Madrassa Literacy Project

Case Study 1 — Schools and Madrassas Working Together

Developing strong and sustainable links between madrassas and schools is vital for the improved reading, writing and literacy of young Muslim children, in particular in inner city areas. The need to develop long tem working relationships between those who have a strong interest in improving the literacy amongst Muslim children has been evident from the Madrassa Literacy Project.

Mohammed Afsar, Chair of the Madni Madrassa in West Bowling, Bradford has seen the benefit of working with schools in developing the children’s education who attend his mosque. This well used madrassa does not only undertake religious teachings, but delivers ICT and Urdu classes to its 200+ school children who attend every week, as well as providing Day Centre facilities for the local elders.

Through QED, Madni Madrassa wanted to get involved in the Madrassa Literacy Project as they had not previously experienced working directly with the local schools and believed the knowledge would be invaluable for both themselves, the children and their parents.

Over the last 2 years, Madni Madrassa has developed excellent links with the local primary schools around the West Bowling area of Bradford, in particular with Newby Primary School as well as St Stephens and Bowling Park Primary Schools. In all cases, the madrassa has been working directly with the Head Teachers of the schools to ensure maximum impact and to make sure issues discussed are dispersed throughout the school – both the teaching staff and pupils.

"The Literacy Project has been a great way in communicating with the schools. We would not have had the opportunity to work with the schools if we didn’t have this project” said Mr Afsar. “We talk with the schools on different issues - from Eid and Ramadan, how to improve literacy, getting parents more involved, to issues around gang problems we have today. These regular meetings with the schools have really helped us to help the children that come to our madrassa. We never had a chance to speak to schools before and its important we continue this. If a child is not doing so well at school, the school will contact us and we will help that child as much as we can in the madrassa."

Mike Latham, Head-Teacher at Newby Primary School said "The project has been a great success. It has been a meeting of minds. We have been fortunate to continue to work with all the major madrassas in our local area. This project has allowed 9 Head-Teachers to regularly meet madrassa Presidents to discuss and take action on issues such as SATs, discipline as well as religious influences. It’s important that children grow up with good life choices as well as religion. There is little or no fear for us to approach the community about areas concerning the children’s education."

Some of the highlights have been the strong and positive media profile received in the press across Bradford. The good publicity has resulted in invitations to talk at conferences including in London on issues on better partnership workings in the community. Madrassas have benefited with better resources to support the children, for example 3 madrassas in Bradford received £700 of educational books and materials each from the schools on topics around faith and religion.

"The only improvement I can suggest for the project is for other madrassas to get involved. If everyone got involved, this would be better. Its important to talk and persuade other madrassas to work with this project” finally added Mr Afsar. Mr Latham fully supported that comment and added “QED has been great in developing our links with the community. We would like this work to be more mainstreamed across the district and would like to see more involvement from institutions such as Education Bradford and the Council of Mosques to see this work continuing and developing in the future for our children’s future."

Case Study 2 — The Winners of the Annual Literacy Competition

We all want our children to do well and be a success in their lives. However, here’s an important question…… how can young children who regularly attend madrassas exceed and be further motivated at school? Why not ask them that question…… which is exactly what QED did through their Annual Literacy Competition.

QED invited children across West Yorkshire to participate in the Annual Literacy Competition, asking 6 to 11 year olds who regularly attend madrassas to write a short essay on how they felt their school and madrassa could work better together so that they succeeded at both.

15 madrassas were invited to join in with the competition, with most of them based in and around Bradford, resulting in over 100 entries from the young writers. The quality of essays was simply amazing and thought provoking. It was obvious that the children had a lot to say and a strong understanding of why the work of the Madrassa Literacy Project was much needed to bridge the education and learning gaps between themselves, their parents, schools and the madrassas they attend.

The judges from the madrassas and schools had more difficulty in sifting through the excellent essays to decide on the top three winners than the judges on Britain’s Got Talent!! However, after much deliberation, the final three were chosen…

