Pre-Service Teachers and Muslim Parents: Exploring Religious Diversity in Canadian Public Schools

Abstract

This study explores how a group of Caucasian pre-service teachers responded to Muslim immigrant parents’ accounts of the marginalization of their faith practices in Canadian public schools. Data were collected through interviews with parents, dialogues between parents and pre-service teachers, online reflections, and focus groups among pre-service teachers. Results indicate that the parents expected recognition of religious symbolic clothing, exemptions from certain classes, and accommodation of prayer in the public schools their children attended. The pre-service teachers recognized educators’ misconceptions about Muslim women, expressed concerns that exemptions from dancing and swimming classes and gender segregation may hinder students’ learning opportunities, and rejected parents’ requests of prayer in the name of secularism. Implications for structural change and teacher practice are discussed.