Repertoires of Respect: Religion, Respect, and Diversity Cultures in British Primary Schools

TY - CONF

T1 - Repertoires of Respect

T2 - British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group Annual Conference

AU - Strhan, Anna Harriet Block

AU - Malone, Joanna

AU - Hemming, Peter

AU - Neal, Sarah

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Developing ‘respect’ is widely accepted as an important purpose for schools, implicated in pupils’ citizenship, responses to difference, and wellbeing. In England, all state-funded schools are required to promote ‘mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs’ as a ‘fundamental British value’ (Vincent 2019). The Curriculum for Wales likewise situates ‘respect’ as core to schools’ purpose, stating that pupils should develop as ‘ethical, informed citizens who … respect the needs and rights of others, as members of a diverse society’ (Education Wales 2020). Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (2017) links ‘respect’ to pupils’ health and wellbeing, with all schools expected to provide an ethos ‘characterised by care, respect, participation, responsibility and fairness for all.’ Given this emphasis on ‘respect’, how, in practice, do schools articulate and develop particular repertoires of respect for religious difference? And what does this mean for children’s belonging, within schools and wider society?Addressing these questions, this paper draws from a three-year qualitative study examining the role of religion in how primary schools foster notions of citizenship, with ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with children, parents, and teachers conducted in primary schools in four contrasting areas of England, Wales, and Scotland. We reveal how ‘diversity cultures’ (Laryea et al 2023) took different slightly forms in each school, with pupils expressing a strong ethic of respect for religious diversity in two fieldsites, while respect for other aspects of diversity were more foregrounded in the other sites, and consider the implications of this for issues of justice and in/equality.

AB - Developing ‘respect’ is widely accepted as an important purpose for schools, implicated in pupils’ citizenship, responses to difference, and wellbeing. In England, all state-funded schools are required to promote ‘mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs’ as a ‘fundamental British value’ (Vincent 2019). The Curriculum for Wales likewise situates ‘respect’ as core to schools’ purpose, stating that pupils should develop as ‘ethical, informed citizens who … respect the needs and rights of others, as members of a diverse society’ (Education Wales 2020). Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (2017) links ‘respect’ to pupils’ health and wellbeing, with all schools expected to provide an ethos ‘characterised by care, respect, participation, responsibility and fairness for all.’ Given this emphasis on ‘respect’, how, in practice, do schools articulate and develop particular repertoires of respect for religious difference? And what does this mean for children’s belonging, within schools and wider society?Addressing these questions, this paper draws from a three-year qualitative study examining the role of religion in how primary schools foster notions of citizenship, with ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with children, parents, and teachers conducted in primary schools in four contrasting areas of England, Wales, and Scotland. We reveal how ‘diversity cultures’ (Laryea et al 2023) took different slightly forms in each school, with pupils expressing a strong ethic of respect for religious diversity in two fieldsites, while respect for other aspects of diversity were more foregrounded in the other sites, and consider the implications of this for issues of justice and in/equality.

M3 - Paper

Y2 - 8 July 2024 through 10 July 2024

ER -