"Very often, people from other religions can be racist and they do not understand why they are being racist," wrote 10 year Kiran Hussain from St Andrew’s Primary School, Keighley, who came third. "It would be great if other religions could be involved by going and visiting the mosque. Many would say children love going to mosque and school, so why don’t the madrassas and schools work together to make many children’s lives and futures better?" "A madrassa could benefit if it was in English as well as Arabic in class," said 11 year old Saif Akram who attends the Al-Huda Mosque in Bradford. "Some mosques have teachers who do not speak fluent English so it makes it difficult for a lot of children to communicate and understand them. If school and mosque education was combined, it would give the children more time for their homework in the evening." However, it was clear who the winner would be. Maihvish Iqbal from Girlington Muslim Welfare School provided her thoughts on exactly how madrassas and schools should work together for the better of her education. She puts it simply: "One major thing is to get together. Every 2 weeks, madrassas and schools should meet up and talk about relationships between them for the better education of the children. We could have a mixed syllabus containing both mosque and school teachings. Schools and madrassas could work together to teach the families about the environment, for example cleaning gardens and the streets. They could do this by door-to-door and helping people make a cleaner environment. We would like madrassas and schools to stand shoulder to shoulder to fight and stop drug dealing in our area. In my opinion, if all of the above is followed, the community would be a better place and we would have more knowledge of both madrassas and schools." The prize was more than just being awarded shields and presentation cups for the young winners – it is about improving the links between children, madrassas and schools which otherwise would not have developed without the project. The Madrassa Literacy Project through this Annual Competition is bringing awareness and breaking barriers between all those concerned with improving the literacy of young Muslim children for their future success.

Case Study 3 — Boosting the Confidence of Parents

The Madrassa Literacy Project is all about improving the literacy skills of Muslim children living in inner city areas, and what better way to understand how the children have benefited from the project than to ask the people who know the children the best ... heir parents.

Ayman Malik, a young girl studying at Hollingwood Primary School in Bradford, got involved with the Madrassa Literacy Project through her local madrassa - Madrassa Madani Tahfeezul Quran. Her mother explained, "When Ayman was in Year 5, the madrassa started invited her and other children to half an hour reading slots before and during their Islamic studies, to learn and improve their English. They would learn key words, read stories in a different way through describing pictures and talk more in English. This would happen two or three times a week. It would be well organised by the madrassa, with lesson plans for the children and different plans every week. The madrassa had spent a lot of time and effort on this."

Asking Mrs Malik about what benefit the project has had on her child’s learning of English, she replied, "The project has been really good for Ayman as it has really helped her with her English. It has encouraged the children to read and learn in groups, with the stronger readers helping the weaker ones. In particular in the Lidget Green area of Bradford, there are a lot of children with a poor understanding of English. There is a great need to help such children with their English so such a project is important for the community. As a parent, I now see the work of the madrassa in a different light. The children received awards for attending these sessions, which was a great incentive for them to do well."

"The only fault about the project is that it only lasted a few months and it would have been great if it could last longer," finally said Mrs Malik.

Case Study 4 — The Annual Literacy Competition reaches the North West

The Annual Literacy Competition continued its journey into the North West in the Spring of 2009. After the successful pilot in Yorkshire and the Humber, the competition extended its reach into and around Manchester, inviting children aged between 6 to 11 years old who regularly attend madrassas to write up to 300 words on how they felt their school and madrassa could work better together.

Similar to Yorkshire and the Humber, 16 madrassas from across the North West region were invited to join in with the competition, with most of them based in and around Greater Manchester, resulting in nearly 100 entries from the young Muslim writers. Again, the standards achieved by the children were very high, confirming the importance of QED’s Madrassa Literacy Project into getting schools and madrassas to work more closely in developing a better future for the young generation.

This competition is more than about the children winning certificates, shields and cups; it's about getting children to better understand that their Islamic learning is just an extension of their school education, with both having just as an important role in the development of their lives and future success.

The 3 judges, which included representatives from a local Madrassa and a school, had the difficult and tough job in selecting the winners from the many high quality entries. As well as selecting the top 3 winners of the overall competition, the judges selected the best entrant from each of the Madrassas, awarding each child a certificate for participating in the competition.

However, there could only be 3 overall winners and after a long debate amongst the judges, the top award went to 11 year old Rahimah Choudry from attending UK Islamic Missionary Madrassa, Manchester.

"In going to the Madrassa 5 times a week for 2 hours a day has taught me and many children discipline and punctuality. Learning a different language has made my study skills easier now and for the future when we need to study harder. I think some parts of the Islamic studies could be done in school in a chosen language for example Arabic so it could be part of our curriculum and less time could be spent at the mosque. Also, some children go to after school clubs, which finish at approximately 4.45pm and clash with Madrassa timings, making them late. Last but not least, I would be delighted if the teachers and non-Muslims would join us and watch what we do and have a better understanding of Islam, erasing fears and suspicions of Muslims being terrorists when our religion only promotes peace."

"At school, we are doing community cohesion. In the mosque we are doing community cohesion as well," wrote 11 year-old runner-up Faizan Mohammed from Alexandra Park Junior School in Oldham who attends the Khadijah Education Centre. “In our madrassa, we had a presentation and our madrassa teacher invited teachers, including from my school, to give certificates to the children who have been doing well in the madrassa. We could help children struggling in learning by getting mosques and teachers together to help them. Teachers at mosques could go to schools and learn subjects so they can teach us them in mosques."

