Australian International Islamic College (Brisbane)

[Jimmy P]

Just wondering if anyone local to the Australian International Islamic College in Durack has had any experience of the place- either with children studying there, or knows of anyone who has worked there. Found a few old bits of news from Google, but not a lot else. Many thanks, Jim

[Bob1]

I don't know anything about the one in Brisbane but visited the one in Perth a few years ago in a professional capacity. They employ non Muslin teachers - though the majority are Muslin. The non Muslin women have to wear head scarfs and long sleeves. The classes were large and seemed to be short on resources - photo copied readers for primary one. It is very traditional - mat time seemed to be lots of chanting of e.g the alphabet, tables etc, there seemed to be lots of that - they get the facts in by chanting rather than hands on work. if the kids didn't pass the year then they were retained so you had kids with learning difficulties three years older than the rest of the class. The Islamic college tends to do quite well with maths results in Year 12 - may be because of all the chanting and repetition! I seem to remember some dodgy dealings going on at some point - money embezzled, or some thing like that was in the paper. There use to be regular adverts in the paper for the schools always saying 'top salaries paid' but these stopped a few years ago - which could mean they either retain staff or get them from somewhere else. Overall impression - teaching from the 1950's! of course, one in Brisbane could be very different.

[Jimmy P]

Thanks for the information Bob- its good to have some external perspective. Jim

[Tina2]

Not sure about Brisbane but there was a far bit of trouble in South Australia to do with non muslim teachers not wearing the Hijab. Can see both sides and if you are a muslim can understand you would want the traditions of your school supported by staff, but at the same time if you want the best staff then you may have to be a little understanding if the non muslim staff dont want to wear the full Hijab.

 

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/teachers-at-islamic-college-of-south-australias-west-croydon-campus-ordered-to-wear-hijab-or-face-sack/story-e6frea83-1226575723406

[Jimmy P]

Thanks for that link. There have been similar discussions in "free schools" in UK