Learning to Live Well Together. Tom Wilson

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СКАЧАТЬ lives and breathes that particular faith and is active in their community. However, it is also made clear that they are one voice amongst many. Our training participants are also not ‘punished via PowerPoint’. In a world of virtual communications, our approach is one of face-to-face encounter.

      A typical training day would include a ‘Facts of Faiths Game’, where the large group is split into teams and take part in a competitive card game exercise. The winning team is awarded a prize! This is followed by an overview of ‘Religions & Beliefs in the UK’, including data from the Census/Office for National Statistics. The next stage is the ‘round robin’ session where participants are split back into their teams and spend approximately 20 minutes with a faith practitioner on a rotational basis. They answer anonymous questions written by delegates earlier on in the day. Rather than imparting information to those attending, the ‘round robin’ directly poses questions related to world issues or workplace challenges. So, for example, rather than a question about how many times in a day Muslims pray, the question is likely to be: ‘How can I as a line manager facilitate appropriate time off for prayer whilst ensuring business needs are fully met without compromising other aspects of the company?’

      A session titled ‘Case Studies’ will involve groups assessing a potential or real-life example of a difficulty where solutions and, more importantly, approaches need to be assessed. In the case of the police, this will include how to respond in case of an attack on a place of worship and the resulting rumour mill about the alleged perpetrators. Finally, the day ends with a visit to a place of worship so that the day is brought together in a different setting where hospitality and welcome are the order of the day. This is also an opportunity to learn in more detail from another religion belief.

      This recipe has worked very successfully for many years. When I began working at the St Philip’s Centre, some of the public sector courses had a strongly academic flavour, where the reality on the ground was often missing. In addition, plenary sessions often led to hesitancy from the floor to ask questions or indeed an over-dominance of replies from questions posed to one faith over another. There is a method to our training offer, and repeated evaluations show very high levels of satisfaction. However, the challenge is that whilst many have taken on the introductory-level programme, many public sector institutions have not freed up staff to undertake the intermediate level. This is, 6 to 12 months on, a programme to identify how practice has been shaped or where new examples are shared for mutual assessment. Part of this is down to budgets but also to organisational cultures where the bare minimum is delivered.

      Understanding and providing services for diverse communities in a challenging context cannot be achieved in one day. This is why the approach taken by the army through the Seventh Brigade and the 158 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) is one which is long term and rooted in relationship building. The army’s training is complemented by their own named staff member, given a sole remit of connecting with communities and offering opportunities such as leadership and development training for young people in faith venues. This begins to reposition the narrative between communities and the armed services, which is crucial.

      One such example was during the visit of the Rt Hon Earl Howe to Crown Hills Community College in Leicester in February 2016, when the Armed Forces Muslim Association highlighted the Muslim contribution to the British Army in the First and Second World Wars. Many Muslims lost their lives, including Khudadad Khan, the first Muslim solider to receive the Victoria Cross, with Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the previous communities minister, hailing his ‘exceptional loyalty, courage and determination in Britain’s fight for freedom’ (Malnick 2014). However, it was apparent that many of the children attending the school were not aware of this fact, which they deemed to be positive. Needless to say, there would be similar responses to other war heroes from other faiths too. Therefore, for the armed forces, understanding and appreciating history is an important part of their particular narrative of encounter. However, such narratives are not always universally settled. For example, the narrative of the relationship for sections of the black community in London and the Metropolitan Police is still dominated by the tragedy of Stephen Lawrence’s murder. Learning from history to carve out new connections is key.

      Recruiting from ethnic or religious minority communities, to ensure services are reflective of the areas they serve, remains a key challenge to public sector bodies despite some of the progress made. In particular, at senior management level, whether local authority, NHS, police, armed services, fire service or educational institution, there is no doubt that there are recruitment difficulties and, even if at entry level the barriers are broken, the further up the chain the less reflective they are of their respective areas. This is a significant concern, and a welcome development has been the call by Prime Minister Theresa May to order a Cabinet Office ‘review into how ethnic minorities and white working class people are treated by public services such as the NHS, schools, police and the courts’ (BBC 2016b). The inclusion of ‘white working class’ is vital in the wider context of integration and inclusion in society. How public bodies respond to the issues posed remains to be seen.

      Clearly this is not a problem confined to public bodies, with the private sector also needing to reflect on its own challenges. For example, how many bank or building society boards could be said to be reflective of UK society?

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