2nd Annual Australian Islamic
Schooling Conference
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Day 1 Program
8:00am - 8:30am Registration Desk Open
8:30am - 8:35am Recitation of Qur’an Shaykh Amin (Al Khalil Mosque)
8:35am - 8:40am Welcome to Country Rod O’Brien, Senior Kaurna Man who is current Chairperson of Kaurna Native Title and Kaurna Language Committees
8:40am - 8:45am Overview of the role and importance of Education in the modern context
The Honourable Dr Susan Close, Minister of Education & Child Development
8:45am-8:50am Welcome to conference and introducing UniSA Professor David Lloyd, Vice Chancellor, UniSA
8:50am-9:00am Conference Opening & introducing EDS and CITE
Professor Stephen Dobson, Dean & Head of School of Education, UniSA
9:00am-9:05am Conference Overview Professor Mohamad Abdalla, Director of CITE and Conference Convenor
9:05am – 10:00am
Q & A (15 mins)
Keynote Address 1
Dr Nadeem Memon - Director of Education, Abu Dhabi University, UAE.
Chair: Professor Stephen Dobson, Dean & Head of School of Education, UniSA
10:00am – 10:30am Morning Tea
10:30pm – 12:00pm
(30 mins presentations, 15 mins Q & A for each presenter)
Plenary Session 1: Curriculum Conceptualisations
1. Australian Curriculum: Overview and Future Directions - Dr Deborah Price, Senior Lecturer at UniSA and Executive Member at the Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA).
2. Islamic World View and the National
Curriculum: Can they be reconciled? - Mr Dylan Chown, Director Islamic Education, CITE, UniSA.
Panel Chair: Professor Seema Imam (Co-Chair National College of Education, at National Louis University, USA).
12:00pm – 1:30pm
(30 mins presentation, 15 mins Q & A for each presenter)
Plenary Session 2 Contemporary Models
1. Curriculum in Australian Islamic Schools:
Trends and Future Prospects - Ms Aynur Simsirel, Principal Advisor, Independent Schools of Victoria and former Executive Principal of Ilim College.
2. Teaching Islam as part of the curriculum in an Islamic School in Australia - Dr Peter Jones, The Friends' School, Hobart, Tasmania.
Panel Chair: Dr Deborah Price, Senior Lecturer at UniSA and Executive Member at the Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA)
1:30pm – 2:30pm Lunch and Salah1
2:30pm – 4:00pm
(30 mins presentation, 15 mins Q & A for each presenter)
Plenary Session 3 Learning from other Contexts
1. Islamic Education Curriculum: the USA
experience - Dr Tasneema Ghazi, IQRA’ International Educational Foundation, USA.
2. Integration efforts in the North American
Context: Professor Seema Imam (Co-Chair National College of Education, at National Louis University).
Panel Chair: Mr Abdullah Khan, Executive
Principle, Australian Islamic College, Perth
4:00pm – 4:30pm Afternoon Tea
4:30pm – 5:00pm Day 1 Summary and Wrap up Collective discussion
4:45pm END OF DAY 1
7:00pm CONFERENCE DINNER Mt Lofty House
Shaykh Muhammad Abdullah – Elder, educator, community advocate and PhD candidate.
1 Duhur Salah 12.21 PM; Asr 3:02 PM; Maghreb 05:21 PM
Day 2 Program
8:30am – 8:50am Registration Open
8:50am - 9:00am Welcome Day 2 Professor Mohamad Abdalla, Director of CITE, UniSA and Conference Convenor
9.00am – 10:00am
Q & A (15 mins)
Keynote Address 2:
Speaker: Professor Seema Imam (Co-Chair National College of Education, at National Louis University)
Chair: Ms Helen Schiele, Senior Advisor,
Independent Schools, Victoria.
10.00am – 10.30am Morning Tea
10:30am – 12:00pm
(30 mins presentation, 15 mins Q & A for each presenter)
