More Than Diversity

A Christian Perspective on Multicultural Classrooms

Guidance issued recently to schools by councils across the north of England sent social media into freefall last week. 

The document, Sharing the Journey, advised teachers not to ask pupils to draw figures such as Jesus or Muhammad in lessons, and in some cases even to avoid drawing the human form. The news was seized upon- perhaps predictably- by commentators incensed about the influence of other faiths in shaping British cultural norms and taboos. It garnered a lot of attention and debate, as you might imagine; the topic of integration and immigration is rarely far from the headlines.  But it has also brought into focus the growing and very real challenge of navigating religious sensitivities in increasingly diverse classrooms. 

As Christians, we must neither ignore the issues naively, nor see the topic through the lens of culture wars. Instead, we must think though how schools are preparing this generation to navigate the rapid and complex integration of religious, non-religious, and cultural diversity with Biblical wisdom.

Let’s start by surveying the subject.

Rapid Demographic Change

Immigration to the UK has arguably been the most significant social and demographic change of the 21st century. Since the late 90s, immigration and emigration have both reached historic highs—yet immigration has exceeded emigration by over 100,000 every single year between 1998 and 2020. In the year to June 2023, net migration was 906,000.[1]

And of course, we are seeing this reflected in education.  The latest DfE data shows a striking demographic change unfolding in England’s schools. In the 2024/25 school census of roughly 21,500 state-funded schools, White British pupils make up 60.3%[2] of students, a drop from 62.6% in just two years. 

Today, my children attend a suburban school where roughly 40% of pupils speak English as an additional language- about double the national average. Their classmates include children who have undertaken perilous journeys from Iran, West Africa, and Ukraine; others come from Greece, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, and from across Eastern Europe. The languages spoken are many and varied, and families practise a wide range of religious traditions, including Islam, Sikhism, Alevism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism.

Long-term projections point to notable shifts in the UK’s religious landscape. The Muslim share of the population is forecast to grow from 7% to nearly 20% by 2100—close to one in five people. Alongside this, the proportion of those who say they have no religion has risen sharply and now sits at almost 40% of the population[3].

Of course, we need to be careful when discussing ethnic identity, religious identity, culture and country of birth; the topic is complex and these terms are not interchangeable. And as Christians working in or engaging in schools work it is an opportunity to show hospitality, compassion for those who may have fled danger, and love for neighbour- who may indeed be very different to ourselves. Rather than going to all nations, the nations have come to us! We now have the chance to reach out with the gospel to multiple cultures, ethnicities, and nationalities right here in our own communities. 

But you don’t need me to tell you that British society isn’t as harmonious as we would all like. Recent research from the Policy Institute at King’s College London[4] and Ipsos shows that perceptions of division in the UK are now at their highest since records began in 2020. Eighty-four per cent of the public say the country feels divided—up sharply from 74% five years ago. And tension between immigrants and those born in the UK has climbed sharply in the past two years with the majority of participants now say they perceive great tension around the topic of immigration, rising from 74% in 2023 to 86% today.

This also raises important questions for schools and particularly for Religious Education. How is the curriculum intended to enrich such a diverse array of learners, and to what end? How do we cultivate a coherent sense of shared culture and common life amidst such plurality? Should the curriculum be instrumentalised to meet these ends, even if they are desirable? 

Remaining generous and open-hearted towards people from different cultural backgrounds, while also recognising that a thriving community depends on shared foundations, common narratives, and a collective sense of purpose, is surely both wise and pragmatic. And as Christians in Education, we would surely want Christianity to be the primary shaper of our collective norms and values, wouldn’t we?

But with the rapid changes to the cultural make up of our society,  we must face some difficult questions. 

What does all of this mean for the message of Christianity in our schools and for our nation’s children? 

Will it be drowned out—swept aside by a rising tide of competing worldviews?

And how should Christians respond?

Creating a cohesive culture

One school that has sought to cultivate a strong sense of shared “Britishness” is Michaela School in Wembley, London. Its intake is around 90% ethnic minority, about half Muslim, in an area of significant deprivation. The school recently faced a legal challenge over its refusal to allow communal Muslim prayer, citing a clearly defined secular ethos in its defence- which, as a Free School, it is permitted to adopt. 

When I visited on a cold November morning, I indeed saw an impressively cohesive culture. Pupils sang the National Anthem and confidently recited poems such as Kipling’s If— and Henley’s Invictus. Over lunch, a group of lively Year 8s eagerly discussed the day’s question about where they would place a portal to in the world and why. Their thoughtful answers and seemingly genuine curiosity about my own life was impressive, as was the students’ reflections on the school’s strict rules in terms of responsibility to others.

