holiday flats are being rented out to persons of different nationalities from outside the EU. we still feel that we are invaded. (Confused, 14 December, 2006).

Praying has suddenly become a public issue, not because incidents were ever reported, but due to the fact that the residents feel invaded and threatened by people who are praying,

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and who are not Europeans. This says a lot about the perception the Maltese have of Muslims, which has been certainly influenced by articles6 and media coverage of events such as 9/11, and which contributes to the formation of collective consciousness (Molokotos Liedermann, 2000, p.369). However, this does not seem to be a Maltese peculiarity as Cesari (2004) writes : The fact that American and European Muslims are now inevitably defined in terms of the international political situation demonstrates the persistence of the essentialist approach to Islam and to Muslims, which has developed over centuries of confrontation between the European and Muslims worlds (p.22). Apart from the essentialist element, mass medias popular representation of racial and ethnic difference in the West, argue McCarthy and Dimitriadis (2000, cited in Teasley, 2004) , are overwhelmingly premised on resentment, a negation or rejection of the culturally stigmatised other (p.265). Schools do not seem to be free of prejudice either as in a study conducted by Azzopardi and Gauci (2003), it became apparent that the presence of non-European pupils in a particular school elicited disturbing reactions from teachers, administration and pupils. Firstly, some teachers were not able to distinguish the nationality of the pupils and their parents: I do not even know her fathers nationality: Tunisian, Libyan, anyway from those whereabouts (p.71). Such a comment further proves that as I have explained above, very often there is no distinction in peoples minds between different Arab nationalities. Worse still, teachers harboured prejudices and generalised certain behaviour as if it pertained to a whole nation or race. For instance the dominant perception was that the Arab culture is inferior to our own culture or to other European cultures (p.63), and they thought that Africans and Arabs are normally involved in social difficulties as a result of marriage

For examples of articles against Muslims in Maltese media see Simone Zammit Endrichs Slay the Infidel (24th July, 1999), Islamophobic women (30th August, 1999) and Gender Apartheid in Islam (12th March, 2001), all published in The Malta Independent.

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breakdowns, and the dominance of men over women (p.70). What has just been described is considered by Taguieff (1998, cited by Grillo, 2003) as racist discourse that has been culturalised (p.162). Cultural racism, argues Grillo, is articulated through a language of essentialised cultural difference (p.162), that is these teachers attribute the same characteristics to all Arabs without distinction, as if all exhibit the same behavior and share the same culture. Parents are understandably wary of the tenuous position their children are in. They know that the anti-Muslim/Arab sentiment is not targeted solely at adults and that their children will not be spared their share of unpleasant experiences because of their race and religion. They are also aware that educational institutions are not free from prejudice and bigotry. These parents felt that their children would not be judged by their character and abilities but might be instantly discriminated against because of their differences: She may be discriminated against for having Libyan parentage on her fathers side, and might not be treated the same as other people because she is Arab and Muslim. For this reason, this parent decided that to protect her daughter from any distressing experiences, it is safer to send her to the Islamic school, rather than risk that her daughter witnesses the prejudice that exists and which might leave a negative impact on her self image as Muslim and Maltese. Parents were also aware that they cannot make sweeping statements and declare that all Maltese are biased against them. However, schools reflect what is happening in society and what they have gone through so far does not augur well. Maysam, who was talking about Muslims and how they integrate in society said: It would have made a difference if I were Maltese and not their father, because of the surname. This comment supports the other parents assumption that their childrens ethnic and religious background does influence peoples perceptions and has been corroborated by

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educators who confirmed these parents fears. A head of school said that she has noted how secondary school girls tend to exclude girls of Arab parentage:
Taraha fit-tfajliet ]afna wkoll, fit-tfajliet li jkollhom il-papa li hu G]arbi. Tiskanta kif iwarrbuha, issir kwazi awtomatika mit-tfajliet l-o]ra sfortunatament. One can observe it too, in the girls whose father is Arab. Youd be surprised how these are snubbed. Unfortunately the other girls seem to do it automatically.

When asked whether these children exhibit any distinctive marks, such as wearing of headscarf, this head teacher replied that they are identified as Arabs from the surname, and that seems to qualify these girls as outcasts. However, another teacher did not observe the same attitude towards another Muslim girl in her school.
Ifhem problema ta acceptance mhemmx. Hemm tifla per e\empju, ommha nisranija u \\ewget wie]ed G]arbi,. It-tifla kienet popolari ]afna ma s]abha g]ax it-tifla kienet tmur ilballet u kienet tag]mel kollox mag]hom Well, acceptance is not a problem. There is a girl, for example, whose mother is Christian and she married an Arab. This girl was really popular because she used to go to ballet classes and she used to do everything with them.

The fact that she used to do everything with them denotes that perhaps by choice or as an act of surviving at school, this girl did not allow her Muslim identity to be visible. Therefore, it seems that she was accepted in this particular circle of friends because she was not regarded as being different she had assimilated in the culture of these teenagers. Young (1990) contends that placing a normative value on homogeneity (as this group of girls seems to have done) only exacerbates division and conflict, because it gives members of the dominant group reason to adopt a stance of self-righteous intractability(p.179). Thus the dominant group of pupils does not find any need to adjust in order to accommodate others, and they assume that as a majority they do not need to make any adjustments. Parents worry that their children become socially excluded if they have contact with a solely non-Muslim environment. It must be noted that children are excluded for various reasons, such as an unpleasant disposition, however, as Azzopardi and Gauci (2003) found,
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ethnic background and religion do play a role in the way children behave towards each other.

The parents interviewed were well aware of the cultural racism that is present in society although not all of them were subjected to similar experiences. Two of the men I interviewed were Maltese and they were never targets of cultural racism, for the simple reason that there is nothing visible to identify them as being different. The same goes for those women who do not veil. On the other hand, those who wear hijab have other stories to tell. Veiling gives them a distinct identity, it increases their visibility in the public sphere, and in the mind of the public, they cease to be Maltese, they become someone to distrust if not to fear:
Ma lbistx il-hijab mill-ewwelMeta lbistu l-ewwel darba, kont tiela t-tara[ tal-flat u kif ratni l-[ara tieg]i g]alqet ilbieb malajr. L-g]ada sku\at ru]ha u qaltli li ma g]arfitnix u allura be\g]et minni. I did not veil right awaywhen I wore it for the first time, I was going up to my flat and my neighbour slammed the door as soon as she saw me. The next day she apologised and said that she had not recognised me and so she was afraid of me.

The neighbour, who was usually friendly, put up her guard as soon as she saw this woman in hijab, and for some reason felt threatened by her presence. Tarlo (2007) notes that while there is a pro-hijab movement that encourages (but does not coerce) Muslim women to wear the headscarf as an assertion of their Muslim identity, these efforts are being constantly undermined by the negative meanings associated with it, which people read about in the press and elsewhere. Tarlo claims that the negative connotations are fed by complex legacies of Orientalist, imperialist, secular and feminist discourses as well as by the contemporary political situation. This negative resonance builds upon a whole other set of associations which tie the hijab to ideas of patriarchy, oppression, victimhood, ignorance, tradition, barbarism, foreignness, fundamentalism, suspicion and the threat of violence (p.144).

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These women also experience the foreignness Tarlo mentions. One woman who was watching her son play football cheered when her sons team scored, as did many other spectators. However she was singled out by one man who said:
G]ax ma tmurx pajjizha din? Why doesnt she go to her homeland?

The hijab, associated as it is with foreigners, seemed to transform her status from a citizen to an immigrant and apparently an undesired one at that. This undesirability and

reluctance to accept veiled women has left them feeling marginalized and while racist responses are not always as overt as illustrated in the above incident, they are nevertheless constantly present. Applying for jobs, and actually being recruited seems to be an

improbable feat for these women: Finding work whilst wearing hijab is practically impossible, unless you are working with Muslims said one woman. There are no official prohibitions in Malta with regards to the hijab, but as can be seen Muslim women are still being discriminated against. Discrimination in employment is not only present in Malta but in England (Abbas, 2007, p.725) and in France (Greif, 2007) apart from other European countries. Conclusion During the course of the collection of data, parents were asked to mention reasons why they chose to send their children to a particular school and not another. They were also asked if they would consider sending their children to a state school. One parent replied, If they are not willing to invite me in their house, how are they going to accept them in their school? She was, of course referring to the fact that she is often looked down upon because of her race and she believes that the same would happen to her children if they attend a mainstream school. However, the fact that Muslims opt to send their children to Mariam

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Albatool is a double edged sword. On the one hand, these children are growing in an educational environment which suits and respects their beliefs. On the other hand, they remain invisible to education authorities as well as to other pupils and teachers with the consequence that there is little motivation to challenge the status quo. It must be noted that racism and islamophobia were not the only reasons for choosing an Islamic school for their children. The following chapter will focus on the curriculum and what is implicitly and explicitly taught in schools. This will shed light on whether Muslim parents concerns are justified. This chapter will also demonstrate whether one type of citizen is valued above others, and how education for citizenship influences those pupils who are different.

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Chapter 4

Outsiders inside schools

Education is the womb in which our society reproduces itself and re-creates itself for the future. In this process of nurturing and giving birth, there are three most important elements that shape the child of our hopes the next generation. These are: the efforts of parents, the efforts of teachers, and the national curriculum that should guide them (Louis Galea7,1999, p.5). According to the former Minister, society is shaped and transformed through education. It is also pertinent to note, however, that education is also a manifestation of what society believes in, what it deems to be important and what it regards as the best means in which to nurture pupils and students to become good citizens. The national curriculum (NMC) is thus regarded as the beacon that lights the road that is to be travelled in order to reach this aim. The Maltese NMC is supported by the Education Act of 1988, where one of the duties of the state is: To ensure the existence of a system of schools and institutions accessible to all Maltese citizens catering for the full development of the whole personality (4b, my italics). This section will therefore analyse whether the education system in Malta is really accessible to all citizens, in particular the small but growing number of Muslim pupils8, and whether this accessibility provides for the holistic development of the pupils. 5.1 The Teaching of Religion The citizens of a country form the state and thus the state is entrusted to safeguard the rights of every one of its people. In Malta, the state is bound by law to provide schools
7

Louis Galea was the Minister of Education when the present National Minimum Curriculum (1999) was published. 8 The number of pupils attending State schools is not known as no statistics are gathered about the religious beliefs of pupils.

