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Exploring the Experiences of Muslim Students in an Urban Ontario Public School Asma Ahmed the University of Western Ontario

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Exploring the Experiences of Muslim Students in an Urban Ontario Public School Asma Ahmed the University of Western Ontario Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository January 2017 Exploring the Experiences of Muslim Students in an Urban Ontario Public School Asma Ahmed The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Katina Pollock The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Education A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree in Doctor of Education © Asma Ahmed 2016 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons Recommended Citation Ahmed, Asma, "Exploring the Experiences of Muslim Students in an Urban Ontario Public School" (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4325. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4325 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the experiences of Muslim students in an urban public high school in Ontario with a reputation of having a large Muslim student presence. Much of the studies and surveys involving Islam and Muslims make evident that Islam is the most misunderstood religion in the world. Therefore, Muslims in the West are a “poorly understood” minority group (Environics Institute, 2016). While other ethnic or racial minorities feel moderately comfortable defending themselves and their groups, and asserting their identities, Muslim youth “face qualitatively different identity tasks than do many of their peers”, largely due to feelings of “being under attack or scrutiny because of their religion” (Stonebanks & Sensoy 2009). I used a case study approach to explore from different participant groups the challenges of and supports for Muslims students attending a public high school. I utilized semi-structured interviews with 32 participants, including students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the local Imam of the city. There were two main findings in this study: (a) the teachers, that I interviewed, lacked knowledge of Muslim values, faith, and practices, and had negative biases and preconceived notions of Islam and Muslims in a public high school; (b) the youth, in this interview, showed a deep longing to be acknowledged, understood, and respected for who they are. The six challenges most prominently faced by Muslim youth, as articulated in the literature review and guideline of different faiths provided by school boards to the schools, are: religious practices, dress code, sexual ethics, stereotypes and biases, Islamophobia, and curriculum-related challenges. These challenges seem to directly correspond to the daily challenges Muslims face when practicing their faith, and provide a vantage point whereby Muslim students can request accommodations. However, this study shows that, Muslim students want to go beyond mere accommodation. They long for spaces, in their school, that are free of any pressure to fight for their faith or to defend either of their multiple identities, as both Muslims and Canadians. Keywords: Muslims, Islam, support, challenges, sexual ethics, gender interaction, hayaa, Islamophobia, Banks’s Multicultural Dimension, York, Giangreco, Vandercook, & Macdonald ’s Types of Support. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Alhamdulilahi rabil alameen, Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds. Dr. Katina Pollock has been more than an academic supervisor. I am grateful for her relentless support through my journey juggling motherhood and a doctoral thesis. Your expertise, knowledge and insightful comments has made this thesis possible. I would also like to thank my husband, Mohamed, and my kids (Omar and Abdullah) and my unborn child (Essa) for keeping me company and providing comfort, challenge and care to my heart. And to my family (Omy Jan, Babajan, Mush, Hamed, Yasir, Salah, Tariq, Katie, Layla, Melika) for your prayers, encouragement and support. Finally, my deep gratitude to the participants in this study who shared their time and experiences. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS III TABLE OF CONTENTS ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. LIST OF TABLES VIII LIST OF FIGURES IX LIST OF APPENDICES X CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 BACKGROUND 2 RESEARCHER POSITIONALITY 5 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 10 DISSERTATION OUTLINE 11 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 14 INTRODUCTION 14 ISLAMIC FAITH 14 FUNDAMENTALS 15 EMBLEMATIC CHARACTER OF ISLAM 17 ISLAM IS NOT MONOLITHIC 18 MUSLIMS IN CANADA 20 CANADIAN VALUES 23 THE CHANGING FACE OF ONTARIO 25 PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN ONTARIO 27 ONTARIO’S EQUITY AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION STRATEGY 32 SUMMARY 37 CHAPTER 3: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 39 INTRODUCTION 39 DEFINING “SCHOOL” 39 DEFINING MUSLIM 41 DEFINING MUSLIM, PRACTICING MUSLIM, AND VISIBLE MUSLIM 41 DEFINING CHALLENGE 42 DEFINING SUPPORT 43 WELL-BEING SUPPORT 45 THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL SUPPORTS 47 iv YORK, GIANGRECO, VANDERCOOK, & MACDONALD ’S FOUR TYPES OF SUPPORT 50 MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION 51 GENERAL POTENTIAL CHALLENGES OF MUSLIM STUDENTS 57 RELIGIOUS PRACTICE 61 ISLAMIC DRESS CODE 62 ISLAMIC SEXUAL ETHICS 63 MYTHS, STEREOTYPES AND, PERSONAL BIASES 64 ISLAMOPHOBIA 66 CURRICULUM-RELATED ISSUES 68 OTHER RELEVANT STUDIES ON THE EXPERIENCES OF MUSLIM STUDENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 70 CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH SUPPORTING MUSLIM STUDENTS 72 LACK OF KNOWLEDGE TO TEACH IN MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOMS 73 LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MUSLIM STUDENTS 73 LACK OF MUSLIM TEACHER REPRESENTATION 74 ISLAM IS NOT MONOLITHIC 75 SUMMARY 76 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY 77 INTRODUCTION 77 SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM 77 CASE STUDY 79 BACKGROUND OF THE SCHOOL 81 DATA COLLECTION METHODS 82 SELECTION OF SITE 82 DATA COLLECTION 84 SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS 85 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS 88 ANALYSIS 95 STEPS OF ANALYSIS 96 TRUSTWORTHINESS 98 SUMMARY 100 CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS: ISSUES RELATED TO MUSLIM STUDENTS 102 INTRODUCTION 102 BACKGROUND OF THE SCHOOL 103 CONCEPTION OF ISLAM 105 ISLAM IS A WAY OF LIFE 106 ISLAM IS PEACE 106 ISLAM IS ALL ABOUT HAVING GOOD MANNERS 107 ISSUES-RELATED TO MUSLIM STUDENTS 108 SPECIFIC CURRICULUM CHALLENGES 110 CONTRAST BETWEEN THE HOME AND “MAINSTREAM” CULTURE 113 v LACK OF DEEPER KNOWLEDGE OF ISLAMIC VALUES, BELIEFS AND PRACTICES 115 DISTINCT GENDER ROLES AND EXPECTATIONS 117 SUMMARY 121 CHAPTER 6 FINDINGS: SUPPORTS 122 INTRODUCTION 122 EXPLICIT SUPPORT 125 IMPLICIT SUPPORT 141 SUMMARY 147 CHAPTER 7 FINDINGS: CHALLENGES OF MUSLIM STUDENTS 148 INTRODUCTION 148 CHALLENGES OF MUSLIM STUDENTS: STUDENT VOICE 148 ISLAMOPHOBIA EXISTS 149 STUDENTS FEEL PRESSURE TO DEFEND AND EXPLAIN THEMSELVES 150 TEACHERS’ BIASES 153 CHALLENGES OF MUSLIM STUDENTS—INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS 155 TEACHERS’ VIEW STUDENTS THE SAME. 156 STUDENTS DID NOT SEE THEMSELVES IN THE CURRICULUM 156 SUMMARY 157 CHAPTER 8: DISCUSSION 159 INTRODUCTION 159 CONNECTING THE THEMES 159 TEACHERS’ STEREOTYPES, MYTHS AND BIASES AGAINST MUSLIMS 170 VIEWING ALL STUDENTS THE SAME 176 MUSLIM STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE 178 THE PRESSURE TO REPRESENT ISLAM IN THE SCHOOL 178 THE PRESSURE TO ASSERT THEIR CANADIAN-MUSLIM IDENTITY 180 THE CONTENDING PRESSURE “TO BE YOURSELF” 182 DID MUSLIM STUDENTS FEEL SUFFICIENTLY SUPPORTED IN THE SCHOOL? 183 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION 186 INTRODUCTION 186 SUMMARY OF THE MAJOR FINDINGS 186 IMPLICATIONS 189 FOR PRACTICE 189 FOR POLICY 190 FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 190 CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIELD 191 CONCLUDING REMARKS 193 vi REFERENCES 195 APPENDICES 242 CURRICULUM VITAE 280 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Planned Number of Interviewees and the Actual Number of Participants……76 Table 2 Reference Table for Participant Groups’ Interviews …………………………77 Table 3 Distinctive Features of the School…………………………………………….91 Table 4 Emerging Themes on Issues facing Muslim Students…………………………96 Table 5 Emerging Themes on the Supports in the School…………………………… 110 Table 6 Some MSA Events……………………………………………………………113 Table 7 Emerging Themes on the Challenges of Muslim Students……………………133 Table 8 Comparison of Themes Emerging from the Analysis of the Findings………..144 Table 9 Challenges of Muslim Youth and the Corresponding Supports ………………149 Table 10 York, Giangreco, Vandercook, & Macdonald’s Types of Support and Banks’s Multicultural Dimensions and the Supports from the Findings ……………………….150 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure I The Six Challenges of Muslim Students and the Corresponding Potential Supports……………………………………………………………………………41 ix LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A Interview Questions….......................................................................204 APPENDIX B Letter of Information………………………………………………..214 APPENDIX C Ethical Approval…………………………………………………….239 x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Due to an increasing association between Islam and terrorism in the public consciousness, Muslim youth face distinct challenges, and often feel like “the other”. Muslims, in general, worry about visually and verbally self-identifying, out of fear of facing discrimination, assault, prejudice, and disrespect (Helly, 2004; CAIR-CAN, 2002; Adams, 2007; Hildebrandt, 2010; Chung, 2011; Mehta, 2015; Fine, 2015; Miller, 2015; Hammer, 2011). Islam may appear as an “unusual” religion. Muslim dress code, prayers, and fasting are all examples of practices that may appear odd or different (Kahf, 2006; Beshir, 2004; Zine, 2001). This is exacerbated by the fact that Islam is the most misunderstood religion by both Muslims and non-Muslims (Mohamed, 1996). Furthermore,
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