This paper addresses the following research questions:

• What are the educational outcomes of Muslim pupils in England and Scotland relative to other ethno-religious groups?
• What policies on interculturalism are evident in England and Scotland and how do these contrast with approaches adopted in other European countries?
• How do Muslim parents negotiate the education system in England and Scotland, and how are their approaches related to a range of characteristics such as social class background and nationality?

Data are drawn from a research project funded by the Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World at the University of Edinburgh. This three-year project involved analysis of inter-cultural policies across Europe, quantitative analysis of educational attainment data by ethno-religious group and case studies of Muslim parents in different social contexts.  

Over the past decade across Europe, there has been growing anxiety over national security and the perceived threat of Islamism.  Concerns about social cohesion have been fuelled by the rise of the far-right promoting Islamophobic ideology, playing on the fears of indigenous populations that recent immigrants from the Muslim world have exacerbated employment shortages and are placing an unmanageable strain on social welfare systems.   Responding to these anxieties, the European Commission has commissioned research investigating the way in which different European countries are developing social and political systems reflecting the growing diversity of their populations.  Work by Emerson (2011) suggests that education systems have a crucial role to play in developing inter-cultural understanding. This paper examines the extent to which schools in England and Scotland are contributing to the social inclusion of Muslim populations.

The paper draws on theories of inter-sectionality (Siltanen, 2006; McCall, 2005). Quantitative analysis of school qualifications employs inter-categorical techniques to explore the relationship between a range of social variables, in this case, ethno-religious identity, social class and gender, with a view to estimating their relative importance in producing particular outcomes. Qualitative data, derived from case studies, are used to develop intra-categorical analysis, examining differences within a particular group, in this case, Muslim parents.

Major within-group and between-group differences are apparent in the educational experiences and outcomes of Muslim pupils.  As noted by Hills et al. (2010), educational and economic differences between minority ethnic groups have been diminishing over time within the UK, but differences within groups relating to social class have been widening. This is consonant with the general trend across Europe, where economic inequality has been widening since the 1980s, particularly in countries with neo-liberal regimes such as the UK (OECD, 2007). Social class differences are mediated by both gender and ethnicity, with socially disadvantaged boys from minority ethnic groups having particularly poor educational outcomes.   Education, conceived as a positional good, has become particularly important in either gaining or underpinning middle class status. In this paper we investigate how these social class differences are reflected in the educational strategies of Scottish and English Muslim parents occupying different social class positions.

Emerson, M. (2011) Interculturalism – Europe and its Muslims in search of sound societal models, Brussels: Centre of European Policy Studies Hills, J., Brewer, M., Jenkins, S., Lister, R., Lupton, R., Machin, S., Mills, C., Modood, T., Rees, T. and Riddell, S. (2010) An anatomy of economic inequality in the UK London: London School of Economics. Kidd, S. and Jamieson, L. (2011) Experiences of Muslims living in Scotland, Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research McCall, L. (2005) The complexity of inter-sectionality Signs 30, 3, 1771 – 1800 OECD (2007) Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries Paris: OECD. Siltanen, J. (2006) Gender, diversity and the shaping of public policy in Canada, Scottish Affairs 56, Summer, 88-101.