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wherein, according to the Education Act, pupils can receive education and instruction without any distinction of age, sex, belief or economic means (Part 1, Sec.3). Such a statement implies that every pupil is regarded as equal to his or her peers and the educational experience provided by the state ensures the full development of all the pupils attending its schools. The law also stipulates that: (3) Religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education. ( LVIII.1974.4.) Thus Malta, together with Greece, Poland and Denmark, finds itself on one end of the spectrum with regards to the religion, where one particular religion has constitutional privilege. At the other end there is the laicist state model of France, where state and religion are fully separated (Nielsen, 1999). In between there are the other countries that have recognised particular religions and granted them privileges. In England, for example, the education act of 1996 stipulated that religious education should reflect mainly Christian traditions while taking account of other religions, with a collective act of worship wholly or mainly Christian (Tomlinson, 2008, p.104). However, nowadays the curriculum for religious education is drawn up by the school or by a body with representatives from nearby schools, teachers and faith groups (Jensen, 1998; Tomlinson, 2008). Similar to the Maltese context, parents have the right to withdraw their children from religious education. In the late 1990s, Evarist Bartolo, then minister of education, launched the process of drawing up a new curriculum to reflect the present needs and realities of Maltese society. Borg (2006) claims that when the NMC was being drafted, an attempt was made to transform the curriculum to reflect the multicultural and multidenominational presence on the islands. However this was not to be because Louis Galea, who became Minister of Education in 1998, complained that the curriculum does not leave space for the teaching of the Catholic religion apart from the constitutional and contractual obligations on the government to respect Maltas Catholic identity (National Curriculum revision announced in
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parliament, 1999, p.6; cited in Borg, 2006, p.63). Therefore, the possibility of a more secular and more inclusive curriculum was lost. The fact remains that in Malta, while other religions, including Islam, have been recognised for nearly two decades, the State is only offering the Catholic religion as part of the education programme of pupils. Those who do not follow this faith are not forced to attend these religious lessons but the state does not offer any other alternative. This poses a problem on two counts: first of all the state is retracting from its pledge to provide all the children with education that develops their whole personality, and in this sense, Muslim parents who wish their children to receive a more holistic education have no choice but to send them to the only private Maltese Islamic school. Therefore, when the state is providing the teaching of only one religion, it may actually be hindering the access of Muslim pupils to its schools and thus denying them the right to free education. The Imam commented thus:
Kull tifel g]andu dritt g]all-edukazzjoni, inklu\ l-edukazzjoni religju\a u spiritwali Mela huwa dritt l-ewwel ]aga u t-tieni ]aga hi mportanti ]afna. L-edukazzjoni reli[juza anki lMusulmani, anke religjonijiet o]rajn g]andhom l-istess dritt g]ax ma tistax inti tag]mel diskriminazzjoni bejn student u ie]or. L-istudenti Musulmani fl-iskejjel tal-gvern g]andhom id-dritt li jitg]allmu r-reli[jon tag]hom. Every child has a right to education including religious and spiritual educationtherefore, first and foremost it is a right and secondly it is very important. Muslims and those who practice other religions have the same right because you cannot discriminate between one pupil and another. Muslim pupils in state schools have a right to learn their religion.

Nearly all the interviewees agreed with the Imam that Muslim pupils should be taught Islam in state schools because it is their right.
Iva, jekk ng]idu li a]na pajji\ demokratiku g]andhom kull dritt [jitg]allmu l-Islam] Dak huwa dritt uman. Jiena n]oss li g]aliex mg]andux jing]atalhom, la qeg]din ng]ixu fl-istess pajji\, fl-istess skola, Yes, if we claim we are a democratic country, they have every right [to learn Islam]. It is a human right. Why shouldnt they be given that right, if we are living in the same country, the same school, why not?

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g]aliex mg]andhomx?

Another head of school agreed with the rest of the interviewees, but he brought up a point which was not raised by any of the others.
Na]seb li l-fatt, there again, ilkostituzzjoni Maltija tg]idlek illi pajji\na huwa pajji\ kattoliku u tintu\a bmod espli`itu. Legalment l-iskejjel ta l-istat ta Malta suppost illi jg]allmu r-reli[jon kattolika u d-dogma kattolika. Pero fuq livell morali din tinbidel. Jekk inti g]andek nies li qed jikkontribwixxu g]all-ekonomija (j]allsu t-taxxi) jekk g]andek dritt g]all-istudenti kattoli`i, g]aliex mg]andux tkun available g]all-studenti o]rajn (dan id-dritt)? I think that, there again, the constitution says that our country is Catholic and this is explicitly used. State schools are legally bound to teach the Catholic religion and dogma. However, on a moral level this changes. If you have people who are contributing towards the economy, (paying their taxes), if there is a right for Catholic students, why shouldnt this be made available for other students?

The words he used, explicitly used, imply that while it is unjust to negate such a right, the state and the Church refer to the constitution to sustain the hegemonic power of the Catholic Church. Therefore, those interviewed do not subscribe to the notion that schools can be deemed accessible just because they do not prohibit access to those who have a different religion. Presently, Muslims in our schools can be compared to students who require a wheelchair to facilitate their mobility and access and schools that accept them but then they do not make the necessary structural arrangements so that these pupils will not encounter any difficulties. Thus I view accessibility in terms of the type of education Muslims expect to receive in state schools. For this reason, equality of access to the educational system without discrimination on the grounds of ability, gender, religion, race or socio-cultural and economic background (NMC, p.25) seems to be contradictory to the fact that only one specific religion is taught at school. According to Lynch and Baker (2005)

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While equalizing access and participation are key equality objectives, we need a more holistic and integrated approach to achievement of equality in education, if we are to make schools truly egalitarian institutions (p.132). They suggest that it is important to be aware and acknowledge the relationship between education and socio-cultural, political, economic and affective systems that exist in society if equality in education is to be achieved. Lynch and Baker put forward the concept of equality as equality of condition. They argue that Equality of condition is about equalizing what might be called peoples real options, which involves the equal enabling and empowerment of individuals (p.132, italics in original). It is clear, therefore, that our education system does not offer equality of condition because it offers only one option with regards to religious education, implying that equality equals sameness everyone has the right for the same type of education, irrespective of what ones needs are. The second problem with providing only Catholic education is that during the religion lessons, pupils may either withdraw from the classroom or else do something else, such as homework. They are essentially wasting two and a half hours a week9 (or one and a half hours if in secondary) of their entitlement to religious education, unless, that is, the state does not consider that they are entitled to other religious education because they are not Catholic. Moreover, if the pupils choose to leave the classroom during the lesson, they have to stay near the Administrations offices or else in case of secondary school pupils, stay in the library. Not only are such provisions unacceptable on educational grounds, but also give the message that these children are different, even thought this difference has been defined by a constitution which essentially should protect its citizens.

It is stipulated that primary school teachers have to provide daily half hour religion lessons. In secondary schools the time is reduced by one hour.

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Besides undermining ones dignity, having to leave the classroom during this particular lesson does not promote respect for diversity and quality education for all let alone education in a multicultural setting, which is defined by Tiedt and Tiedt (1999) as an inclusion/teaching process that engages all students in developing a strong sense of selfesteem, discovering empathy for persons of diverse cultural backgrounds and experiencing equitable opportunities to achieve their fullest potential (p.18). More importantly, how does one expect children to develop a sense of respect, co-operation and solidarity among cultures (NMC, p.24) when it is the NMC which is making such unfair distinctions? Teachers and administrators are aware that such practices do not influence the pupils positively:
Ma jattendux. Fl-fatt, qishom, dawn ittfal, spe`jalment dawk bdifferenzi religju\i qishom jinqatg]u festi religjuzi, Milied u hekk. Jinqatg]u eh! They do not attend. In fact, it is as if these children, especially those whose religion is different, they become religious feasts, marginalized Christmas. They are marginalized.

Another teacher acknowledged that this brings about exclusion but also pointed out the fact that these children are being constantly expected to withdraw from religious activities with the ensuing repercussions on their education:
Jiena na]seb illi fdak illi g]andu xjaqsam ma l-edukazzjoni ]olistika, ilfatt li dawn it-tfal tittrattahom bl-iskossi. Mela ]rigthom ]abba l-e\ercizzji, ]rigthom ]abba l-quddiesa, ]rigthom g]ax il-festa tad-duluri, ]rigthom g]ax [ej il-Milied, ]ri[thom g]ax [ej l-G]id; Meta ]ri[tu mill-klassi, kull darba littifel jew lit-tifla inti sakemm jer[g]u jid]lu fis-sistema u jikkon`entraw di[a qed ter[a ttihom \vanta[[. Ji[ifieri dawn it-tfal qed jitilfu ]afna, mhux qed jitilfu biss is-su[[ett li lanqas hemm g]a\la fuqu. Imma anke qed jitilfu imbag]ad meta ji[u biex jikkon`entraw fuq il-matematika, fuq l-Ingli\, fuq issu[[etti l-o]ra dis-sistema g]alija
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I think that these children are receiving an education fraught with interruptions, not holistic education. You have taken them out of class because of mass, because it is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, because it is Christmastime, because it is Easter time;Every time these children go out of the class you are putting them at a disadvantage because then, when it is time to return they have to readjust and focus to continue with the lessons. This means that these children are losing much more, not only are they losing out on a subject upon which no choice is available, but then they are losing out when it is time to concentrate on maths,

hija \baljata u ]a\ina g]aliex it-tfal xorta wa]da sakemm ter[a tintegrahom fid-day to day programme [a tkun tlifthomA]na dejjem nitkellmu fuq child centred, li kull tifel u kull tifla huma differenti u g]ax huwa differenti nirrispettawh u ntuh l-aqwa tag]lim, dan kollu jaqa u jitkisser u ma jkun minnu xejn.

English and the other subjectsIn my opinion this system is erroneously conceived and wrong because you would have lost the children by the time you try to integrate them in the day to day programme We are always talking about child centred [education] that every child is different and thus we should respect him or her and provide him or her with the best education possible. All this is deemed irrelevant as it is far from the truth.

It is evident that the state and its educational institutions are blind to group differences and the inequalities such a stance is creating. Moreover, as they persist in refraining from taking action to counteract the enforcement of hegemonic norms, they will continue to reproduce inequalities. According to Young (2005) the way in which one social group (in this case Catholic children) is being privileged over another (Muslim children) constitutes durable inequality which involves processes where people produce and maintain advantages for themselves and disadvantages for others, in terms of access to resources, power, autonomy, honour, or receiving service and deference by means of application of rules and customs that assume such categorical distinctions (p.5). The school calendar, as the above quote clearly shows, is peppered with religious activities. However, while schools are closed on various religious holidays, little regard is given to Muslim holidays and thus there are no provisions for Muslims to absent themselves from school for celebrations which are inherent to their beliefs. This contrasts greatly with some other EU countries, such as in the Belgian Flemish community, where the recognised religions/denominations are Anglicanism, Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. It is entrenched in the Constitution that any pupil who practices any of these religions is exempt from attending school on days deemed by that religion to be of importance (Eurydice, 2004, p.54). The Belgian Flemish community has legitimised the time
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off school the pupils need to take in accordance with their beliefs. Therefore, pupils do not have to ask for permission to absent themselves on special religious days, because it is their right to do so. The stance taken by this community has put all these religions on par with each other. In doing so it is putting forward the notion of recognition of and mutual respect to religious differences. I am not implying that prejudices towards religions do not exist, but at least the state does not wilfully partake in and encourage, even if perhaps unintentionally, such prejudices. As can be seen, religion does not only influence one particular lesson, or a specific time of the day but it impacts school life in a multitude of ways. The reason is that the Catholic religion permeates all curriculum content and for this reason may leave little space for diversity as we will see in the sections below.

5.2 The Curriculum, Religion and Citizenship As I have outlined in the first chapter, considering everyone as being equal by providing equal opportunities (in our case, every citizen can attend a state school), does not constitute justice. Uniformity results in the hegemony of the majority over minorities as the situation with regards to the teaching of religion in schools shows. This is confirmed by Borg and Mayo (2001) who claim that the celebration of differences projected in the NMC is contradictory to the totalising statement that students are to acquire knowledge and information in the religion of the Maltese people (p.81). Such a statement implies that every Maltese person follows the same religion, ignoring the fact that Muslims, Jehovahs Witness, and others are also Maltese people. Thus, as Borg and Mayo observe, the Maltese people are hereconceived of as an undifferentiated mass, a unitary subject, with one belief system (p.81). Furthermore, by defining Maltese people as those following one particular religion, one is automatically excluding the possibility of identifying oneself as
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Maltese and Muslim. A similar situation is manifest in Greece, where dogmatic teaching of RE excludes all other options in the curriculum, and in doing so conflates Orthodox Christianity with Greek identity in a tightly bound and exclusive relationship (Alexiadou, 2006, pp.72-73). One interviewee referred to this discourse of equating identity with religion:
Hawn dik l-impressjoni li jekk inti Musulman, mintix Malti u jekk inti Malti imma g]ax [ibt il-passaport. L-idea li hawn Musulmani Maltin jew b]ali, li jiena ]addant l-Islam; imma anke hawn Maltin ukoll li g]andhom parent barrani li [ie jg]ix Malta, (issa jew ]a ``ittadinanza jew g]adu barrani) u parent ie]or jew o]ra Maltija. Issa dawn huma Musulmani u b]allma[[oranza ta dawk it-tfal fl-iskola huma mija fil-mija Maltin, twieldu Malta, `ittadini ta Malta, jitkellmu bilMalti, filg]odu jkantaw l-Innu Malti imma huma Musulmani. There is the impression that if you are Muslim, you are not Maltese and if you are Maltese, its because you acquired the passport. The idea that there are Maltese Muslims, or converts, like I am; but there are also Maltese who have one foreign parent who lives in Malta (now whether he has obtained citizenship or else he is still foreigner) and one Maltese parent. Now, these are Muslims and like the majority of the children in the school, they are hundred percent Maltese, they were born in Malta, Maltese citizens, they speak Maltese and in the morning they sing the National Anthem, but they are Muslims.

