Latest news
Curriculum for Cohesion is represented on a Remembering Srebrenica delegation to Bosnia
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
8-11 February 2015. Dr. Matthew Wilkinson represented Curriculum for Cohesion on a four-day visit to Bosnia, based at Sarajevo, as part of the Remembering Srebrenica delegation. This delegation was also attended by representatives of the Association of Muslim Lawyers, The Forum for Discussion of Israel and Palestine (FODIP), the Faiths Forum For London and other British groups.
We learnt first-hand from our guide, Resad Trbonja, a veteran of the Siege of Sarajevo, about the appalling tragedy of the Bosnia War (1992-1995), including the terrible privations visited on the population of Sarajevo during the Siege of Sarajevo by the Army of the Republika Srpska, and the Srebrenica Genocide in which, on the evidence of the International Commission on Missing Persons, 8,067 Bosnian Muslim males were murdered by Serb militias between 11-16 July 1995. We learnt about this tragedy first-hand from survivors at the UN DutchBat base at Potocari, where thousands of Bosnian Muslim refugee men and boys were separated out from their womenfolk and led away for mass execution under the noses of the UN peace-keeping force.
As well as the harrowing food for thought offered on the nature of the human condition by this trip, the experience also reinforced the necessity of the mission of Curriculum for Cohesion to provide intellectually sustaining teaching tools whereby children can learn to be respectful and knowledgeable about each other’s backgrounds in school.
Dr. Wilkinson invited to participate in the Commission on Religion & Belief in British Public Life
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
On 30-31 January 2015, Dr. Wilkinson was invited to report to the Commission on Religion & Belief in British Public Life which has been convened by the Woolf Institute, Cambridge and is chaired by the Rt. Hon. the Baroness (Elizabeth) Butler-Sloss of Marsh Green GBE, formerly President of the Family Division of the High Court.
Matthew presented a paper called, ‘The Absent Debate: Are Faith Schools Good for Faith?’ This paper used original empirical data to suggest that Faith Schools are no substitute for well-conceived Religious Education and do not promote either the quality or quantity of young people’s religious faith in the absence of effective RE. It also suggested that, contrary to popular belief, Muslim Faith School pupils are as likely to value their British citizenship as much as pupils from Non-faith Schools.
Professor Nigel Biggar becomes an Academic Advisor for Curriculum for Cohesion
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
We are delighted and honoured to announce that Professor Nigel Biggar has accepted our invitation to become an Academic Advisor for Curriculum for Cohesion. Professor Biggar is the Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford, where he also directs the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics & Public Life. Professor Biggar brings to our work a wealth of distinguished intellectual reflection about the place of faith in contemporary public life. To read more about Professor Biggar, please go to: http://curriculumforcohesion.org/who/the-academic-team/
Ms. Baljit Ubhey OBE becomes a Patron of Curriculum for Cohesion
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
We are delighted and honoured to announce that Ms. Baljit Ubhey OBE has accepted our invitation to become a Patron of Curriculum for Cohesion. Ms. Ubhey is Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in London and brings to our work a wealth of experience in dealing with issues of diversity within the criminal justice system. To read more about Ms. Ubhey, please go to: http://curriculumforcohesion.org/who/the-patrons/
Mr. Eoin McLellan-Murray becomes a Patron of Curriculum for Cohesion
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
We are delighted and honoured to announce that Mr. Eoin McLellan-Murray has accepted our invitation to become a Patron of Curriculum for Cohesion. Mr. McLellan-Murray brings to our work a wealth of experience in the education of the prison service having served as a Governor of 10 UK prisons and been President of the Prison Governor’s Association from 2010 to 2014. To read more about Mr. McLellan-Murray, please go to: http://curriculumforcohesion.org/who/the-patrons/
Max Hill QC is appointed Leader of the South Eastern Circuit
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
Max Hill QC, one of our esteemed academic advisors, has recently been appointed Leader of the South Eastern Circuit. The South Eastern Circuit provides educational, ethical and professional leadership for all barristers working in the South East of England. We are privileged to have such a senior barrister who is so strongly connected to the legal grass-roots involved with the work of Curriculum for Cohesion.
Wednesday, 19 November. Professor Roy Bhaskar, our Lead Academic Advisor, passes away.
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
It is with huge sadness that we announce the death of Professor Roy Bhaskar, our Lead Academic Advisor (2011-2014), on the evening of Wednesday, 19 November.
Since the early 1970’s and the publication of his ground-breaking book A Realist Theory of Science, Roy was a towering and pioneering figure in contemporary philosophy and the founding father of Critical Realism. His many insights, such as the need to reinstate a philosophical study of being (ontology) in the philosophy of science, were at first deeply counter-cultural in the academy, but over the course of his life they contributed to a richer and more philosophically robust and useful theoretical platform for many academic disciplines and practical and ethical causes. His thinking contributed to the philosophy of science, sociology, the philosophy of religion, gender studies, environmental activism and disability studies to name but a few fields in which his influence has been felt. Roy was perhaps at his best explaining his ideas to an audience, which he did with infectious energy and clarity, peppering his discourse with relevant, memorable real-life examples. Moreover, he was always on the look-out to nurture and support new ideas and intellectual talent.
