Religious identification of Moroccan youth in the education system of greater Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is twofold: 1) to describe the interplay between religious identification and Spanish educational policy by studying a targeted group of immigrant Moroccan children and young people in metropolitan Madrid and 2) to highlight how such experiences have resulted in the evolution of intercultural education in Spain. The research underpinning this study focuses on targeted students in primary education, compulsory secondary education, non-compulsory education and vocational training and demonstrates that young Muslims of Moroccan descent tolerantly respect the surrounding environment whilst they reaffirm their religious beliefs. They are challenged by Spanish society but receive support from their family, frequently visit the mosque and sustain strong interactions with the Muslim community. They also recognise the respect they receive from their teachers and classmates, which encourages them to uphold their religious beliefs while acknowledging values of co-existence in Spanish society. The study concludes by signalling the need for the educational system to improve its capacity of acceptance of these youth, particularly because some youth do not live free from stereotypes and fears about Muslims.

KEYWORDS:

• Moroccans
• Islam
• second generation
• the use of the veil
• and intercultural education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. We would like to acknowledge María Arrillaga, for her wise suggestions and recommendations, which contributed to this article. She is a retired civil servant from the Educational and Pedagogical Guidance Team (EOEP) of the Regional Ministry for the Community of Madrid.

2. Morito means the little Moor, a term normally used in a derogatory sense for people coming from Morocco.

3. A Faqīh (plural Fuqahā’) is an Islamic jurist, an expert in fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic Law.

4. Felipe III expelled more than 300,000 Moriscos from the Kingdom of Spain (many who remained converted to the Catholic faith).

5. Organic Law 9/1992 of 23 December dealt with the transfer of competencies to autonomous communities that accessed the autonomy granted by Article 143 of the Constitution.

6. State-funded private schools have a special status whereby the state funds part of their services.

7. The General Organic Law of the Education System (LOGSE), of 3 October 1990, was an educational law promulgated by the PSOE (Socialist Party) government and it substituted the General Law of Education of 1970, which has been active since Franco’s dictatorship. This law was replaced by the Organic Law of Education (LOE), in 2006. The Organic Law 8/2013 (LOMCE) of December 9th for the betterment of educational quality has been a limited modification of the LOE.

8. All statistics were retrieved from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Sciences and Sports: http://www.educacion.gob.es/educabase/menu.do?type = pcaxis&path = /Educacion/Alumnado/Matriculado/2013-2014RD/Extranjeros&file = pcaxis&l = s0.

9. Among these associations are the Muslim Youth Association of Madrid, Bidaia and Muslim Women’s Union of Spain. They are fundamentally feminine associations except that the first also includes men.

10. The amendments made in 1976 and 1979 were in line with the approval of the 1978 Constitution that declared two fundamental principles: the principle of full religious freedom and the non-denominational principle of the State’s religious neutrality.

11. Law 26/1992 of 10 December, Cooperation Agreement between the Spanish State and the Islamic Commission of Spain.

12. The Spanish Pluralism and Co-existence Foundation is a public sector organisation founded by the resolution adopted by the Council of Ministers on 15 October 2004, based on the proposal from the Ministry of Justice, which intended to promote religious freedom through cooperation with deep-rooted minority faiths.

13. The Guide on School Canteens was drawn in 2008 up as part of the Perseo Program (European Union) and with support from the Ministries of Education and Health.

14. In Aragon in 2013, 11 Muslim families in the Santo Domingo school of Zaragoza gave up the free school meals that they were granted that term by the autonomous and local governments and removed their children from the canteen to protest against the lack of halal food.

15. Two judgments were passed in 2013, one from the Supreme Court on banning the use of the burqa and another from the Court of Justice of Madrid (TJM) regarding the above-mentioned case. In the case of the above- mentioned girl, the TJM resolved to support the centre’s measure that prohibited the use of the veil.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joaquín Eguren

Currently, Dr. Eguren is a researcher at the University Institute of Migration Studies, Comillas Pontifical University, and director of OBIMID (Ibero-American Observatory of Human Mobility, Migration and Development)—see http://www.upcomillas.es/es/obimid—and co-coordinator of IMISCOE Standing Committee ‘Transnational Migrant families, children and youth, and their intergenerational everyday experiences’.