The curriculum thus binds ones religious identity with citizenship but this is done at the expense of those whose religious identity differs from the mainstream but nevertheless these do not consider themselves to be less Maltese. Caruana (2006) suggests that globalization has transformed the idea of citizenship as one grounded in a shared identity among citizens into citizenship understood in terms of allegiance to certain moral commitments, and the function of democratic education as the inculcation of these commitments (p.72). This implies that it does not make sense to purport a notion of identity based on religious beliefs but it might be more beneficial to follow a community of shared fate (p.74). There are a number of advantages for such a type of citizenship, one of which is that it does not presuppose that any particular community is the privileged or
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exclusive site of citizenship (Williams, p.232 cited in Caruana, p.74). As one can clearly notice, in spite of the celebration of diversity encouraged by the curriculum, the privileged position of the Catholic church contributes to the existing inequalities of respect and recognition towards Muslims, thus reducing this principle to mere lip service. At the beginning of this chapter I wrote that society influences the curriculum as well as educational practices. The presence of a sole religion in schools, the portrayal of religious homogeneity as a fact, as well as the political weakness of Muslims in Malta have contributed to and accentuated their invisibility. As one Maltese Muslim, Carol Gatt wrote in Q-News, Its almost like we dont exist(p.31). All this is then reflected in the curriculum and in the way it is intended to contribute to the best possible formation of every person so that good Maltese and world citizens can be produced (p.47). It is evident that only one type of Maltese citizen is valued and the aim of the curriculum is to form the pupils into this image. According to Lynch and Baker (2005), In schools, cultural non-recognition or

misrepresentation is grounded in the practices and processes of curriculum provision and assessment, pedagogical approaches, peer culture and organizational norms and from their studies they identified that Three educational practices that are particularly important in sustaining inequality of respect and recognition: a general silence or invisibility that is often accompanied by devaluation or condemnation, a systematic bias in the syllabi and organizational practices of schools, and segregation into different classes or schools(p.143). Clearly, then the educational experience of Muslims in Maltese schools is burdened by inequalities which they have to suffer in silence and which is tantamount to institutional racism. As I have mentioned elsewhere, citizenship is not merely a status which grants an individual a set of rights. Grech (2005) maintains that it is also a feeling intertwined with a sense of identity and therefore a sense of belonging (p.3). However, it might not be easy to
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feel that sense of belonging when one is discriminated against at worst and invisible in a more favorable scenario. If the concept of citizenship is founded on justice and solidarity it is difficult to envisage how Muslims feel they fully belong when even the President of Malta is always alluding to the Christian identity of the Maltese. For example, in his speech on the occasion of Republic Day he was speaking about how our laws protect citizens from abortion and euthanasia and said that, We should acknowledge and feel proud that Maltese society still treasures Christian moral principles that have nurtured our identity, we have to make sure that we pass on these values to future generations10. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with being against abortion and euthanasia, however attributing this to having Christian values ignores the fact that many other religions are against such deeds as well. Hughes (2003) maintains that qualities such as tolerance, kindness, generosity, honesty and patience were not the monopoly of Christians or other religious believers (p.6). With regards to religious diversity in education, the Council of Europe (2006) also maintains that in modern society there are different ways of conceiving what constitutes the good life, and these conceptions arise from various religious and non-religious views (p.15). Such references to religion by the head of State, who represents all Maltese citizens, can be considered as a discourse of exclusion, as it does not reflect the realities of Maltese society and therefore it is not representative of all Maltese. Therefore presenting the curriculum as being influenced by Catholic values and imposing these values on the pupils amounts to sidelining Muslims and obliterating their presence as one Muslim told me in a personal communication.

Address By H.E. Dr. Edward Fenech Adami, President of Malta, on the occasion of Republic Day Grand Council Chamber, The Palace, Valletta Thursday, 13 December 2007

10

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The consequences of recognising one particular religion has many other repercussions on syllabi, textbooks and subjects. These, in turn, influence negatively both Muslim and non-Muslim pupils, as we shall see in the next section. 5.3 Syllabi, Subjects, textbooks, cultural imperialism and cultural hegemony With the increasing diversity in the ethnicity, religion, social contexts, the make up of family units and a myriad of other realities, it has become imperative for educators and policy makers to provide for an education that is personally meaningful, socially relevant, culturally accurate, and pedagogically sound (Gay, 1994, par. 25). Accordingly, diversity in education cannot be considered a luxury or a matter of choice, but it is necessary for cohesion in society. Teaching and learning should be based on democratic values that foster cultural pluralism as well as on combating oppressive practices. It is therefore important that in acknowledging diversity, stakeholders in education demonstrate that diversity is desirable.

The NMC also emphasises the importance of acknowledging, respecting and addressing diversity (Principle 2, p. 30). Its authors seemed to be aware that pluralism is a vital force in society and of the destructive results a homogenized melting pot can produce. However, of what has been written nearly ten years ago, little has been transformed into action. As Rhedding-Jones (2002) claims, stated aims and named outcomes are simply that: not descriptions of what actually is. So, carefully produced text is no substitute for actual events (p.93). I consider the subjects taught, their syllabi and the textbooks used as one reason for the failure of the implementation of the NMC with respect to diversity.

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5.3.1 A Eurocentric Curriculum A culturally sensitive curriculum presents the pupils with different points of view, different contexts that portray the realities of the learning community. According to Parekh (1986) a culturally sensitive curriculum is one that provides an education free of inherited biases, with freedom to explore other perspectives and cultures, inspired by the goal of making children sensitive to the plurality of ways of life, modes of analyzing experiences and ideas, and ways of looking at history found throughout the world (cited in Gay, 1994, par.6). Therefore, the curriculum can be considered an important tool in the formation of responsible, open-minded and non-racist citizens. To this aim the Council of Europe, way back in 1997, launched a programme Education for Democratic Citizenship - to fight against violence, xenophobia, racism, aggressive nationalism and intolerance (2000, p.5). The Committee of Ministers of Education within the Council considered this programme as a demonstration of how education for democratic citizenship can contribute to social cohesion. However, to reach this aim the curriculum has to reflect the multiple identities of the pupils in classes and it cannot present a single scenario as being the only one which can contribute towards personal growth, achievement and responsible citizenship. Very often, in the NMC only one experience, the Eurocentric one, is given validity, as many of those interviewed said. One teacher, when asked which cultures the curriculum and the syllabi give importance to replied:
Il-kultura o``identali ovvjament, li qed ng]ixu fiha a]na. Western culture, obviously, the one we are living in.

This statement was pronounced in the sense that one cannot expect otherwise from the curriculum because of political reasons (especially Maltas accession to the EU). A similar statement was also given by a head teacher, who also insinuated that the curriculum might also be representing some sort of dormant or covert racism:
Qed tistaqsi mistoqsija lil xi ]add li hu konvint li a]na prodott tad-dinja
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Youre asking this question to someone who is convinced that we are a product

G]arbija, Ma nistg]ux na]arbu minn dan il-fatt..... Qisu g]alina l-Maltin dejjem kien di\unur li a]na na``ettaw ftit li a]na prodott jew inkella \vilupp, li tnissilna minn din id-dinja. Forsi g]adna ng]ixu fil-mentalita ta itTorok u l-Kavallieri? Jista jkun. Jurina wkoll i`-`okon tag]na wkoll. Kemm a]na g]andna mo]]na mag]luq u na]sbu fdin it-toqba [ejna minn imkien u spe`i a]na razza li \viluppajna wa]edna. ...mhux fis-su[[etti kollha nipro[ettaw il-fatt li a]na qeg]din fin-nofs, gawdejna mill-Ewropa u gawdejna wkoll mid-dinja G]arbija. Pero l-ba\i kienet id-dinja G]arbija...Jista jkun ukoll jiddependi l-Gvern u l-Ministeru li qeg]din ta]tu u l-idea li qed jipro[etta. Minix ng]id d]alniex fl-Ewropa hix tajba jew le, dik hija kwistjoni o]ra...imma ma nistg]ux na]arbu millfatt ukoll li ngawdu ]afna mill-pajjizi G]arab

of the Arab worldwe cannot escape this fact It is as if the Maltese always found it shameful to accept that we are a product or else a development of this world. Could it be that we are still living in Turks versus Knights mentality? Maybe. It shows our insularity and how we think that we found ourselves on this rock from nowhere and sort of developed on our own. Not all subjects project the fact that we are in the middle, that we have benefited from Europe as well as from the Arab world. However, the foundations were from the Arab world It could be that this depends on the Government and its Ministry [of Education] and the idea that they are pushing forward. I am not passing judgement on whether entry in the EU was good or bad, thats something elsebut we cannot escape the fact that we have gained a lot from Arab countries.

The Spanish curriculum of the 1980s was also characterized by a high level of homogeneity. Teasley (2004) in her paper about educational reform in Spain has also noted that despite the rapidly growing immigrant presence and traditional linguistic diversity (Basque, Catalan and Galizan apart from Castilian Spanish), the Eurocentric crosscultural orientation is made further evident by the fact that the European Community is referred to no fewer than seven times in the LOGSEs Preamble, while no references are made to other continents (p.255). The Eurocentric Maltese curriculum was described by Karl, a head teacher, as being an exercise in cultural hegemony and the way the European world is presented totally differs from how the Arab world is depicted:

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Kollox minn aspetti stori`i [ej. Anke lmedia li nir`ievu huma favur dak li huwa tal-West u kontra (jew bmod suspettu\) dak li mhux tal-West. Din hija d-dinja li qed ng]ixu. No wonder li jkollok kurrikulu li jirrispekkja dik irrealta. L-edukazzjoni li tirrifletti so`jeta hija edukazzjoni li sempli`iment ta``etta dak li hemm (tajjeb jew ]a\in) meta suppost l-edukazzjoni titrasforma, li tbiddel.

Everything is approached from the historical perspectives. Even the media send messages that favours the West and is against (or looks suspiciously at) everything that is not western. No wonder that the curriculum mirrors this reality. Education that reflects reality is simply an education that accepts what is presented (good and bad) when it should be an education that transforms, that brings about change.