Third place went to 10-year-old Salma Hussein from Birchfields Primary School, Manchester and attending Makki Masjid madrassa. "I think my school and my madrassa could work better together. I think that there could be a shared homework timetable because I get homework from school and from my madrassa and sometimes its abit too much for me and I get stressed and feel under pressure. My Year 6 SATS are coming up and I think that if teachers come to my madrassa and give us extra tuition, it will really help with my education and I can give thanks to both my madrassa and school teachers. The children from the mosques can give lectures on Islam at school. This would help with the children's reading skills and become more confident."

The journey continues with the next stop for the competition being the East Midlands ...

Case Study 5 — Schools and Madrassas Working Better ... Together

The lessons learnt from the Madrassa Literacy Project pilots in the Yorkshire and the Humber region continue to develop in the North West, as primary schools and madrassas create new partnerships and work better together for the benefit of the young Muslim children’s education.

Mr Rabnawaz Akbar has seen the benefits from both sides of madrassas and schools working together in developing the children’s education. As well as being a Trustee and General Secretary of Makki Masjid in central Manchester, he is also Vice Chair of Governors at Birchfield Primary School nearby. This madrassa provides daily Islamic teachings for young boys and girls as well as study circles for all ages at the weekends.

Mr Akbar became aware of the Madrassa Literacy Project through another madrassa based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. QED introduced the project to Makki Masjid, and since then, it has been a champion in supporting madrassas and schools to work more closer.

"The Madrassa Literacy Project has been a great scheme. It has been innovative in how it has linked schools with madrassas in this region” said Mr Akbar. “The project has developed new learning, better understanding and best practice when looking at improving the education of our community’s children. I can see what is happening and the benefits created from a madrassas’ as well as a school’s perspective. It has improved the children’s attendance which has resulted in better academic achievements at school for the young children. If a child is not achieving at school, they won’t be achieving at the madrassa. By schools and madrassas working together better, we can spot these changes and act upon them quickly."

"The project has brought considerable learning to all involved, including myself! However, the schools have learnt a lot more than I expected. It’s been a real eye-opening experience for some of the schools we have been working with. They were amazed that some of our children would start their school day from 8.30am until 3.30pm, then go home for an hour for something to eat before going to the mosque for a couple of hours or so, and then coming back home to do their school homework, finishing their day as late as 8pm! Some children even went to after school clubs in between going to school and the madrassa. Often schools hadn’t realised the pressure some of their pupils were under outside their school hours. An example of how we at the madrassa have worked with the schools includes helping the Year 6 children with their SATs exam revision. We felt it was unfair for the Year 6 children to be learning Islamic studies at the madrassa in the run up to their exams. Instead of learning about Islam, we were providing extra support in their revision for their exams, teaching them English, Maths and Sciences at the madrassa. This was a great success. In fact it was so successful, the Year 6 that year had the best ever SAT results. I’m not saying it was all down to us but I’m sure it helped to play a part in achieving such success!"

"Through the project, schools are more involved in the madrassa. For example, we have internal exams for children on what they have learnt at the madrassa on Islamic studies. On the prize giving day at the madrassa, the awards were handed out by the children’s Head-Teacher, in front of the parents. This gives a good feeling to the community that schools, children, parents and madrassas are working closely together. This is important in developing community cohesion in this area. To me, there are no downsides to the project. Through this project, it has brought madrassas into mainstream education by Head-Teachers informing their Local Authority and Education Departments of the good work that is going on, turning sometimes a negative image of madrassas into a more positive one within the council. There is a need to get more schools involved. One way is to educate parents about the project and the benefits it can bring to their children’s education, and get them to lobby their school to introduce such a programme. This way, we can better secure our children's future."

Case Study 6— Local Authority endorses new approach to learning

The Madrassa Literacy Project has highlighted the benefits for Muslim children living in inner city areas through their improved learning and literacy skills; for their parents as they improve their understanding of the important role that schools play in their children’s education; and for schools as they work united with madrassas; however what are the thoughts of the local authority and the council on the project – the organisation that manages education services in any area?

QED spoke with Councillor Mohammed Afzal Khan, representing Manchester City Council and is Assistant Executive for Children' Services.

"I came aware of QED's Madrassa Literacy Project by attending the Awards Day of their Literacy Competition in Manchester," said Councillor Khan. "In fact I gave a speech and handed out the prizes to the young children. Listening to the achievements by the children and the success of the project made me realise the positive impact that the Literacy Project has had on the children and schools involved."

