This paper details the results of a research project examining the issues of cultural sustainability among faith-based schools and the overlapping discourses of social engagement or alienation from the wider community. It frames a discussion of the broader philosophical issues about identity formation and cultural maintenance through separate schooling in Muslim and Jewish school communities in the UK. Politically, the context of the study is formed by the British government agenda on social cohesion in the aftermath of 9/11, 7/7 and the riots in northern towns in England in 2001 (Cantle Report 2001; HMSO 2006). Government interest in the potential of faith communities and their organizations is reflected in developments of public policy (Inner Cities Religious Council and Commission on Interaction and Cohesion). They are also seen as important for providing an alternative and empowering space outside the national sphere (Bourdieu 1985); for dissent and the mobilizing of social movements (Gilroy 1993); and for serving as a form of ethnic/religious defence (Husain and O’Brien, 1999). Curriculum choices in faith-based schools also demonstrate epistemological positions towards community cohesion (Osler and Starkey, 2005).

Methodologically, this ESRC-funded enquiry involved case studies of four Muslim schools (Parker-Jenkins 2005, Walford, 2001, Hewer, 2001), and four Jewish schools (Miller 2001, Short and Carrington 2001). The study incorporated semi-structured interviews with pupils and other stake-holders in the school. A key issue was how each school community negotiates issues of hostility, exclusion and security, such as anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, whilst also trying to address issues of community cohesion. In the data-analysis stage, we used the computer software NVivo, and theoretically we were informed by Gaines’ “Typology of Engagement” (2005).

The paper is structured around this political and methodological background, and the key findings. These suggest that a diversity of approaches are used in maintaining a religious/ cultural focus in the curriculum which overlaps with efforts to engage with the wider community at local, regional, national and international levels. Significantly, children and not adults reflected security concerns emerging from hostile activities which can be defined as Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism. Further, whilst parents relayed interest in having more inter-faith events, paradoxically senior management expressed concerns over trying to increase levels of community engagement when some parents had deliberately chosen the school so their children did not have to mix with others. Finally in the paper, we theorize the concepts in depth and argue that “community engagement” rather than “community cohesion” is a more realistic aspiration, and we look at examples of good practice within and beyond the UK which promote this social goal.