The 5th Annual Australian Islamic Schooling Conference was held in Sydney on Saturday 6 August at Malek Fahd Islamic School in Greenacre. The one-day event, organised by the Centre for Islamic Thought & Education (CITE), was attended by educators from all over Australia and New Zealand.
The audience at the conference with the theme ‘Showcasing Islamic School Renewal in Practice’, heard from practitioners about their own transformative renewal projects across schools and classrooms marking a shift for Islamic schools from ‘belonging’ toward ‘distinction.’
The very process of renewal (tajdīd) is embedded in the Islamic tradition that will lead to distinction that is premised and grounded in an Islamic philosophy of education, with a distinct Islamic pedagogy yet cognisant of contextual demands and constraints.
The program started with the recitation of Quran and acknowledgement of country followed by addresses by the host Dr Zachriah Matthews Principal, Malek Fahd Islamic School, Mr Abdullah Khan, Executive Principal & CEO, Australian Islamic College and Professor Mohamad Abdalla AM, Director, CITE, University of South Australia.
Dr Nadeem Memon, Program Director of Islamic Education and Mr Dylan Chown Lecturer both from CITE elaborated on the Highlights and Challenges of renewal in practice.
A panel discussion titled ‘Practice Showcase – Renewal of Policy (frameworks) for Practice’ was held by Lead Practitioners including Mrs Houda Kbbar, Head of Wellbeing, Malek Fahd Islamic School (Sydney), Dr Nadia Selim Associate Lecturer in the discipline of Arabic Language and Culture, University of Sydney and Ms Eman Aweida, Primary Pedagogy and Curriculum Integration Lead and Ms Samah Taki, Secondary Pedagogy and Curriculum Integration Lead both from Irfan College, Sydney.
The highlight of the conference was a number of Parallel workshops were conducted by Senior educators both from Primary and Secondary schools on the theme with further table briefing and discussions throughout the day.
The conference was sponsored and supported by MFIS, ISSA, Masjid al Khalil, Study Space, Sadaqa, The Farid un Nisa Ismani Islamic Education Grant and Islamic School Association of Australia (ISAA).
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