Apparently, the Maltese curriculum is not the only one that designates the Other to an inferior status. According to Borg and Mayo (2006) maintain that throughout the southern European region,

Exotic and often demonic (mis)representations of alterity abound throughout this cultural heritage, alterity historically having been ascribed, in these areas, to a variety of people, including the Saracen, who is regarded as the Other in the context of Christian Europe. The Other becomes the subject of a particular kind of construction, a form of Orientalism according to Edward Said (1978)(p.148) Such an adverse image of what is Arab and by association, Muslim, does not project the ideal that everyone is valued and respected without any prejudice. In turn the feelings of belonging would certainly be dented, putting in question how valued the pupils are as humans and as citizens. Also there is the danger that these pupils become alienated from an education which is supposed to transform them into active participants in society. Lynch and Baker (2005) maintain that: The failure of schools to acknowledge the cultural dissonance that exists between their mores and practices and those of students from diverse class (and ethnic and racial) backgrounds exacerbates their educational failure and their sense of alienation from the education process itself(p.144). Therefore, when the curriculum fails in its mission to consider all pupils in an equitable manner, that is, it does not validate their beliefs and culture and make them feel that they do not belong because of their difference it is committing a great injustice. In a

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comparative study conducted by Hayden and Blaya (2005) about the disaffection and the lack of participation in schools in England and France, it has been found that in France the single national curriculum initiates the pupils into a single common culture. It is argued that according to official discourse everybody is equally French (p.71) and therefore it is expected that everybody assimilates as a French citizen, leaving prior culture and tradition behind. It is important to not that this equality is resulting in a number of pupils having a low sense of belonging. According to the OECD report (2003) quoted in the study, this number is far higher that that of the UK, which is more sensitive to and accepting of its multi-ethnic, multicultural make-up11. The curriculum is transmitted to the pupils by means of subjects. These, together with the syllabi and textbooks send messages to the pupils of what is important, what is acceptable and what is desirable. They also convey what is not significant often through what is left unsaid. For instance, in secondary schools one finds a subject called European Studies but not Mediterranean Studies. One church school addressed this discrepancy by introducing what they have called ME the Mediterranean Experience. The aim of such a project was:
... illi t-tfal ikollhom l-possibilita li barra (1) li jistudja is-su[[etti u (2) tag]ti iddimensjoni again ta identita imma mhux indentita nazzjonali ta ng]idu a]na li a]na nies li nag]mlu parti millEwropa, imma hija l-identita Mediterranea. G]alhekk l-idea ta Mediterranean experience il-fatt li hija M.E.(its talking about me) imma fkuntest Mediterran through
11

That children have the possibility that apart from (1) studying the subject, (2) that it gives the dimension of identity but not national identity in the sense of being part of Europe but a Mediterranean identity. Therefore thats the idea behind the Mediterranean experience actually it is M.E. (its talking about me) in the context of the Mediterranean through geography,

Grosfoguel and Mielanh (2006) point out, however, that the in the UK the culture and identity of minorities are recognized and celebrated as long as they do not question white power in society. People can dance and celebrate their identity as long as they keep intact the racial/ethnic hierarchies that produce racist discrimination (p.184). Therefore, while the OECD study has presented those results, in no way can one conclude that society has come to terms with the diversity within it.

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geography, history, social studies.

history and social studies.

This school had the possibility of embarking on such a project because being a church school it enjoys much more autonomy than state schools. The materials and teaching resources provided by the state also do not encourage teachers to take present the pupils with a more inclusive perspective which includes those countries to the south of Malta. For instance, the Italian textbook, which has been recently introduced, presents only the European perspective of life.
Nag]mlu ]afna comparisons bejn Malta u l-Italja. Imma shemmhekk naslu. Per e\empju, jien naf, insemmu l-way of life tat-Taljani u tal-Maltin, inqabblu l-Belt tag]na u l-Belt tag]om, [esti li jag]mlu bidejhom it-Taljani u lMaltin, il-proverbji per e\empju hemm ]afna minnhom li huma komuni g]ax qeg]din fil-Mediterran. We do a lot of comparisons between Malta and Italy. But thats all. For example, we talk of the Maltese and Italian way of life, we compare our Capital city and theirs, hand gestures that both Maltese and Italians make, proverbs, for example a lot of them are common to both because we are in the Mediterranean.

What this teacher has mentioned is typical of how a subject such as language, that can overcome boundaries, is used to contain and attribute certain behaviours to some countries and not others. The teacher said that there is a lot in common between Italy and Malta because they are both in the Mediterranean, but then so are many other countries. Therefore why should such a comparison be limited to these two countries? For this reason, many teachers concluded that the curriculum is too Eurocentric and does not give enough opportunities to study other cultures due to syllabus overload. Moreover, teachers have to operate within various constraints, one of which is the textbooks provided by the Education Division. In the following section I will address the matter of textbooks and the images they portray of Maltese society as well as the Arab and the Muslim.

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5.3.2 What textbooks teachand what they dont Textbooks remain an important tool for teachers. Sometimes it is the only resource used. In Maltese state schools textbooks are chosen by the central authorities, although recently schools were asked to choose and purchase their own reading scheme. Church and Independent schools choose and buy their own books. The textbooks selected by the education authorities were very often aimed at cultural reproduction (see for example IdDenfil, which was removed from circulation in 2007 after more than 30 years, and the religion textbooks Lejn il-Missier). A major criticism by teachers and parents alike was that books that were produced locally did not represent the differences that exist in Maltese society today. Very often, one parent said, pupils are presented with the stereotypical ideal family of 2.4 children, the female role model as a home maker while the male is depicted as the breadwinner. She was critical of the sexist roles assigned to males and females when women are striving so hard for equal status. Therefore the books that the pupils use do not give a true picture of what is happening outside the schools. A study about textbooks in Bolivia also gave similar results and compelled the authors to conclude that education appears to be increasingly remote from reality, and does not enable the learner to face up to the demands of society (Bazn and Gonzles, 1995, p.58). A Maltese primary school teacher aptly described the books as presenting a very limited picture of society:
Il-kotba Maltin Jekk tikkompara textbooks Inglizi, tara l-ismijiet ma jkunux kollha, jien naf, Catholic names, per e\empju, tara Ahmed fuq ktieb. Ta Malta kollha per e\empju mmorru lknisja, jew immorru l-mu\ew, The Maltese booksif you compare with English textbooks you will see that the names wouldnt be all Catholic names, for example, youd see Ahmed. All of the Maltese for example, [present children as] going to church or going to doctrine lessons.

However a number of interviewees pointed out that Maltese literature and history books were replete with anti-Arab, anti-Muslim sentiment and these further encourage negative self-image in Muslim children and youth and also influence the perception of those

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who are not. The Form 1 history textbook Grajjiet Malta (l-ewwel ktieb) (1976), incidentally written by a priest, and which has not been changed since its introduction 30 years ago, can be considered as one of the most politically incorrect textbooks with regard to the depiction of Muslims. Arabs are portrayed as,
ma kinux g]ajr bedwini, ji[ifieri nies li ji[[errew u jg]ixu qalb ir-ramel tadde\ert (p.126)
being nothing but Bedouins, that is,

people who roam around aimlessly and live on the desert sand

The text is littered with such examples, Mawmettani12, described as vindictive:

kienu ]arbtu u kissru xi tempju Malti, they destroyed a Maltese temple,

aktarx g]ax xi w]ud minn missirijietna kisru l-patt(p.136)

probably because some of our forefathers broke the agreement

Furthermore, pages of the textbook can be considered blasphemous due to producing two pictures of Mohammed which is forbidden in Islam. One must note that such a practice is not only present in Maltese textbooks. Halstead (2005) who wrote the section about Muslims and Education in the UK for the EU Monitoring and Advocacy Programme said that some textbooks contain pictures of the Prophet Muhammad. Schools have a responsibility to check the factual accuracy of representations of Islam in the textbooks and library books they use, especially, but not exclusively, in religious education (p.152). One head teacher, who was not an interviewee, but with whom I had informal discussions questioned the reason behind the pictures of Mohammad because images of the prophet have been banned since the inception of the religion and thus those who portrayed Mohammad did so out of ignorance and lack of research. Moreover, Arab rule in Malta is dealt with within the framework of European history.
Il-mi[ja ta l-G]arab Firditna mid12

The arrival of the Arabsseparated us

The term Mawmettani is the corruption of the Italian Moameddo. It connotes the worshippers of Mohammed. Muslims do not subscribe to this term, as Mario Farrugia-Borg explained, because they are not worshippers of Mohammed. Islam means submission to the will of God, and thus Muslims do not follow anyone other than God. He said that this term is normally used by those who want to degrade Islam.

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drawwiet, mit-twemmin u mill-]ajja ta kuljum li konna ]adna mill-Griegi, mirRumani u mill-Insara. (p.126)

from the customs, from the beliefs and everyday life we had acquired from the Greeks, the Romans and the Christians.

Essentially, Arabs are described as cruel, repressive and backward, and presentation of historical facts are from a Christian point of view. As Gagliardi (1995) found when conducting a project on teacher training in a multicultural context, Such material may harm the feelings of pupils from minorities and can reinforce discriminatory conceptions and attitudes (p.6). Josef commented that in history:
Il-Maltin huma n-nies it-tajba, in-nies li g]andhom il-familja, in-nies li j]obbu lill-familja, in-nies li j]obbu l-g]aqda u min [ie jattakka l Malta, spe`jalment jekk huma Musulmani u Torok huma lbaddies. Donnhom dawn mg]andhomx familja, donnhom dawn kull ma jridu li joqtlu, fhimt? Anke per e\empju \mien l-G]arab. Kienu jg]allmuna li San Pawl [ie Malta, ikkonverta l-Maltin kollha u minn dik il[urnata mqaddsa sal-lum il-Maltin minn dejjem kienu fervent Catholics. Illi mhux il-kaz, g]aliex kien hemm perjodu ta mijiet ta snin fl-istorja ta Malta fejn il-Maltin kienu kollha Musulmani. The Maltese are the good one, the ones who have a family, the ones who love their family and the ones who are peace loving. Those who attack Malta, especially the Muslims and the Turks, are the baddies. As if these dont have a family, as if all they want to do is kill. Even in the time of Arab rule, they used to teach us that St Paul came to Malta, converted all the Maltese and from that day onwards, all the Maltese remained fervent Catholics. Which is not the case, because there was a period of hundreds of years where all the Maltese were Muslims.

What this interviewee has said about the depiction and description of Muslims is very much like the Orientalist approach taken by Europeans toward Arabs, as Said (1978) pointed out when reviewing works of authors about the Arab world, we note immediately that the Arab or Arabs have an aura of apartness, definiteness, and collective self-consistency such as to wipe out any traces of individual Arabs with narratable life histories (p.229). The negative representation of Arabs and Muslims is not particular to Maltese textbooks. The report of the Inter-Religious conference Tools for Peace? (2004) mentions a study conducted by Fawzia Al Ashmawi where she found that

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The European textbooks tend to depict Europe as the epicentre of important historical events and are generally silent on the events regarded as landmarks in the history of the Arabs and Islamic nations Since 11 September 2001, there is increasing emphasis in European secondary schools on contemporary Islam. Yet there is distortion of basic tenets. For example, the term Jihad is commonly translated as holy war rather than the spiritual or non-violent physical struggle against evil; the term martyrdom is associated with terrorism and suicide bombers. Both concepts are used to imply Islamic rejection of European modernity with an associated commentary on fundamentalism, fanaticism and the danger of intolerance...this will further fuel misunderstandings and entrench negative images of Muslim people as the other (p.19). The negative representation of Muslims is not only contained in history books as this is also found in Maltese literature. Marcon explained:
Mhux g]ax poe\iji reli[juzi, g]ax anke jien nitkabbar bir-reli[jon tieg]i imma . L-G]anja tar-Reb]a per e\empju, fejn it-Torok huma meqjusin b]ala dawn in-nies ]ziena ]afna, taf kif? Qisek mal-Mislem qisu iktar [lieda kontra r-reli[jon milli [lieda g]all-poter. Li fihom dawn il-poe\iji patrijottizmu, ]a ng]id hekk, reli[juz, mhux nazzjonali. Min ikun Musulman u jkun Malti ]a j]ossu mwarrab g]all-fatt li ``ittadinanza u r-religjon mhemmx g]aqda bejniethom u l-poeta qed jag]mel kundanna kerha fuq ir-reli[jon Islamika Its not the religious poems, because even I am proud of my religion, but LG]anja tar-Reb]a, for example, where the Turks are considered as really evil people. As if where Muslims are concerned it is a war against religion instead of a war for power. These poems contain patriotism which is religious, so to speak not national. Whoever is Muslim and is Maltese would feel marginalized because there is no cohesion between citizenship and religion. Besides the poet is condemning the Islamic religion.

