‘Their whole community might be watching them’: Teacher and pupil constructions of Muslim girls’ aspirations and the role of their families and the community

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore discursive constructions relating to Muslim girls’ aspirations and the role of their families and communities. This focus was chosen following an initial review of the literature which suggested that there has been a significant change in the discourses relating to Muslim young people in education. Research in the early 1990s suggested that Muslim girls were positioned as highly motivated with supportive and ambitious parents, whereas research in the late 1990s and early 2000s suggested that Muslim girls are positioned as oppressed by their families and communities. In the present study, Foucauldian discourse analysis was used to analyse data from teacher interviews and a focus group of Muslim girls. The findings from the teacher interviews portrayed the girls as being subject to oppression from their families and also the wider community. In contrast, the constructions from the focus group were more varied and emphasised the girls’ ability to make active decisions. The study reiterated the importance of Educational Psychologists (EPs) understanding the dominant discourses in schools in order to avoid inadvertently perpetuating negative discourses. Suggestions are made about the implications of the present study for EP practice. Questions are raised about the way parents are involved in EP work given the negative discourses relating to parents and the community.