Social justice and care for the world – adopting a critical view in religious education

Abstract

Maktab education serves many purposes. It provides the substantive knowledge thought to be compulsory for Muslim pupils. Its functional role is to enable them, through varied learning processes, to embody elements of their faith and live as Muslims. Hitherto, systematic attention to curricula in primary maktab education has been rare. This ground-breaking research makes an original contribution to this under-researched area. It examines three curricula operative in the British context. In part, it presents findings on the structural and organizational features, aims and objectives of learning, pedagogical snippets and the taught content. However, the focus is on discerning matters related to the conception of social justice by addressing questions such as what Muslim children are taught about justice and injustice from a vertical and horizontal plane. Documentary thematic and descriptive analysis will be applied to simplify the content, identify patterns, determine contexts, and gain a better understanding of these teachings. The findings suggest that these curricula instil prosocial values ostensibly at the micro-level and, to some degree, at the macro level.