"The project has been a particular success as it has engaged directly with the young Muslim children on their thoughts of how their madrassa and schools can work better together. It also celebrates the achievements of the children – and any project that motivates them to work harder at school can only be a good thing! Not only has the project improved the children's reading, writing and literacy skills, it has developed their confidence”

"I will be informing my colleagues at the Council, in particular at the Children's Services Department, of the good work that the Madrassa Literacy Project has delivered. It has created better relationships and understanding between the Madrassas, parents and schools. We will promote that more mosques and schools in Manchester should work closer together for the education benefits of Muslim children. We understand that the project has had a positive impact on the community but if that can be measured in more detail, we would welcome that at the Council and we could look at further ways which we could support this project."

Case Study 7 — The Learning For Madrassas and Schools Continues in the East Midlands ...

The success of the Madrassa Literacy Project from the Yorkshire and Humber and the North West regions continues to grow in the East Midlands, as madrassas and primary schools forge new and lasting partnerships and work better together for the benefit of the young Muslim children's education.

Mr Ibrahim Mogra is in charge of 4 madrassa schools in Leicester – Crown Hill, Hamilton, Coleman and Wigston, so he is ideally positioned to provide support to young Muslim children in the East Midlands through this project.

Mr Mogra became aware of the Madrassa Literacy Project through the Imam (priest) from a local mosque who was already engaged with the work of QED-UK. Mr Mogra was particularly interested in what the Madrassa Literacy Project wanted to achieve as it was important to support the education attainment of his young Muslim pupils.

"I think the Madrassa Literacy Project is a great idea and so I wanted to be part of this added learning for the children that I help, as well as their parents. It is important for madrassas and schools to work together rather than in isolation, otherwise it can create duplication of support to the children and mis-understandings of what each other institution actually does and teaches."

"I have been involved with the Madrassa Literacy Project since late 2008 and I have attended 4 of QED-UK's workshops and seminars so far where teachers of local schools attend and meet madrassas. They have been very informative and useful and I am looking forward to the one coming up soon. We have used the information provided by the QED-UK events and have established good links with the local schools. I now know some of the teachers that teach my pupils which I have met through QED-UK. Our next stage is that we (the schools and the madrassas) are currently organising on-site exchange visits. Contacts have been made between my madrassa staff and schools and visits are planned during the term before Easter. Its important that our pupils know that we are taking this seriously and that we (schools and madrassas) will be working together as one for the children's benefit."

"The project has been beneficial to our madrassas as it has allowed our madrassas staff to have much improved access to professionals within the schools which is an important asset and resource for us. The financial contribution from the project through QED-UK has allowed us to invest in books and learning material here in the madrassa and provide added learning facilities for our young children, which has been a tremendous help. The project has allowed us to share cultural and religious sensitive dialogue between our madrassa staff and teachers which is very important. Our pupils are excited that their madrassa and school teachers are meeting soon. Parents of the children have been kept aware of the developments and are keen for the madrassas to have good links with the schools. It helps them to better understand what is happening with their children’s education at school. Unfortunately, I believe it is too early to judge the real impact of these newly formed partnerships. Time will tell, however I do know it will be very positive for our madrassas, its staff and our young Muslim pupils. We see this as a long term project with a long term improved impact and benefit for the children’s futures. Even though this has been a pilot project, the project has worked really well for us and continues to meet our expectations and needs. QED-UK staff have kept us well informed and have been very supportive, and we intend to develop much closer links with the schools."

"Now I am involved with the Madrassa Literacy Competition in getting my pupils to write essays on why it is important for madrassas and schools to work better together based on their experience of the project. I hope one of my pupils becomes the winner!"

Case Study 8 — Learning in Madrassas extends to more than just the children studying!

What has been clear in the East Midlands is that madrassas have been learning from meeting other madrassas and schools through the Madrassa Literacy Project. Before the Madrassa Literacy Project, madrassas in the East Midlands did not have considerable opportunity to meet other madrassas and schools to exchange ideas and experiences. There is an increasing understanding that learning in the madrassas is not just confided to the young children!

An example of this added learning is at the Jamia Masjid-e-Bilal, a madrassa in the heart of Leicester. Mohammed Nasim is the Chair of this madrassa and explains the best practice learnt and benefits from participating in the Madrassa Literacy Project.

