Building belonging: Good practice when working with Muslim students – A reflection on training

In order for students to feel a sense of belonging in higher education, particularly students from underrepresented backgrounds, their needs must be met (Vaccaro and Newman, 2016), as doing so effectively has the potential to produce favourable student outcomes and levels of satisfaction in HE institutions (Bowman, Felix and Ortis, 2014). For Muslim students, in particular, positive experiences, sense of belonging, and successful educational outcomes within HE can be accentuated and bolstered through available information, maintained facilities, and accessible resources proactively provided by an institution. The apparent barriers in achieving this level of support and accommodation for Muslim students often amounts to insufficient contextual knowledge and understanding to best accommodate and practically implement considerations. This paper reflects on the origins, delivery, and evaluation of an interactive good practice training workshop that was independently built and delivered consistently over a five-month period to staff, primarily in student-facing roles, from across multiple departments at Lancaster University. Focus remained primarily on contextual knowledge and practical applications for staff when accommodating Muslim students, in particular. The research within the training was informed by the researcher’s own lived experience as both a former student of the institution, observations as a staff member through departmental and student-facing work, and conversations with colleagues in various roles across the institution. Importantly, a series of focus groups were held with approximately twenty Muslim students from Lancaster University’s Role Model Ambassador programme to best inform this piece of work based on current Muslim student observations and experiences. As a result of the training, practical implementations to support Muslim students have included the adoption of prayer timetables for events, information within Open Day materials, and further conversations on expanding this body of work at a wider institutional level are currently ongoing. Effectively, attendees have also noted a greater sense of community and shared humanity through the training.