Cultivating multicultural education in Islamic schools in the U.S.: Teachers' perspectives about diversity in Islamic schools

Kadriye El-Atwani, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of six teachers who have taught in Islamic schools in the U.S. to comprehend the general context of multicultural education in Islamic schools. This study was designed as a descriptive collective case study primarily to investigate how racial, class, national, language and gender diversity were observed in six different Islamic schools’ climates and classrooms. Designing this research as a collective case study fostered the exploration of various social dynamics among Muslim communities in the U.S., and exemplified different characteristics of Muslim communities through the six cases. Key findings and analyses have found that multicultural education and its improvement were not promoted effectively in six Islamic schools in the U.S.; which implied that multicultural education in Islamic schools cannot be conceptualized without peeling back the layers of pluralism in Muslim communities. The discussion of key findings and analyses concluded that the contexts of each difference (race, class, nationality, language, and gender) are part of a complex dynamic that depends on the Muslim community, administrator, teachers, parents, and policies of Islamic schools. The experiences and descriptions of six Islamic school teachers, most of whom had graduate degrees in education, showed that multicultural education curriculum cannot be generalized for Islamic schools in the U.S but can be improved through strengthening understandings of critical pedagogy and transformational approach in these school.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Phillion, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Educational sociology|Teacher education|Curriculum development

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