"I first heard about the Madrassa Literacy Project when I was contacted by Naseer Baig, the Project Co-ordinator. He informed me about that he wanted madrassas and schools to work closer together to help our children’s education. I wanted to get involved as we want to improve the opportunities that our young children have in their education. In our particular madrassa, we have spent a lot of time and money in developing the facilities and improving the environment for learning. It is now time to concentrate on improving the actual learning and education we provide our young children. I saw the Madrassa Literacy Project as a way of doing just that."

"I have attended all the Madrassa Literacy Project Network meetings here in Leicester with other madrassas and schools, and have found them to be very useful and informative. Our madrassa, the staff and the children have benefited from the project as we have learnt good ideas from meeting other madrassas and schools, and adopting those best practice ideas within the madrassa. At each meeting, we have met different people and organisations with an interest in developing the children’s education – some we have never met before including representatives from the education department at the council. An example of what we have learnt includes when we met another local madrassa through the project. There, we found that they were delivering a slightly different curriculum to the children, delivering these sessions at a different time and using teaching techniques that we had not used previously. I found this new learning extremely useful and interesting as it identified gaps within our way of teaching. I immediately presented this new knowledge at the Education Committee at our madrassa. Within 4 to 6 weeks, these new practises were implemented within our madrassa. As a result, the feedback we have gained form the parents and children has been extremely positive and encouraging."

"Also what we have learnt through the project is that it is not all about improving the education attainment for our children through studying, but also to give them other skills that are important in life. In a typical madrassa, children come for 2 hours each week day to learn mainly Islamic studies. We realise that this a lot for a young child to be learning in addition to their normal school hours. We want to encourage them to develop other skills such as confidence and team-playing. Hence for half an hour twice a week, we provide football and karate sessions to the young children. It’s a great way of encouraging sustainable learning and to continue to keep their interest in studying and learning. It is these kinds of ideas that we have benefited from the Madrassa Literacy project."

"Our next stage in development is improving the skills and teaching techniques of our madrassa teaching staff. Even though many of our staff are well qualified in teaching, we want to further develop their skills and knowledge base for the benefit of our children. This realisation again came through our interactions with other madrassas through the project."

Case Study 9 — Schools understanding the importance of working with Madrassas

The importance of primary schools and Madrassas working together is highlighted further when discussing the Madrassa Literacy Project with participating schools. 90% of the pupils that attend Shenton Primary School in Leicester are Muslim. The Madrassa Literacy Project flyer arrived at the desk of Mrs Gita Patel’s, Headmistress of the school, and she was immediately interested in what the project wanted to achieve.

"Most of our pupils go to Madrassas after school. They play a huge role in the lives of our pupils so it is important to better understand what Madrassas do and how we can support them better to educate our pupils. It is very exciting to work with Madrassas and learn from each other, in particular for our school which has a high percentage of Muslim children. This is why I and my school wanted to get involved," said Mrs Patel.

"I attended three of the project meetings organised by QED to understand how we could better work with the local Madrassas. Here I met with local Madrassas. As a result of these meetings, I have informed the staff in my school of what the Madrassas actually do and what they are doing in developing the children’s education. I have given a presentation at one of these meetings to the Madrassas about our school and what we do; exchanging ideas with them of how we could work better in the future. I was also a judge for this region’s Madrassa Literacy Competition which was great, learning first hand from the young children on why it is important for their Madrassa to work closer with their school."

"The Madrassa Literacy Project has brought a clearer vision of where we need to be heading towards. From the project, our school has learnt that Madrassas play a very important part in educating our children so we will support them where ever we can support. We would like to take forward what ever constructive ideas we learn from the Madrassas and pupils, especially as a more flexible curriculum is being introduced to schools here in the East Midlands. This way, we can give our pupils the learning experience that they want and support their parents."

"What would be useful is to measure and learn the impact from the Madrassas that took part in this project. I believe Madrassas have benefited considerably from this project, for example, access to IT equipment at schools, learning new protocols, procedures and learning techniques, and moving away from the traditional teaching methods by becoming more experimental. This is important to keep education exciting and interesting for the children."

"Without doubt, the Madrassa Literacy Project has been a fantastic project. It has raised awareness within our school of the role that Madrassas play in the local society, which would have not been tackled as strongly without this project. There is value placed in the project from both the schools and the Madrassas. I hope it continues in the future and becomes more effective in improving our children’s education through closer relationships between Madrassas and schools."

The Madrassa Literacy Project is a Department for Education and Skills 'Children, Young People and Families Grant Programme' funded project that supports young ethnic minority people aged 5 and 13 years of age living in Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands and the North West to improve their reading and writing. It helps support schools, parents and Madrassas to work more closely together so that they can help ethnic minority children with their education and provide more opportunities in life. For more information about the project, please contact QED on 01274 483267.