Islamophobia in Schools: what does is actually sound like?

Al Masaar a Falkirk based charity, with whom mend has had the pleaser to work with on a previous venture, brought us this amazing event for IAM 2020.

The panel included representatives from Falkirk Council Education team, Police Scotland Safer Community, MEND and SNP MP Martyn Day. The panel was also joined by representatives from CSREC, local council, educators and parent.

We discussed the need for a robust and comprehensive policy in relation to bullying and hate crime which highlights categories such as islamophobia.  Falkirk council stated that although they have a policy it is possibly not currently fit for purpose and does not cover all areas, but will be reviewed in 2021.

We discussed the role of community police in our schools and how they are an under-utilised resource, being able to provide training, talks, support and reporting within schools in many areas. But how other organisations can also offer support and training for schools not linked to a community officer and can be offer additional support and resources for those that are.

The discussion was in depth, interesting and varied. But the main take home from all was the need to support those who had suffered islamophobia and bullying of all forms. The need for a victim centric approach that allows for reporting and tackling in a way that the individual can be heard, understood and supported.

What we also learned is that there is still a lot of work to be done, but so long as we all work together we can really start addressing the issues we face.