Plenary Session 4
Responsive Pedagogies
1. Culturally Responsive Pedagogies - Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney, UniSA.
2. Islamic community schools in Australia: a case of a contextually responsive curriculum – Dr Ibrahima Diallo, Research Centre for Languages and Cultures, UniSA
Panel Chair: Mr. Andrew Houghton, Principal, Al Siraat College
12:00pm - 1:30pm
(20 mins presentation, 10 mins Q & A for each presenter)
Plenary Session 5
Debates and contested spaces
1. Tahfizh Curriculum: A Sociological
Approach – Dr Muhammad Zuhdi, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the Faculty of Education, State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta
2. The Islamic Education Curriculum in the
Sultanate of Oman Integrating diversity – Dr Anke Iman Bouzenita and Dr Mohsin al-Salimi, Sultan Qaboos University
Panel Chair: Mr Fazeel Arian, College
Director, Al Siraat College
1:30pm-2:30pm Lunch & Salah
2:30pm – 4:00pm
(30 mins presentation, 15 mins Q & A for each presenter)
Plenary Session 6
Curriculum renewal
1. What would an Islamic school Arabic curriculum look like? Ms Nadia Selim, PhD Candidate, CITE, UniSA and Associate Professor Angela Scarino
2. National Islamic studies curriculum: Process, expectations, quality control: Prof Mohamad Abdalla, Director of CITE, UniSA
Panel Chair: Dr Ibrahima Diallo, Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages, UniSA
Vice Chancellor’s welcome to Australian Islamic Schooling Conference
5
4:00pm – 4:15pm Afternoon Tea
4:15pm – 5:00pm Panel Discussion
The Way Forward
Panel Chair: Professor Mohamad Abdalla, Director of CITE, UniSA and Conference Convenor
1. Dr Nadeem Memon 2. Professor Seema Imam 3. Ms Aynur Simsirel 4. Mr Muhammad Abdullah
5.00pm – 5:10pm Conference Summary Mr. Dylan Chown, Program Director, Islamic Education, CITE, UniSA
5:10pm – 5:15pm Vote of thanks and End
Vice Chancellor’s welcome to Australian Islamic Schooling Conference
6
• Good morning
• I am Professor David Lloyd, Vice Chancellor and
President of the University of South Australia.
• We are Australia’s University of Enterprise which means
we partner with industry, the professions, other
institutions and centres of academic excellence
nationally and internationally,
• to equip our students with the knowledge, skills and
capabilities necessary for successful citizenship in a
complex global society.
• A multicultural, multifaith society.
• Over the next two days you will hear from a number of
international speakers with impressive credentials who
will help enlighten you on a variety of contemporary
issues in Islamic education.
Vice Chancellor’s welcome to Australian Islamic Schooling Conference
7
• Many of them work here at UniSA and all of them will
share their ideas on ensuring the future of curriculum in
Islamic schooling in the West.
• As I stated in my welcome notes for this Conference,
education is a universal truth – truth, insight and
knowledge are the common bedrocks of human
civilisation.
• As a university we have the obligation to help extend
the depth and breadth of human understanding,
• and that cannot be confined to people who think alike
and who share similar histories.
• It is through education and research that our Centre for
Islamic Thought and Education (CITE) works to broaden
perspectives and so advance a deeper understanding of
Islam and Muslims and their place in Australia and the
modern world.
Vice Chancellor’s welcome to Australian Islamic Schooling Conference
8
• It is only through education and research that we can
build the interconnectedness between Islam and the
West,
• and the work that educators do to build and strengthen
this interconnectedness is what we are all here for.
• But it’s pointless to talk about education without talking
about those who deliver it,
• and this is where the University of South Australia
makes such a difference.
• We teach the teachers.
• And you will meet some of our best thinkers on the
topic of education,
o Professor Stephen Dobson, Dean and Head of our
School of Education;
Vice Chancellor’s welcome to Australian Islamic Schooling Conference
9
o Professor Lester Irabinna Rigney and Dr Deborah
Price, also from our School of Education;
o Associate Professor Angela Scarino from our School
of Communication, International Studies and
Languages;
o Dr Ibrahima Diallo from UniSA’s Research Centre
for Languages and Cultures;
o And, of course, Professor Mohammad Abdalla,
Director of the Centre for Islamic Thought and
Education and his colleagues, Dylan Chown,
Director of Islamic Education at the Centre and
Nadia Selim, a PhD Candidate at that Centre.
• Each, in his or her own way, is dedicated to education.
Vice Chancellor’s welcome to Australian Islamic Schooling Conference
10
• To quote UniSA’s Emeritus Professor Alan Reid who is
one of Australia’s foremost educational thinkers,
• If education is central to the growth of individuals and
the development of the economy and Australian
democracy, then the capacity of the teaching force is at
the heart of the education process.
• The teachers of today are a new breed and they’re
facing a whole new world.
• Central to your deliberations over this next couple of
days will be themes such as:
o Conceptualisations;
o Theories;
o Debates and contested spaces;
o Historical models;
o Analyses of contemporary models;
o Analyses of inter-faith perspectives;
Vice Chancellor’s welcome to Australian Islamic Schooling Conference
11
o Curriculum, assessment and pedagogy; and
o Leadership for quality curriculum.
• I believe the next two days will be enlightening
• I hope that your academic research and teaching will
have a positive impact on the community, with the
media and with government and non-government
organisations.
• I hope it is also an opportunity to ensure that education
leads to a focus on genuine and meaningful engagement
between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
• And that information and education can help better
bridges of understanding within our community.
• Enjoy your time together.
• Thank you.