While some poems would now be considered racist and islamophobic one head teacher said that that literature was a product of a particular time in Maltese history and had to be studied within that context.
Importanti li tfiehem lill-istudenti li kollox huwa relattiv. Li dak li qed nara jien mhux bil-fors hija l-verita kollha. Li ]addie]or g]ax ma kellux g]a\la o]ra g]andu d-dritt li jesprimi opinjoni o]ra. Li fil-kaz tal-poezija msemmija (IlBallata ta Katrin ta l-Imdina), l-attitudni li biha inkitbet kienet wa]da Romantika fejn il-Patria tigi l-ewwel u qabel kollox
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It is important to help pupils understand that everything is relative. What I am observing might not necessarily be the whole truth. Others might not have had a choice and has every right to his opinion. In the case of the said poem (Il-Ballata ta Katrin ta l-Imdina), it was written in Romantic style, where the love of ones country comes first and

u g]alhekk min jattakka l-Patria huwa ]azin.

foremost and so who attacks the country is bad.

This view is shared by the Imam, who said that history cannot be rewritten to accommodate one group or another. He said that history has to be taught in a respectful and objective manner and that both sides of the story have to be presented. Gordon (2004) claims that the problem with the way in which history is taught is that generally it is addressed in a way that eliminates all controversy, ambiguity and conflictthese books encourage students to believe that history is just facts to be learned, devoid of any serious debate, clashes of opinions, and opposing values (p.29). When history, is presented as such, whether through history books or other subjects, it is very easy for pupils to get the impression that what they are learning is the whole truth. Lynch and Baker (2005) argue that, Because the values, perspectives and life worlds of dominant groups permeate cultural and institutional norms, members of oppressed groups have their lives interpreted through the lens of the dominant, defined as common sense. Furthermore, they can and do internalize the negative stereotypes to which their group is subjected (p.143). Interviewees commented that apart from portraying Arabs unfavourably, they are paradoxically invisible in the collective memory of the Maltese. Bashir mentioned the fact that In Malta history begins with the Knights. He thinks that very little is said about Arab rule (apart from the negative representations shown above), even though they were in Malta for hundreds of years. This can be considered as social oppression, explain Hardiman and Jackson (1997) who state that one of the key elements of oppression can be identified when The target groups culture, language, and history is misrepresented, discounted, or eradicated and the dominant groups culture is imposed (p.17). This suppression and marginalisation of minority groups through textbooks is not a feature particular to Malta. Jo (2004) examined materials and resources used in classrooms in the USA and had this to say:

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The narratives and lived experiences of Asians and other minorities have been silenced too long in our schools. Children do not have enough access to information about their ancestors, people, culture, and language. In the curriculum, Asian history is overshadowed by White history, Asian experiences have been degraded by White heroic folk tales, and Asian languages have been prohibited and silenced by the dominant English language. Critical examination of textbooks and class materials for their fair representation of diverse ways of knowing, histories, and contributions are imperative to create a multicultural classroom environment (p.24) McCarthy (1992) also notes that It is important to recognise from the outset that textbooks themselves embody relations of representation, production, and consumption that tend more or less to suppress minority identities and reproduce inequalities that exist in society (p.121). Moreover, there seems to be a double bind in the way historical facts are presented. One interviewee commented that during the Second World War no one referred to Hitler and Mussolini as Christians, but the war was between the Axis and the Allies. On the contrary when learning about the Arabs in Malta, Mislem is very often interchangeable with Arab. Thus while in European history, Christianity is only mentioned in a positive light, the same cannot be said for Islam. It is apparent that the method used for teaching these subjects so far, at least according to the experience of these Muslims, has made them feel uncomfortable, as if being Muslim has made them distinct from being Maltese. Unlike the other pupils who do not experience any conflict between their religious and national identity, Muslims are made to feel that they cannot be both. Retaining both identities results in marginalization as the above interviewee said, and to be accepted by their peers

they have to give up or suppress , at least at school, their Muslim identity. However, Young (1990) contends that The rejection and devaluation of one's culture should not be a condition of full participation in social life (p.166). Therefore it is important that Muslim are not made to feel ashamed of their beliefs, as if they have to apologise for their Muslim

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identity and feel they do not deserve to be treated equitably as we have seen in the previous chapter. While history and Maltese literature may contain explicit anti-Islam/Muslim material, other subjects are less radical in their approach. Apparently when Muslims are not in the limelight for their perceived anti-Christian views, they become invisible as other subjects do not incorporate a more inclusive agenda. The educational experience pupils receive certainly influence the way they think and how they regard differences and therefore it is important that the curriculum, subjects and textbooks act as a positive influence and do not build walls instead of bridges. Classrooms are becoming more diverse and therefore Responding to the diverse and varied needs of pupils in the classroom forms one of the biggest challenges currently facing teachers (Bartolo et al. p.307). The final section of this chapter will explore how teachers deal with difference, especially Muslim presence in their classes, and whether they are professionally prepared to promote a learning environment where differences are not regarded as a burden the teacher and pupils have to carry but as an opportunity for growth. 5.3.3 Teachers and diversity in the classroom A diverse and inclusive classroom requires the teacher to be in possession of various pedagogical skills. Apart from skills, however, the teacher needs an open mind, which will allow him or her to look at differences and not be taken aback. I received mixed reactions from the teachers when I asked them about the presence of Muslims in their classrooms. In general, teachers said that they would not find any difficulty in accepting Muslim pupils. In fact only one teacher commented negatively about the presence of Muslims in her class. She said that their presence affected her negatively because they were not well behaved. When asked whether religion had anything to do with that she replied:
Anki ]abba li fir-religjon tag]hom il85

Muslims, according to their religion, are

Musulmani jippermetu Ii t-tfal jing]ataw is-swat b]ala mod ta dixxiplina. Allura dawn kienu jkunu msawtin id-dar u kien ikollhom ]afna rabja fil-klassi u kienu ji\vogaw fuq tfal o]ra.Mhux anke l-mara jsawtu?

allowed to beat their children as a form of discipline. Therefore these children, used to be beaten at home and they used to have a lot of pent up anger which they would take out on other childrenThey even beat their wife, dont they?

When probed about how she had come to these conclusions about Islam and Muslim behaviour she replied that she had heard it from others. It is evident that her views were influenced by media coverage of criminal acts13 and by widespread stereotyping of Muslims as irrational and violent. This teachers behaviour is similar to Jones (1976, cited in

Townsend, 2002) findings that teachers often maintain perceptions of minority students that are more negative than those maintained for white students (p. 730). Such a

statement is very true, at least for this particular teacher as the following comments show:
Jiena e\empju din is-sena g]andi tifel iswed fil-klassi i\da assolutament ma tag]milx differenza g]ax imrobbi millMaltin imma. Jien na]seb ikun mrobbi minn ommu u missieru ta veru na]seb jkun differenti it-tifel hux.... For example this year I have a black boy in class but it makes absolutely no difference because hes being brought up by Maltese people. I think that if he were brought up by his real parents, he would be a different boy

The boy is considered white because he is adopted by a Maltese family and therefore his skin colour is of no consequence. She is assuming that he is well behaved because he is living in a different culture. In both instances (about Muslims and this black boy) she has associated different cultures with anti-social behaviour, persisting in the essentialist approach to Muslims and Blacks. Such attitudes can only be attributed to ignorance and none of the other teachers displayed such overt racist attitudes. What all the teachers said was that they are not prepared to cope with diversity in the classroom. They acknowledge that while it can be an enriching experience for the pupils

13

For example, newspapers report about men who beat their wife are often qualified by mentioning the nationality if the man is Libyan/Arab but not when the man is Maltese.

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and the teachers, they do not have the necessary skills to cope. When questioned about diversity in the classroom, one of the teachers said:
Nie]du qatg]a, fil-verita. G]ax ma]niex ippreparati. Mhux g]ax ma nixtiquhiex, imma g]ax ma]niex ippreparati g]aliha, la psikologikamnet u lanqas professjonalment, kif ng]allmu. Ma]niex ppreparati hux. It would be a shock, to tell you the truth. Because we are not prepared. Not because we do not want it, but because we are not prepared for it, neither psychologically not professionally. We are not prepared

This teacher, who has been teaching for eighteen years said that she has never attended a course about diversity in the classroom and at University the only credit they had was about the different types of disabilities that exist. Therefore, teachers apprehensiveness is justified because limited knowledge and understanding of diversity leads to: a lack of confidence and a fear of getting things wrong. It is argued that, while some teachers want to understand diverse cultures so they can promote cross-cultural understanding within an overarching framework of more democratic values, this quest for understanding is sometimes underpinned by fear of the unknown(Maylor, Read, Mendick, Ross and Rollock ,2007, p.26) The authors claim that this happens particularly when teachers live in a monocultural environment and have little knowledge and experience of diversity. It must be also noted, though, that teachers did lack the initiative to participate in courses dealing with racism in schools, which was offered as part of in-service training last year as well as a course that was offered this year about intercultural education. Both these courses had to be cancelled because not enough teachers showed interest in attending. Conclusion In view of all that I have written above, Muslim parents are very wary about sending their children to state schools. Many in fact do not but others do not have any alternative. It is clear that how Muslims are represented as well as how they are rendered invisible by the curriculum in schools and by everyday discourse in society, find it difficult to reconcile

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their identity as Maltese with that as Muslim. Other issues such as racism and islamophobia also play their part in the Muslims conscious choice to remain unseen and unheard. However, this is not done to isolate but to protect themselves as we shall see in the next chapter which will address reasons for sending Muslim children to Mariam al Batool, the only Islamic school in Malta. The funding of this school will also be discussed.

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Chapter 6

The school and the state: A struggle for justice

The previous two chapters gave an account of the experiences of Muslims in Maltese society. The third chapter provided narratives of Muslims as they go about in their daily lives in a country that portrays itself as a bastion of Catholicism, where there is an overt hostility against Arabs in general and Libyans in particular. The fourth chapter gave an indication of how the curriculum portrays the Catholic worldview as if it is the only way in which one can become an accomplished and worthy citizen who can contribute to the well being of society. Through these two chapters it transpired that Muslims feel marginalized because as a religious group they are simultaneously ignored and maligned. For this reason a good number of Muslims believe that as schools are a mirror of society, they need to protect their children from biases and prejudices that exist within them. The only way in which they can provide their children with a more Muslim-friendly educational setting is by sending their children to Mariam Albatool, the only Islamic school in Malta. Therefore many parents do not regard this as a choice but, as Marcon explained, it is an obligation towards their children. It must be noted, however, that this is a fee-paying school which is not supported by the state. Therefore, as state schools do not provide religious education for these Muslim pupils, those who wish that their children are taught Islam have no other option but to pay for their childrens education. On the other hand while Muslim parents might wish to send their children to the school, financial constraints might not allow them to do so.