Roy made an invaluable contribution to Curriculum for Cohesion as our Lead Academic Advisor (2011-2014) by putting his ideas, wisdom and great humanity to the service of the creation of the Islamic Critical Realist position developed by Matthew Wilkinson in close conversation with Roy. This philosophy is at the core of all our work. It was Roy’s belief in and support for Matthew’s original philosophical use of his work and his vision for the urgent need for it to help the engagement of Islam and Muslims with a multi-faith world that helped sustain Curriculum for Cohesion intellectually and morally, especially in its early days. His death marks an immense loss to the project and to Matthew personally, but his life has been an immense intellectual and personal blessing to us, for which praise and thanks are due to God.
Thursday, 6 November 2014. Professor Alan Norrie joins the Academic Advisory Team of Curriculum for Cohesion
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
Thursday, 6 November 2014. We are delighted and honoured to announce that Professor Alan Norrie, Head of the School of Law, University of Warwick, has accepted our invitation to join the Academic Advisory Team of Curriculum for Cohesion.
Alan is a pioneering thinker in the fields of criminal law and legal theory. Underpinning this work is his development of critical realist theory to examine the ethical grounds of justice. Alan was Edmund-Davies Professor of Criminal Law & Criminal Justice at King’s College London (1997-2009) and he also held the Drapers’ Chair in Law at Queen Mary & Westfield College (1994-7). He is President of the International Association for Critical Realism. He is the author of a number of acclaimed books including Law, Ideology & Punishment (Kluwer, 1991), Punishment, Responsibility & Justice (OUP, 2000), Crime, Reason & History (CUP, 2014, 3rd ed), Law & the Beautiful Soul (Routledge, 2005), and Dialectic & Difference (Routledge, 2010).
Alan will strengthen and enrich our work with legal theory at the intersection of British state law with Islamic religious law and add intellectual rigour to our contribution to training for the judiciary.
Tuesday 4 November. Curriculum for Cohesion contributes to the PGCE in Religious Studies at the Department of Education, University of Cambridge
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
Dr. Matthew Wilkinson contributed a session to the PGCE teacher-training course in Religious Studies at the Department of Education, University of Cambridge with a lecture and workshop entitled, ‘Islam, Critical Realism and Religious Studies’. In the lecture, Matthew showed, amongst other things, how the fulcrum of critical realism can provide an intellectual basis by which all pupils can learn to justify, critique and articulate their faith whilst remaining open to the insights of those of other faiths and none. The teacher-trainees then used this method to create schemes-of-work in the workshop.
Monday 3 November. ‘A Fresh Look at Islam in a Multi-Faith World’ is published by Routledge.
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
The book of Dr. Matthew L N Wilkinson ‘A Fresh Look at Islam in a Multi-Faith World: a philosophy for success through education’ is now available. This 278-page book gives the full detailed account of the philosophy of Islamic critical realism and explains how this philosophy can be used for the teaching of Islam and other faiths in multi-faith contexts by teachers in History, Religious Education and Citizenship. The hardback is available at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fresh-Look-Islam-Multi-Faith-World/dp/0415813190
The paperback will be available in April 2015.
Monday 3 November. Curriculum for Cohesion contributes to a Runnymede Trust event discussing the future of History education
By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson
Dr. Matthew Wilkinson participated in a fascinating and useful roundtable event organised by the Runnymede Trust at King’s College London entitled, ‘How diverse and broad will the new history curriculum prove to be?’ The event was attended by 30 academics, teachers, think-tank members and charity group members to discuss how teachers can provide a genuinely diverse and useful history provision from the new specification of the National Curriculum for History. Amongst interesting presentations was a call from Professor Peter Mandler, President of the Royal Historical Society, for British universities to increase and improve the quota and quality of non-European and non-American History that they teach, which at present comprises only 13% of the History provided by UK universities.
Matthew gave a well-received presentation entitled, ‘Is there still a need for a diverse history curriculum – does the new curriculum address this?’ This paper made the case that all pupils will benefit from a genuinely diverse historical provision which can be achieved by teachers by removing the absent curriculum in History at the level of policy, departmental schemes-of-work and the classroom. For further details, please refer to: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220272.2013.869838#.UvtRg2J_tsN
Mohammed Amin elected as Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum
By Mohammed Amin
Our Patron and Chair of Donors Mohammed Amin also undertakes many other voluntary activities. For many years he has been Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum, and recently he became its Chairman succeeding Lord Sheikh.
There are more details at this link.