At Michaela there may be no designated spaces for Muslim prayer, but there are also no assemblies where children hear about Jesus, no chances outside the academic focus of the RE classroom to dig deeper into the central claims of the Christian faith. Church leaders cannot come in to take a guest lesson, offer pastoral support, or contribute to meeting pupils’ moral, cultural or spiritual needs. In that sense, the cohesive culture on offer is impressive — but also carefully contained.

Even in schools without such a strongly secular ethos, secular ideologies often dominate the curriculum and school life- albeit often in a profoundly different way to Michaela!  Many may not recognise these frameworks as ideologies, but removing Christianity from the public sphere does not make society less ‘religious’; devotion is simply redirected elsewhere. G. K. Chesterton put it aptly: “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”

So, is the answer a ‘re-Christianisation’ of our schools?

Fruit Without the Root

One of my favourite books at the moment is Tom Holland’s Dominion. It shows how deeply Christianity has shaped the UK’s moral imagination; it gives ideas like human dignity, equality for all, and care for the vulnerable their true foundation. 

But when these values are separated from their Christian roots, they cannot flourish; like cut flowers, they may look appealing for a time, but they will ultimately fade.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t advocate for the preservation of Christianity’s place in schools, teach rich Christian doctrine in RE, or share Bible stories in assemblies. Nor does it mean we shouldn’t push back when ideas antithetical to a Christian understanding of culture are promoted as good. These are wonderful opportunities to shape school life for the sake of the gospel.

But we do so knowing that Christianity stands on the merits of its own truth. We do not need to assert domination; the message of the gospel can exert its transforming power naturally in the lives it touches.

How then can Christian teachers respond in an ever-changing culture with a plurality of belief systems? Here are four suggestions.

1.Challenge assumptions with grace
Many people—particularly those who have lived in the UK most or all of our lives—tend to view all religions through the lens of Christianity, assuming they operate with the same moral framework. As Christian teachers, parents, governors, and church leaders, we must not be afraid to challenge, gently and graciously, the well-intentioned but often naïve assumptions in schools that all organised (or even non-organised) worldviews uphold the concept of Imago Dei—that every human being, regardless of background, carries dignity deserving of respect. This calls us to carefully examine curricula that present only the positive interpretations of religions.

2.Engage respectfully with other cultures and belief systems

We should not assume that other belief systems are, however, entirely alien to Christian sensibilities. It is possible to make the most of the opportunities that pluralism affords without falling into relativism. Many religions and worldviews contain universal truths that we can affirm without necessarily affirming the religion itself. Ideas of accountability, virtue, sin, compassion, justice, and reciprocity can provide real starting points for fruitful conversation. 

3. Make the most of every opportunity
Despite recent attempts in the Lords, through debates on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to reduce Christian influence—such as placing non-religious worldviews on equal footing with religions in RE (Amendment 471) or replacing daily worship with “moral and cultural assemblies” (Amendment 465)—we still enjoy meaningful opportunities to share Christian truths via lessons and collective worship. These opportunities allow Christianity to be taught thoughtfully and objectively, giving the gospel room to shine and stand on its own merit. We must make the most of these opportunites whilst we still have them

4. Offer depth, rigor, and relevance
We are called, in every generation, to “earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude 1:3) with grace, humility, and conviction. This includes offering students serious Bible teaching and sound doctrine that engages with life’s biggest questions. Many young people have never encountered the richness of historic, Biblical Christianity, yet I hear from teachers across the country that students of all backgrounds are ready and eager to engage with teaching that speaks directly to contemporary issues. The so called ‘quiet revival’ is showing its face not only in churches but in Christian Unions and ‘searcher’ groups in schools. Christians involved in education are uniquely positioned to meet this hunger with truth, and gospel hope. 

Christians can be confident that the gospel is good news in any plural setting. True gospel multiculturalism does not suppress the legitimate diversity of cultures, languages, or peoples; it unites humanity in a shared story without erasing difference.

Take heart. We have good news to share. May we take it into our schools with great confidence.

Written by Lizzie Harewood

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-report-on-net-migration/net-migration-report-accessible

[2] https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25

[3] https://www.heterodoxcentre.com/wp-content/uploads/3-CHSS-Goodwin.pdf

[4] https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/uks-changing-culture-wars-division-tension-and-common-ground.pdf