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This chapter will focus on two issues. The first part will examine the reasons for sending children to Mariam Albatool. In the second section attention will be directed on the funding of the school. A: Mariam Albatool A school for Muslims 6.1 The formation of an Islamic identity As I accentuated in the preceding chapter, schools are sites were pupils are guided in developing their identity. However, the way in which Maltese state schools project their mission and position their institutional identity as being Catholic - cause problems to Muslim pupils in developing their Islamic identity. According to Amor (2001) Religious education is a contributing factor to the shaping up of one's identity (par.37). Therefore while parents did not condemn state schools for not presenting pupils with the Muslim perspective of life because they said that they are too small a minority, at the same time they feel that their children are entitled to an education which conforms to their beliefs. In fact all the parents who sent their children to Mariam Albatool mentioned the importance of learning Islam and in being brought up in an Islamic culture. One mother said that her children attend a state school but would have liked to send them to Mariam Albatool but could not afford to do so. There was only one couple- Maria and Bashir - who opted to send their son to another private school. Their primary reason for opting for this particular school was that as their elder son used to attend this school, and so they were sure that this school offered a good educational programme. Moreover, they said that they believed that their son has to learn to respect others who are different and his friends at school must learn to do the same. I got the impression that unlike the other parents they do not feel that their sons Muslim identity will be affected by the schools non-Muslim

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environment. It could also be that they are more secular and their identity as Muslims is regarded as a private matter. One reason for this could be that the mother is not Muslim and therefore certain norms and behaviour that might not be accepted in a totally Muslim environment are taken for granted in this home. On the contrary the other parents said that they did not have much contact with other Muslims in everyday life, as their extended family and neighbours, for example were not Muslims. Therefore the Islamic school was the only place apart from home where children could be nurtured in an Islamic culture. Josef said:

Jiena rridu jitg]allem reli[jon jitg]allem l-Islam. Allura hija g]a\la naturali, apparti illi jien nemmen ukoll li fl-iskola ta l-Islamic Centre it-tifel jitla fkultura Islamika. Ji[ifieri mhux biss li jitg]allem l-Islam minn fuq il-Koran imma jitla fkultura Islamika. Jitla - I[ib ru]u ta Musulman, g]ax l-Islam mhux sempli`iment reli[jon imma its a way of life.

I want him to learn religion learn Islam. Therefore, it is a natural choice, apart from the fact that I believe that at the school at the Islamic Centre my son is brought up in an Islamic culture. That is, not only will he learn Islam from the Quran but will grow up in an Islamic culture hell behave as Muslim, because Islam is not simply a religion but a way of life.

When asked to elaborate on what he means by Islamic way of life he said:

Per e\empju, l-iskola Islamika, it-tfal jieqfu mil-lezzjoni meta jkun sar il-]in tat-talb u jid]lu jsallu. Dan jippreparahom biex meta jikbru jag]mlu l-istess. Barra minn hekk, affarijiet li fil-kultura tal-punent huma normali, g]alina huma projbiti. Per e\empju, li \-\g]a\ag] jitilg]u Paceville, jixorbu l-alcohol, jo]or[u ma' tfajla jew [uvni u jkun hemm relazzjoni sesswali mill-ewwel, din mhix parti mill-kultura u l-identita' ta' xi ]add Musulman. Li tifla ta' 13-il sena tg]atti xag]arha hija xi ]a[a stramba imma hija obbligatorja fuq tifla Musulmana.
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For example, at the Islamic school, children pause from lessons when it is time for prayer. This prepares them so that when they grow up they would continue to do so. Besides, some things in Western culture are prohibited for us. For example, youths go to Paceville, drink alcohol, date and have sexual relations- this is not part of the culture and identity of a Muslim. A thirteen year old girl covering her hair might seem strange but it is something obligatory for a Muslim girl.

These statements might imply that parents were in favour of segregated schools and in truth they did allude to as much. The thoughts expressed by Josef echo those of British Muslim parents as Parker Jenkins (2002) found: Muslim schools provide for parents who feel their children are caught in a situation of culture clash, whereby the whole ethos of British state schools and educational policy is seen as inconsistent with their way of life(p.8). Rath, Penninx, Groenendijk and Meyer, (2001, p.222) cite Leman et al.(1992, p.63) who report of similar findings in Belgium .

However there were a multitude of reasons for opting for the Islamic school. The reason given by this parent that of cultivating the Islamic identity, is only one of them and the concern expressed is found in all non-Muslim countries. For example, Mihara (2005), in his study of Islamic schools in the Netherlands quotes from school guidelines of Islamic schools:

School administration shall be carried out with the Quran and Sunnah at its foundationWhat is important for identity is that children grow up in a place where there is a relationship with Allah and the people around them. In other words, while paying respect to the society in which we live, it is necessary to form an environment in which to live in accordance with the values, norms, and rules of Islam(p.10). Besides from a study conducted by the Open Society Institute for the EU Monitoring and Advocacy Programme in 2005 it has transpired that British Muslims are also concerned that in state schools there is no support for Muslim childrens Islamic identity (p.106) and that Islamic schools help Muslim children to develop and retain their Muslim identity (p.131-2). One of the main difficulties the Muslim community in Malta seems to come across is that unless it strives hard to preserve and protect its identity, Muslims could easily be assimilated. Parents reiterated that the school is the only place apart from home where they are in an Islamic environment. On the other hand, Hana said that if the situation here was similar to the UK, she might consider sending them to a state school
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 Yes I would. For example, I know that in the UK in some areas you find that people are predominantly of one race or religion. Obviously people have come from different countries for whatever reasons and you know there could be many generations and they tend to move together in groups because they experience racism and they feel safety in numbers. And because of this, sort of large communities have built up of a particular race or a particular religion. And because of that, then youll find the schools in that area, even though theyre normal state schools there you may find that there are large minorities of Muslim children. In some schools youll find the majority of children in a particular school would be Muslim. At the same time she said that while such schools might be more sensitive to their needs, they would miss out on Arabic, Islamic studies, Koranic education. Theyd miss having holidays, arranged holidays for our Muslim feasts, theyd miss out on all of those things As state schools do not celebrate any feasts other than Christian ones, the Muslim pupils identity would be more vulnerable. Wardekker and Siebren (2001) insist that the curriculum should contribute directly to identity development. The previous chapter has provided ample evidence that the curriculum in state schools only provides for the development of one identity. The above authors state that when cultural meanings that are not exactly in accordance with the cultural and religious convictions of the school are excluded A homogeneous "we" culture is constituted by positioning all dishomogeneous elements in an opposing "they" culture. Intercultural communication is blocked, and potential possibilities for teaching and learning are thus restricted. Feelings of cultural superiority as well as anxiety can be the driving force for this process of exclusion(par 15). Other parents interviewed said that if the state offered the option of the Islamic religion in state schools, they would consider sending their children there, if only to reduce the financial burdens private education entails. At the same time, given the attitude of some Maltese towards them (as described in Chapter 3), there is a certain fear that their children will be victimized. Hana, who had lived in England, Spain and Australia before coming to Malta said that she and her husband opted for Mariam Albtool,
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because we did not want our children to find any difficulties to make friendsAnd also because in all the countries weve lived, which is also true in Malta, we know that we are a minority group and we know that our children will find it difficult to find things in common with some of the other children. Daun and Arjmand (2005) quote the Helsinki Federation of Human Rights surveys which show that the majority of Muslim parents would enroll their children in a Muslim school if they had such an option. (p.406). As can be seen, Maltese parents are not alone in their pursuit to develop the Muslim identity of their children. During the primary education cycle children might not be mature enough to understand the implications of racial and religious differences. However as they grow older pupils become more conscious of differences and as Shah (2006) notes, this Awareness of identity takes shape in the unsympathetic, rather cruel (Macpherson, 1999), adolescent world of secondary schools, where the dominant values, practices, assumptions and even the wider relevance of national curriculum to ethnicities, all become challenged overtly or covertly, making the educational sites locations for the interplay of competing notions and discourses (Foucault, 1977, 1980) (p.217). For this reason, many parents, especially parents of girls, felt that sending their children to Mariam Albatool was imperative if their children were to grow with a positive self-image, without having to deal with prejudice, and as one parent said, without having to answer to the acts of terrorism committed by others. 6.2 Difference and Racism

The previous chapters substantiate the statement that Muslim children are stereotyped and often marginalized, especially when there is evidence of their Muslim identity (such as an Arab surname or wearing hijab). Parents are afraid that if their children attend a state school their Muslim identity would single them out and as one head teacher said
Na]seb tant a]na drajna, tlajna b]ala kattolici nsara, allura meta naraw xi ]add differnti minna in]ossuha b]ala
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I think that we have become so used to being brought up as Catholics, that when we see someone different we

theddida. Meta nu\a l-kelma differenti, mhux differenti ejja ara s-sabi] ta inti hekk u jien hekk, imma differenti li nwarrbek

find it threatening. When I use the word different, it is not lets look at the positive side of our differences, but youre different so I want nothing to do with you .

The intolerance to difference, not only to Muslims but also to other religious groups was also recalled by Marcon, who when still at school was not yet Muslim: I remember children of the Jehovah faith were mistreated in school by Catholic children, maybe unintentionally, but these children were shunned, had nobody to play with during breaks, and lack of knowledge about different faiths led to vicious backbiting. It seems that the Maltese education system, in presenting the pupils with just a single religious option and a single vision of what constitutes the good life is creating rifts when it is supposed to be preparing the grounds for social cohesion. Those interviewed, as reported in the preceding chapter, said that teachers are not prepared to address issues of diversity in class and this reflects on their practices. Others said that the educational system, exclusive and competitive as it is, leaves teachers and pupils little time to dwell on difference. As a teacher said, the system encourages pupils and teachers to conform rather than question, to assimilate rather than to acknowledge diversity and consider it as a positive element a far cry from encouraging participants to cross their mental and cultural borders as suggested by Borg and Mayo (2006, p.145). Racism was another reason for choosing Mariam Albatool. All the parents

interviewed were either foreigners or else married to a foreigner. Moreover, it seems that Muslims experience prejudice twice over as this Muslim parent said: I think that here in Malta, if people see youre a Muslim then they think that youre an Arab or a Libyan. And so you get this prejudice against you unfortunately and not just because of your religion but because of your race. And I think that most people dont have to have to look at what is different. If you are happy and comfortable in your environment and youre in the majority, theres no reason for you to have any understanding.

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What this parent said is very significant in more ways than one. First, she said that majorities do not find any need to understand minorities and modify their ways of thinking. Perhaps they think that it is up to those who are different to adapt if they want to be accepted. Rose a secondary school teacher, for example, did not agree that state schools should allow Muslim girls to wear hijab. She also said:
Jien ma tog][obnix sa barra. Anke per e\empju li jne]]u s-salib mill-klassi. G]aliex min]abba tnejn irridu nne]]u s-salib? I do not really agree. Even, for example, removing the cross from classrooms. Why should we remove the cross because of two (pupils)? .

Rose was not alone in her reluctance to accept Muslim pupils wearing hijab in schools. Many excuses were brought up, such as non-conformity with the school uniform. More significant is her question as this is exactly what Hana referred to above. I have to say that none of the Muslims interviewed showed any desire that crosses should be removed from classrooms where there are Muslim pupils, in fact they were against the idea. I think the issue here is not whether the cross should be removed or not but whether schools, teachers and pupils are prepared to adapt to accommodate differences. John, a head teacher said that if schools believe in social justice, teachers and pupils must learn to hurt a little to accommodate others. De Groof and Lauwers (2002) in their paper about education policy and the law, claim that both minority groups and mainstream society must adapt. This requires strong efforts to fight prejudice and discrimination and even some modification of the institutions of the dominant culture (p.12).

Therefore the practice of providing a service in schools aimed at the majority with disregard to minorities is considered by Young (1990) as structural oppression whose causes are embedded in unquestioned norms, habits, and symbols, in the assumptions underlying institutional rules and the collective consequences of following these rules (p.

