Salaamun Alaikum,
Welcome to the first of a regular monthly update from the Madrasah Centre of Excellence. Through this monthly email we hope to:

  1. Update you on the progress made by MCE and its activities
  1. Share good practices that are happening in other madrasah around the world
  1. Share news of important developments in the field of madrasah education
  1. Listen to you and take your feedback, suggestions and new ideas

 

What is Madarasah Centre of Excellence (MCE)?

 

The Madrasah Centre of Excellence was initiated after The Word Federation held a Madaris Retreat in Dubai in February 2011 and the key recommendation from the retreat was the formation of a formal madrasah structure to ensure that the madrasah agenda is always at the forefront of our leaders and our global organisation. The detailed report can be read here.
This report was than tabled at the triennial conference held in May 2011 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanaznia and was unanimously approved by the Conference. To read the press release for the conference, please click here.
MCE was formally launched on 3-6th February and Al Haj Naushad Mehrali was appointed as the Head of the MCE.

MCE structure

 

MCE Update:

  1. The MCE team including the stream heads met in Birmingham in April to set out a detailed plan of action and agree timelines to ensure delivery of the project.
     
  2. The preliminary standards for evaluation and assessment of madrasah have been identified and approved.
     
  3. The draft process for the assessment and evaluation of madrasah have been prepared and will be co-created during pilot assessments.
     
  4. The first pilot assessment was carried in Hyderi Islamic School in South London, UK on 12 May 2012.

 

  1. The first assessors training programme took place in Birmingham from 27th to 29th April 2012, 23 participants from London, Birmingham, Peterborough, Leicester, Wessex, Daressalaam, Arusha, Nairobi, Dubai, Brampton and Allentown. Click here to read the full report of the programme.

 

  1. The second assessors training will take place in Africa in July 2012 and this will be followed by the second pilot assessment.

 

  1. A survey of madaris on ideal curriculum requirements was carried out at the end of last year. A summary of the report is available below.

 

  1. A madrasah analyst has been engaged to collate the notes, resources and syllabus from madaris worldwide and to draw up a comparative chart for each major subject by madrasah, age and gender. This exercise will ascertain where we currently are and to identify gaps. The subjects of Fiqh, Akhlaq and Aqa'id have already been completed.

 

  1. The Teacher Training stream has already held training workshops in Mombasa, Nairobi, Birmingham and Peterborough (by Sheikh Mohamed Zakaria) and Dubai (by Sister Nikhat Panjwani).

 

  1. Discussions have been taking place with a number of institutions, including City & Guilds , for validating a bespoke teacher training programme for madrasah teachers. In addition, discussions have been held with the Open University for the validation of the 'Certificate in Islamic Teacher Training and Education'.

 

  1. The Learning Resources Stream has already started the task of gathering madrasah resources currently being used and is comparing them with different secular education resources to gauge areas of development.

 

  1. The Learning Resources team have started to gather resources in use by madaris and are comparing them to secular education resources to understand how the same level of quality can be applied.

 

  1. The Team is working on developing a module for madaris on Tolerance and Respect, dealing with multi faith issues.

 

  1. The Team is preparing a comprehensive manual dealing with a number of generic good governance, including the Health and Safetyand the Safe Guarding of Children. We hope to have this ready by the end of year for use by madaris.

Vision of MCE: Nurturing Piety

 

Mission: Enabling a learning environment that instils the values of Qur'an and the Ahlul Bayt (A.S). This vision will be realised by co-ordinating the four work streams below:
Curriculum Development: to provide a global curriculum framework that can be tailored to individual madrasah needs and which would be reviewed periodically.
Teacher Training: to facilitate the provision of training to meet the training needs of the madrasah teachers. It would also provide support and a forum for teachers to interact, share valuable experiences and learn.
Learning Resources: to provide a comprehensive resource centre for teachers, parents and students where resources can be shared globally encouraging development of new ideas and innovation.
Assessment and Evaluation: to create a learning environment for all where the students, teachers and institutions are assessed and evaluated with a view to continually improve and develop.

 

Curriculum Survey

 

A questionnaire was sent out to madaris at the end of last year to obtain feedback on a global curriculum. A summary of responses received shows that:


Half believe that the current curriculum adequately addresses the needs of the 14+ age group.
The majority concur that the 16+ curriculum is inadequate.
Majority of respondents believe that the current texts are inadequate.
Aqaed, Akhlaq and Qur'anic Studies are seen to be the areas where the most attention should be given in curriculum development.
A significant number believe that whilst their current curriculum is rich content wise, it lacks qualitative aspects.
The majority believe that the current curriculum lacks concordance with modern education and requires further development to meet with the requirements.
The majority believe in the need to engage educational experts and ulama as well as other Muslim organisations in the development of a global curriculum.

 

Sharing a Best Practice

 

For a number of years, Hyderi Islamic School , South London has engaged a senior male volunteer from the community to check the wudhoo of every boy in the madrasah (similar exericse is being done in the girls sections as well).
The volunteer comes in for 2 to 3 hours every Saturday and whilst classes are carrying on, boys take turns to go to the wudhoo area and perform their wudhoo in the presence of the volunteer. If the boy makes mistakes, the volunteer demonstrates the correct way and requests the student to repeat the exercise.
The advantages of this method are that every boy's wudhoo is checked over a period of time and at the same time normal classes are not affected. The volunteer is completely focused on ensuring that all the student's wudhoo is correct.

 

Madrasah Details

 

In order to have accurate data on each madrasah and to keep in touch with them, we have started to build a database of madrasah and thier teachers. A request for data completion was sent to all madrasah principals for completion. If you have not received the form, please notify us at [email protected]

 

Feedback

 

We look forward to hearing from you with your feedback, suggestions and opinions on this important initiative of The World Federation. You can contact the Head of MCE by emailing him at [email protected] or call him on + 44 (0)121 246 3575