“If we can try to understand where people are coming from with empathy, with, sort of, a human element, then that allows us to really engage with difference in a way that is constructive rather than destructive.” (Singh, Jeet Simran in Trinity Univeristy, 2016).
At UAL, the majority of students (58.2%) declare themselves as having no religion, compared with 28.8% declaring one. These 28.8% are divided between diverse faiths (UAL, 2025). Students who do not identify as religious might have other strong convictions, which can be considered protected philosophical beliefs (McKeown and Dunn, 2021).
With such a diverse student body, our challenge as lecturers is to assure everyone feels welcome and respected, but also that the students show respect and empathy for each other.
Religion can be a loaded subject, and difficult to approach and discuss. Both fear of upsetting religious people and fear of being judged because of your beliefs might stifle discussion. Although my students have come to live and study in a diverse and progressive city like London, even “fear of negative prejudices, rather than existing or felt prejudices” (Reki, 2023) can prevent people from talking about their faith. In this case, the would-be-hearer also loses out on knowledge and a wider perspective (Ibid, 2023).
As an educational institution, it is important that we create an environment where students and staff can talk openly about their religious backgrounds. Though some might have strong negative feelings about religion (for example associating it with oppression and conservative values in conflict with their own world view), these apprehensions should not be allowed to be converted into, or expressed as, generalisations about all religion or stereotypes about religious persons. As Appiah (2014) points out, there is no clear definition of what religion is, and therefore generalisations about religion can not be true. Singh also talks about the tendency to generalise a community, even though each community is diverse (Singh, Jeet Simran in Trinity Univeristy, 2016).
On our course, we strive to create an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives are shared with empathy and respect. During their first year, our students base one of their design concepts on their own identity and values. Religion is often referenced, in everything from students studying church windows to examining how their queer identity is in conflict with their religious upbringing. The tutor delivering the design sessions in this unit is religious, and refers to this in their examples. Hopefully this helps to widen student perspectives in what can otherwise be seen as a largely secular university environment (Reki, 2023).
I mostly deliver technical content and teach practical skills. I seldom lead discussions about religion or similarly personal topics. However, these subjects are sometimes broached when students chat informally among themselves during my sessions. I find such chat difficult to monitor because my attention is divided as I am busy managing the workshop. However, as the teacher I am responsible for the room. On one occasion, a student was visibly upset because another student accused them of harbouring certain prejudices based on them wearing a religious symbol. The situation was an example of how a “religious subject can be harmed when their religion is racialised or when their gender and dress are mistakenly thought to be predictive of their beliefs and practices” (Reki, 2023). As such, it was also a clear example of when to intervene. I comforted the upset student and asked my line manager to mediate the conflict while I continued to deliver the workshop to the other students. I wish I had specialised training and clearer guidelines on how to handle conflict situations like this when they arise. It would also be easier to attend to student conflicts and moderate tricky interactions if my timetable was eased slightly and I was not so pressed for time during workshops.
References
Appiah, K. A. (2014) Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). Youtube [Online]. 16 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY (Accessed: 4 June 2025)
McKeown, P and Dunn, A. (2021) A ‘Life-Style Choice’ or a Philosophical Belief? The Argument for Veganism and Vegetarianism to be a Protected Belief and the Position in England and Wales. Liverpool Law Review 42, pp 207-241
Reki, J. (2023) Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account. Hypatia 38, pp 779–800.
Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk (Accessed: 4 June 2025)
UAL (2025) Student Profiles: Characteristic. Available at: dashboards.arts.ac.uk (Accessed: 4th July 2025)