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41). Due to structural oppression, some groups Muslims in our case - suffer deep injustices as a consequence of the often unconscious assumptions and reactions of well-meaning people in ordinary interactions, media and cultural stereotypes, and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies and market mechanisms in short the normal processes of everyday life (p.41). The second important point this parent made was about racism. There seemed to be a consensus among those interviewed that Maltese society was generally racist and these attitudes do not disappear as soon as teachers and pupils go through the school gates. Racism, though, might not be overt. As one head of school said, there is another type of racism, where the pupils race gets the blame for every action of the child:
U dik g]ax G]arbija ma kitbitlix tajjeb, g]alhekk qed i[[ibli l-pitazz im]an\er. She did not write well because she is an Arab, thats why her copybook is untidy. .

According to Tator and Henry (2000) such discourse is not just a symptom or sign of the presence of racism but rather it essentially constructs, reproduces and transmits the racist beliefs and actions of the White majority (par. 1). They also state that Racialized discourse is a set of social practices that favours the ingroup and denigrates the out-group, categorizing, evaluating and differentiating between groups(par. 4) , and I think that we have seen a number of examples of such discourse throughout these last chapters. One of the heads of school was very concerned because she said that such an attitude would be hindering these children from learning and maximizing their potential, because they are never corrected as their mistakes and carelessness are attributed to their

race/religion/cultural background rather than to the fact that they might not have understood a concept.

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6.3 Peer Pressure and Peer Support Parents decided to send their children to Mariam Albatool because they felt that their children would feel more secure in a school that transmits their religious beliefs because then their children would feel less pressure to conform to non-Muslim lifestyles. We wanted to make sure that our children have the opportunity to make Muslim friends, not exclusively Muslim friends, but we wanted to make sure that they could make Muslim friends. And the best way we thought they could do this was to go to a Muslim school. That way, they would have friends who understand about fasting, they understand that we dont celebrate Christmas and we do celebrate Eid and all the other things such is dating isnt acceptable, and things like that. Mariam Albatool was therefore the natural choice for parents because there the children would be able to socialize with other children who shared their beliefs and Muslim way of life. Many parents pointed out that for girls it was particularly important to attend such a school because wearing hijab there would only make them one of a crowd. Therefore this school provides the necessary support for these children both in terms of understanding certain needs (such as when fasting during Ramadan) but also in terms of fitting in as one parent said. Parents said that the media portrays Muslims in such a negative light and this might affect their childrens self image, especially in an environment where there is lack of understanding of what being a true Muslim is. Therefore, at Mariam Albatool she will be safe from these misconceptions. She will not need to equate herself with others in terms of worth.(Marcon). ,Shadid and van Koningsveld (1992) in their study about Dutch Islamic schools considered that attending such a school would strengthen the pupils selfconfidence resulting in better social positions and integration into Dutch society(p.107). The Imam, expressed a similar opinion when he stated that one of the aims of the school is for Muslims not to be isolated but to mix and to integrate in society while maintaining their own identity. We also want to promote a sense of belonging to the country, a sense of loyalty and citizenship (Schembri, 2004).
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Attending an Islamic school would also provide the pupils with a circle of friends that would not exert pressure to lead a different way of life. Parents were afraid that if their children attended mainstream schools they would be pressured into conforming to the youth culture prevalent in the schools. Parents did not say that those attending mainstream schools were immoral but they simply chose to live differently. These differences would become more pronounced when children start secondary schools and as they grow older the pressure is bound to increase as this parent said, We know that as life goes on they will find it increasingly difficult if they dont have friends who have things in common with themwhen it comes to drinking, going to clubs, dating, and these things are not acceptable to us. They then may find they are subject to more peer pressure than children already are; its massively strong, especially in high school. Yes we were afraid that the children would find it difficult to get on with their studies and fit in comfortably and concentrate on their studies if there were too many other conflicts. Parents feared that if their children attended a mainstream school, they would come across all kinds of conflicts which would put their Muslim identity to test. When children are young friendships are very important and being accepted as one of the crowd is the ultimate goal of every teenager. One way of becoming part of a group is to become like them and parents are cautious and concerned about their children assimilating and forfeiting their Muslim identity. Angelides, Stylianou and Leigh (2004) in their case study about immigrant pupils in Cypriot schools found that one Muslim girl went out of her way to be inconspicuous: Growing up on the monocultural educational diet of Cypriot schools, Drosostalida seems to feel that the eyes of the rest of the children look at her through the prism of stereotypes they acquire from their education. In this way she chooses to move towards conformity and full assimilation because this will save her from contempt and pity (p.310). Giving up part of ones identity in order to survive in an educational system, or else suffer racist, Islamophobic bullying by peers and the institution itself are not conducive to tranquil and stress free education. Children attend schools to learn, to acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes to become good citizens (NMC, p.47).
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Considering the context of Maltese

mainstream schools, the attitude that exists towards Muslims and Arabs, and the difficulties Muslims encounter when attending these schools, it is hard to envisage how Muslim pupils can grow into productive citizens in such a hostile environment. One solution has been the opening of the Islamic school, which offers an environment which is free from religious prejudice, Muslim and Arab stereotyping and which provides a curriculum which is similar to the NMC but is also in line with the beliefs and needs of its Muslim pupils. This environment is much nearer in providing the quality of condition as expounded upon by Lynch and Baker and which I referred to in the previous chapter. For this reason, this Muslim school should be open to all Muslims and not only to those who can afford to pay. It is understandable, however, that there are financial constraints that necessitate the payment of fees, thus excluding those who wish to send their children to this school but cannot afford to do so. B: A State Supported Islamic School A minority right? 6.4 Minority Rights The debate about minority rights has a fairly recent history in Maltese society. The first group to contest the hegemony of universality was the National Commission for Persons with Disability and very recently we have seen the Malta Gay Rights Movement lobbying for legislation in favour of same sex unions among other things. The Muslim community has remained very much in the background and has not made its demands publicly as the above organizations have done. However, they have met the Authorities to discuss the funding of Mariam Albatool as the Imam confirmed:
G]amilna application u tkellimna kemm il-darba. Il-gvern ma qalx le imma qalilna li mg]andhomx budget. Ilproblema li g]andna a]na hi li qed iqisu l-iskola b]ala independent school, private school u jittrattaw l-iskola tag]na b]al skejjel inidpendenti li ma jir`evux subsidy mill-gvern. Imma liskola tag]na hija differenti. Dawk l100

We applied and spoke a number of times. The government did not say no, but said that there is no budget allotted. Our problem is that the authorities are considering our school as an independent school, a private school and they treat our school as the other independent schools which do not receive state subsidy. But our school is

iskejjel ma jipprovdux xi ]a[a differenti minn tal-gvern jew anke mill-iskejjel talknisja. Imma a]na noffru su[[etti li mhux mg]allmin fl-iskejjel tal-gvern, allura a]na qed nag]mlu x-xog]ol talgvern.

different. Those schools do not provide anything different from state or church schools. But we offer subjects that are not taught in state schools and so we are doing the states job.

Apparently, the state recognises the Muslim community and in some ways it seems to be aware of its particular needs. For example, it allows ritual slaughter and has granted permission for the building of a 500 grave cemetery. On the other hand, where educational matters are concerned, the state does not grant any special rights to Muslims. The head of school explained that the school is asking the state for at least partial funding but they have not had any positive results as yet. It is also pertinent to note that the school is considered as an NGO, meaning that the state does recognise its important role in the Muslim community. However, while the government can decide to pay the salary of the public officer on secondment with NGOs, the head of school who fills that role, has always been paid by the school. No explanation has been forthcoming as to how this decision has been arrived at and discussions are still going on, with the hope that some agreement is reached. The position of the Islamic school in Malta contrasts sharply with that of Islamic schools in other countries which also have a state religion. In the United Kingdom, calls for state funded Islamic schools have been present since the 1970s (Rath et al., 2001, p.246). Today some Islamic schools have been granted state funding although not without struggles. In 1998, the first two schools Al-Furqan primary school in Birmingham and Islamia Primary school in the Brent district of London were given the official status of Voluntary-Aided schools (Cesari, 2004; Rath et al., 2001). According to Modood (2006), there are now five state funded Islamic schools. In Denmark, religious communities can establish private schools and if they meet the set guidelines for curriculum and practice the state funds up to 85% of the budget. Therefore, while, like Malta, these countries have a state religion, unlike

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Malta, they have recognised the rights of the minorities within them and have granted them equal rights as other schools. As I explained in Chapter 4, mainstream education does not give Muslim children space to develop their identity as Muslim citizens with the possibility that they become alienated from the educational process. For this reason, the Muslim community is asking the state to acknowledge their different educational needs and grant them the means that would enable all Muslims who wish to send their children to an Islamic school to do so without having to shoulder the financial burden. Loobuyck (2005), citing Kymlickas(1995) arguments about minority rights states that group differentiated rights are based upon the idea that justice between groups requires that the members of different groups be accorded different rights(p. 115). Kymlicka and Norman (2000) contend that as difference-blind institutions implicitly lean towards the interests of the majority, the adoption of certain minority rightshelps to remedy the disadvantages that minorities suffer within differenceblind institutions and in doing so promotes fairness (p.4). Tariq Ramadan, however, does not subscribe to the idea of minorities. In an interview he gave to Rosemary Bechler (2004) he said that When you live in the European landscape and come to understand its social fabric, you are not a minority citizen. You are, simply, a citizen When I call for social justice to remove racism and discrimination from European societies, I am invoking majority not minority values There is no such thing as a minority answer and a different majority answer. We have to speak as citizens (p.3). Thus, according to Ramadan, the state should not differentiate between one being a member of a minority or majority group. If one is a citizen, one should be granted the rights that would best allow one to fulfill the role of citizen. The Netherlands, recognising that all citizens are equal has accommodated Muslims by funding Islamic schools (Modood and Kastoryano,2006, p.176).

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The Muslim community is requesting that recognition and support should come first and foremost from the state. The Imam said that it is important that the state finances the school
Biex jin]oloq dak ir-rispett Mhux unwanted, irridukom u rridu ng]inukom To create that respectnot unwanted, we want you and we want to help you

By funding the school, the state would be legitimizing its presence and such a gesture, termed symbolic by Kymlicka and Norman (2000) can have profound and continuing effects within a political culture in ways that directly affect the well-being and self-respect of citizens of minority cultures, as well as their enthusiasm to participate in the political life of the larger state (p.29). The Imam, in the above quote is very clear the Muslim community does not want to be simply tolerated but it wants support both in the public and private sphere. Modood (2006), argues that our basic concept of civil rights or civic equality has been supplemented by the concept of equality as difference, by the right to have ones difference recognized and supported in the public sphere (p.39). Therefore, building on Modoods argument, Muslims will regard themselves as equal to other Maltese when the Maltese government recognizes their different educational needs and contributes towards addressing those needs, in this particular case- the funding of Mariam Albatool. Muslims are asking for justice, even if it requires the state to rethink its universal principles of the term. Young (2005) contends that to remove unjust inequality it is necessary explicitly to recognize group difference and either compensate for disadvantage, revalue some attributes, positions or actions, or take special steps to meet needs and empower members of disadvantaged groups (p.1). Moreover, in doing so, the state would be influencing public opinion and this might lead to a more accepting attitude towards Muslims.

