MCE Update

Salaamun Alaikum,

1.       The Panel of Experts retreat for curriculum development took place in Milton Keynes, UK on 2nd-4th November. In addition to the MCE team, the attendees included Syed Muhammad Rizvi (Canada), Khalil bhai Jaffer (Canada), Bashir bhai Datoo (USA), Sheikh Mohammad Shomali (Qum), Dr Abdullah Sahin (Markfield Institute, UK), Maurice Irfan Coles (Islam & Citizenship Education Project, UK), Dr Shiraz Thobani (Institute of Islamic Studies, UK), Razia bai Janmohamed (Madrasah Principal, Tanzania) and Sajjad Govani (Madrasah Principal, UK).

Nine papers were presented on topics such as Status Quo on Madrasah Curriculum, Component Structure of Madrasah Learning, Crises of Conscience Theme in Madrasah Curriculum, Learner-Centred Approach to Islamic Education and its Reflection in the Curriculum, and Weaving Spirituality in the Curriculum. The external consultants shared their expertise and experience in the field of curriculum development in an Islamic environment.

After the intensive deliberations over two and a half days, the objectives of the meeting were met. These were:

  • To agree on the approach to be adopted for teaching the curriculum i.e. subjects to be integrated in the early years and segregated in later years
  • To agree on the outline of a framework curriculum and charting out a methodology for progressing to a curriculum and syllabus in the future.


It was agreed that the draft framework should be ready by 31 March 2013.
 

  1. At the Executive Council Meeting of the World Federation held in Antananarivo, Madagascar on 10-11 November 2012, MCE was once again one of the main items on the agenda. The presentation on the update of MCE’s activities generated a lot of interest with the attendees which in turn led to an hour of questions.

Training Needs Survey

Further extracts from the report of training needs survey carried out with 100 madrasah teachers in East Africa in August 2012.

  1.  

Do you think teacher training should be made compulsory for teachers in the madrasah?

Yes

No

No. of teachers

94%

6%
  1.  

Do you have access to training materials for teachers? E.g. teaching guides, videos

Yes

No

No. of teachers

48%

52%
  1.  

Do you have a document that states the roles/duties of a madrasah teacher?

Yes

No

No. of teachers

43%

57%
  1.  

Have you attended any teacher training programmes within the madrasah?

Yes

No

No. of teachers

78%

22%
  1.  

If yes to 4 above, how many training days have you attended in the last 12 months?

1-2 days

3-5 days

5+ days

No. of teachers

60%

27%

13%
  1.  

Did you find the teacher training helpful?

Yes

No

No. of teachers

96%

4%
  1.  

Have you received any teacher training elsewhere (outside the madrasah)?

Yes

No

No. of teachers

46%

54%

 

Assessment & Evaluation

Having examined the first three preliminary standards of assessment and evaluation of madrasah, we will now look at the line of enquiry which would be followed in order to assess compliance with the fourth and last standard.  

Learning Resources

Here’s a website that may be of interest to madrasah teachers.

Website address
www.islamicplayground.com

Approximate age range
4-12 years

General summary of contents
Children can navigate the site easily to find activities that they like. Includes colouring pages, word searches, recitation practice, puzzles, quizzes and more

Good points

  • Ease of navigation by target group
  • Engaging activities already created for children to use
  • Immediate feedback (happy faces, ‘Masha-Allah’ for correct responses)
  • Colouring pages and Quran recitation practise activities are generic – can use technology in the classroom

Not so good points

  • As the website has been developed by Sunnis, some of the terminology will not be familiar to our children

Areas of caution

  • Teachers should use it selectively for younger children

Suggested improvements

  • Useful for any IT wizards in our community who want to develop such websites
  • Create the same activities using Shia teachings

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 their teachers. A request form for data collection was sent to all madrasah principals for completion. We have received only 24 madrasah profiles to date. Madaris that have not yet returned the forms are once again reminded to do so as soon as possible.If you have not received the form, please notify us at [email protected]

We Need Your 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