Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

For newly arrived families, Islamic schools provide a much-needed community for their children; however, how school leaders meet the needs of Muslim students who are newly arrived—whether refugee or immigrant—is critical in terms of developing their Australian Muslim identity and obtaining a sense of belonging in their new country. Therefore, it is crucial that Islamic school leaders are engaged in culturally relevant leadership. However, not all Islamic school leaders do, which can subsequently make decisions that disadvantage certain students, thereby compromising their newly arrived students’ identity development and sense of belonging. This paper reports on a qualitative case study investigating how school leaders at one Australian Islamic school understand and practice culturally relevant leadership. The findings, collected through semi-structured interviews, documents, and school site observations, suggest three areas for discussion. First, the school leaders lacked a critical consciousness that identified and challenged existing inequalities in the school. Second, school leaders were deficient in their pedagogical knowledge, which impeded instructional leadership and disenfranchised the learning of their newly arrived students. Third, school leaders were unreflective in their personal biases and imposed their religious beliefs on students, without concern for those of differing backgrounds. These culturally irrelevant decisions reinforced hegemonic social structures, which had great bearing on how newly arrived students understood their Australian Muslim identity and sense of belongingness.