The education dimension

Much excellent work has been undertaken in education to develop these roles, and support faith and interfaith activities. This has, however, been largely concentrated in areas like Religious Education, Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACRE)s and Interfaith Councils. The mainstream curriculum has been relatively faith blind.

There are a number of key drivers that are placing the faith agenda at the heart of mainstream. Every Child Matters with its five key outcomes, the personalisation agenda, the QCA futures curriculum, the Equalities Act (2006) and the statutory duty to promote community cohesion, all contribute to this paradigm shift. Perhaps most important of all, however, is the fact that young people live in an age where, to survive in our complex multifaith world they are required to live multiple identities where sometimes their faith, or their culture, or their class predominate according to context.

The implications of pupils' multiple identities for teaching and learning are profound. To secure cohesion it is essential that young people be given the space to express their values openly without fear of recrimination, even when these values differ or even conflict. It is equally essential that, within this supportive framework, young people are taught to be reflectively self-critical. Such approaches will help build what Ostberg has called 'an integrated plural identity,' an identity which allows a young person to feel safe and secure in a range of different settings.

To achieve this schools need to help young people become skilled cultural and faith navigators. In part, this can be achieved by both actively supporting pupils' unique faiths and by engaging in structured interfaith work. The project identified 12 key reasons why schools should actively promote inter-faith activities:

1. They will contribute towards delivering the Every Child Matters, Equalities and community cohesion agendas.
2. They are trusted centres of education and will enhance the learning of young people through interpretative, discursive and other creative approaches.
3. They will contribute towards the 'Futures' curriculum debate.
4. They will contribute towards meeting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural needs of young people.
5. They will support faith groups to feel more secure in their own religious and spiritual identities.
6. They will help young people understand the commonalities, as well as the distinct differences, of each faith perspective.
7. They will help young people develop an integrated plural identity.
8. They will assist young people to become skilled cultural and faith navigators.
9. They will support schools in developing young people as active citizens.
10. They will help the young people develop the necessary tolerance, empathy and respect for those who are different from themselves.
11. They will help young people counter 'racial', 'cultural' and 'faith' racism, and will contribute to defeating the rise of extremism in whatever guise.
12. They will help young people understand that we are all part of one world, part of a global network, with global, shared responsibility.

To help translate this rationale into meaningful action, the project devised  a simple 'house' metaphor of the values, processes, and structures that might underpin any faith or inter-faith activity whether it is between faiths or with local or central government or with others such as outside funders. It aims to provide a guidance tool, a graphic checklist against which participants can measure themselves.