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6.5 Social justice and education

The state is not legally discriminating against parents who send their children to this Islamic school because they receive the tax rebate as all those who send their children to private schools do. Neither is it prohibiting Muslim children from attending state schools and therefore one could argue that the state is being just by providing education for all. However, Webster Brandon (2003) refers to such a model of justice as a liberal-democratic form of distributive justice. According to Webster Brandon, In the distributive view of social justice, all children, no matter their race, class, gender, ethnicity, or exceptionality, would be seen as having the same basic needs in terms of education (p.41). However, one could argue that the state is discriminating against the Muslim minority because it is not being provided with adequate educational measures that are compatible with its religious beliefs. The stance taken by the state is very similar to that of France vis--vis cultural and religious difference. Jackson Preece (2008) refers to France as a devoutly assimilationist democracy(p.611) because public law prohibits distinctions between citizens on grounds of religion, culture, ethnicity, race and national origins on the pretext that universal individual rights are enough for a just society. Similarly the Maltese government is not making any distinction between the Islamic school, which was founded because the state was not providing adequate educational provisions for Muslims, and the other independent schools. Young (1990) regards the distributive model of justice, the so called equality of opportunity as actually being unjust. She criticizes the concept of equal opportunities as she regards opportunity as a concept of enablement. She writes: A person has opportunities if he or she is not constrained from doing things, and lives under the enabling conditions for doing them (p.26). Therefore, Muslim children cannot be considered as having equality of

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opportunity in the first place. Many parents said that in mainstream schools, Muslim children, being such a small minority, are bound to be marginalized and that is not conducive to learning and developing their potential. Consequently, they have to attend Mariam Albatool to be in a more welcoming environment, and thus they can concentrate on their education more. However, the state is not providing the possibility to all Muslims to have better education because it does not finance the Islamic school. Apart from providing what one teacher described a mediocre educational experience, the state is being doubly unjust with Muslims. Every citizen is bound to pay taxes, irrespective of ones religious affiliations. Therefore, argues Modood (2007), Can parents, as associations of religious citizens, not set up their own schools, and should those schools not be supported out of the taxes of the same parents? (p. 77). Muslim parents can be considered as victims of a great injustice, then, because while they dutifully pay their taxes and they have no real options when deciding on a school for their children, proving that equality of opportunity is actually a myth. Conclusion In many European countries, Muslims have formed associations and groups so that they would be able to ask for particular rights. The Maltese Muslim community is perhaps too small to make any significant political pressure. However, the state is not morally justified to ignore the community just because the number of Muslims is small. Governments are elected by all citizens and for all citizens and therefore the rights of minorities should not be put on a back burner. This chapter has clearly shown that Muslim parents send their children to Mariam Albatool because they have no choice. Their Islamic identity would be compromised if children attend state, church or independent schools. Most of the parents do not want

their children to be isolated from the rest of society and so many of their children participate
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in extra curricular activities, such as sports, crafts and scouts after school hours. Nevertheless, they believe that an Islamic school is the best option as their children will have the necessary support to be able to resist peer pressure when they are older. Marcon is very adamant in her position in favour of faith schools:

This country created the need for schools of different faiths to be founded, as it hates anything that does not conform to its rules Malta has a very intolerant culture towards anything that is different, and these schools help children to find their own niche, be safe and happy, as well as prepared to face discrimination by strengthening their faith. Marcon has expressed her fears in these few lines. Parents do not want their children to be victimised and ostracised due to their faith and culture. The only school which ensures that this will not happen is Mariam Albatool and it is up to the state to guarantee that all students are provided with the right environment for learning.

Young (2005) in her argument about politics of cultural difference states that that public accommodation to and support of cultural difference is compatible with and even required by just institutions (p.2). Thus, in the case of Mariam Albatool, justice does not entail entitlement to tax rebates for parents, neither does justice translate in according this school the same status as other independent schools because the philosophy behind the setting up of this school is entirely different from the other independent schools. The latters elite status excludes children who come from families with low income and who do not fall within the middle and upper middle class strata. On the other hand, Mariam Albatool is a faith school, not an elite educational setting. It charges fees not because it wants to distance itself from the lower streams of society but because it is necessary for its survival. The schools administration called on the state to subsidise Mariam Albatool precisely to become a more inclusive school which is not the case of other independent schools.
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Chapter 7

Synthesis
The hegemonic culture of Maltese society has habitually allowed little space for debate with regards to the qualities that compose the identity of a Maltese citizen. As could be seen throughout the dissertation, the general assumption is that Maltese citizens are white, heterosexual and Catholic, they apparently share the same Christian values and identify with European culture. Hussain and Bagguley (2005) regard this vision of citizenship as exclusionary and creating social divisions as much as providing the means to overcome them (p.409). It is exclusionary because those who do not conform to this image are considered as the Other even if they enjoy the universal individual citizen rights. On the other hand, these same rights can be employed, at least in theory, to surmount any existing inequalities. This liberal view of citizenship, referred to as one size fits all citizenship by Kymlicka (cited in Pawley, 2008, p.597), while supporting equality among citizens, does not provide for just practices (refer to Young, 1990, 2005). 7.1 Recognition and rights of minorities Representative democracies, as in the case of Malta, may preclude the meaningful participation of minorities. The number of Maltese Muslims is relatively insignificant in the context of political representation and thus it might be difficult for them to garner support for particular rights. For example there is a marked difference in the way the government has dealt with a parents foundation who wanted to build a school at L-Imselliet, even if the area chosen was on pristine land outside the development zone14, and how it addressed the

14

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/05/14/editorial.html

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issue of the funding of Mariam Albatool. In both instances, the argument for the right of children to education was put forward, but while the government gave in to the parents foundation it has not yet given heed to the Muslims request. Of course, the foundation was much more powerful and influential than the Muslims even though all have the same rights as citizens. Clearly, the government showed more concern for the interests of the majority, which according to Karayanni (2007) is an inevitable reality in democratic societies (p.42). Thus it can be argued that such liberal approaches to democracy can be translated as the tyranny of the majority and the outcomes of decisions may actually turn out to be flawed and morally undemocratic even though the decisions would be considered just in terms of legislation. It is apparent that universal rights alone do not establish justice. Conventional human rights do not take into consideration a persons or a groups ethnic, cultural or religious background, for example, and thus are not able to attend to persons or groups needs that arise from being different. Muslims in Malta find themselves in this exact predicament. By applying the equality as sameness principle, the government is not recognising their differences and thus it is not responsive to their demands as a minority. Therefore, it has not accepted their request for subsidising or funding Mariam Albatool. It can thus be argued that Muslims autonomy and ability to determine the type of education their children ought to receive is hampered by the external authority imposed by the state that does not recognise that culture is a factor that gives shape and content to individual freedom (Raz, 1994, p.72, cited in Boran, 2003, p.231). As a religious minority, Muslims are aware of the homogenising effect of the majority culture. As they wish their children to be nurtured in an Islamic culture, and learn Islam (which is not offered in mainstream schools) they have to send them to Mariam Albatool. Their aim is not to

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segregate the children but to protect them and preserve their identity until they are old enough and psychologically and morally strong enough to cope with societal pressure. Granting recognition of difference and endorsing Muslims right to the appropriate educational environment which is consistent with their beliefs would be the socially just course of action. In doing so, the government would be investing in the children who are more liable to become more accomplished citizens, if they spend their school years in an environment that respects them and values them. 7.2 Revising the curriculum In a pluralist and diverse society education is crucial for social cohesion because school systems are the earliest institutions which contribute to the socialisation process. Therefore, the extent to which schools respect diversity and accommodate different needs of the pupils sends out strong messages about the value that society places on diversity. These messages, in turn, influence pupils attitudes towards diversity. This study has shown that the Maltese curriculum imbued as it is with Catholic influence and its presentation of a single Maltese identity, supports tribalism and nationalistic solidarity through fostering negative attitudes towards others (Hull, 2000). The curriculum, in its presentation of

citizenship through a Eurocentric and Christian worldview does not leave space for those whose religious identities differ from the mainstream but are nevertheless Maltese citizens. Muslim pupils have to bear the brunt of an inadequate curriculum that roots for the celebration of diversity on paper and insists on conformity in practice. In encouraging the pupils to conform, the curriculum reinforces the prestige and dominance of one particular culture and set of knowledge. In turn it produces passive, disempowered citizens, content to receive decisions made by others. Democracy in education, on the other hand, encourages participation and supports pupils as they participate in the democratic process.
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Justice in education requires a

curriculum that is representative of and inclusive of the diversities that exist within the schools and society. For example, the curriculum empowers pupils when it allows them to identify themselves as Maltese albeit with different religious identities without making differences more prominent than commonalities (Cockrell, Placier, Cockrell, Middleton, 1999), when it combats racism and islamophobia, and when it is a curriculum that allows for critical education rather than encouraging reproduction of knowledge. In this way the curriculum can bring about social change because as adults, the pupils would be equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to challenge the injustices in society. Maltese Muslims, then, would be less willing and resigned to accept the status quo and would be more vocal in their demands for justice in their regards. 7.2.1 Education across the board One must keep in mind that the curriculum is shaped by the organisational imperatives of the schools and the educational system as well as by the skills of teachers. Teachers have an important role to play in transforming the aims of policies into effective practice. Therefore they have to be adequately trained to be able to address diversity

issues without feeling threatened. Pre-service and in-service training is necessary to help prospective teachers and veteran ones become more confident in dealing with diversity in a pluralistic and democratic society. Before helping their pupils become caring and reflective citizens, teachers have to develop reflective, cultural, national and global identifications themselves (Banks, 2001). 7.3 Justice, democracy and education The transformation of the curriculum would be difficult to accomplish unless we rethink the meaning of democracy. Liberal, representative democracy does not sustain empowered citizens and its egalitarian ideology has not brought about social justice. A more robust view of democracy would be one that also includes social rights, apart from political
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and civil ones (Gaventa, 2005). Deep democracy addresses the democratic deficits caused by the standardized recipe of liberal democracy and expresses the possibility of a more equal and respectful community. Deep democracy and social justice are mutually inclusive there cannot be one without the other. Taking this argument to the sphere of education, justice requires that all pupils have access to equal conditions for learning , which Lynch and Baker (2005) describe as being resources; respect and recognition; love, care and solidarity; power; and working and learning (p.132). The data chapters have shown that most Muslim children do not have access to these conditions due to insufficiencies in the curriculum, lack of resources in terms of funding of the Islamic school, they have not been recognized as a minority where education is concerned and thus little solidarity is shown by the authorities and society. All of these issues then show the powerlessness of this minority. Education in Malta has to move away from the distributive model of justice, where the responsibility of the state lies in providing schools for everyone to a more comprehensive model wherein the state feels morally bound to provide the best education possible to all learners. This can only be achieved through what Kymlicka and CohenAlmagor (2000) refer to as external protections, which are one kind of collective rights. These group rights are justified, according to the authors, when groups seek to protect their identity by limiting their vulnerability to the decisions of the larger society (p. 99). This has been well argued by Muslim parents who are aware of the great shortcomings of mainstream schools in terms of acceptance of and responding to diversity, especially in their regard. Conclusion This study, has sought to delve in concepts of citizenship and citizenship rights of Muslims in Malta focusing on education. What I have written reflects the data provided
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through the interviews and while these are not representative of the whole Muslim population in Malta, they cannot be regarded as insignificant. On the other hand, this study calls for more intense research with regards to minorities in schools and how the education system perceives them either as threats or as assets. There are surely other Muslim parents who have chosen not to send their children to Mariam Albatool, but still chose to pay for their childrens education. I believe that listening to their stories is also important as their choices are also a reflection of how they perceive society. This dissertation may be regarded as another link in a chain of studies about the Others in our schools to complement other studies such as Sammuts (2004) study of returned migrants and their experiences in Gozitan schools, and Galeas and Schembris (2003) study of refugees attending state schools. Hopefully these studies and the others that follow will provide grounds for improvement in our educational system.

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