Guidance Purpose

Faith is a powerful element of both personal and community identity.

The diversity of society cannot be fully described and communities cannot be fully inclusive if faith is not included, as multicultural communities are also multi-faith communities.

From 2 December 2003, when the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations came into force, it became unlawful to discriminate against workers because of religion or similar belief.

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Raising awareness

This guide aims to raise awareness of employers’ responsibilities to employees from all faith communities.

This guidance has been written to support Haringey schools in ensuring they meet the religious needs of all members of the school community at all levels.

It has also been written in order to support schools as they work with their local communities and prepare their students to become confident and informed members of that society as they move into adult life.

Through the curriculum, everyday aspects of school life and the varied opportunities that they offer, schools introduce their students and their students’ families to the experiences and heritages of the wider community in which they are placed.

We are fortunate to contain a vibrant multi-faith and multicultural community, where whilst some groups are recent arrivals to this country, others have been established for many years or centuries.

Schools are often in a position of introducing their students and their families to the excitement and challenges that living in such a rich community can entail.

It is important to foster understanding and respect between different faith traditions as well as between different cultural and ethnic groups.

All major faiths promote equality and respect for others as a fundamental value. In most cases, at a personal and community level, this translates into good community relations and integrity in public life.

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Religious festivals

Belonging to any community involves sharing good and bad times experienced by members of that community and this includes the celebration of festivals.

It is therefore important that employees and students in local schools take the opportunity to develop an awareness of, and respect for, Holy Days from faiths other than their own.

Stereotypes based on religion can be stubborn and pernicious, as in the cases of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

Such attitudes must be addressed within cohesion strategies if people of all faiths are to feel an equal sense of belonging and enjoy equal security in society.

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Benefits of following our guidance

We believe that schools that demonstrate good practice as described in this guidance will:

create a positive atmosphere, where there is a shared commitment to value diversity and respect difference.
challenge and prevent racism and discrimination, and promote good relations between people from different racial and religious groups.
prepare students to be full citizens in today’s multi-ethnic, multifaith society.
make the workforce more representative of the communities they serve.
improve staff morale and performance.
avoid losing able staff.
make full use of the skills and ideas from people from different religious groups (for example, in the classroom or as members of governing bodies).

Please note: Throughout this guidance information has been given about the beliefs and practices of a range of faith communities.

It is important to appreciate that not all members of a faith community interpret the requirements of their faith for religious observance in the same way and that even within a small local community there may be members of faith groups whose practice varies widely.

Schools must ensure that they do not make comparisons between members of faith communities or in any way suggest that any member of a faith is less observant or correct in practice in comparison with another.

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