ABSTRACT
Outlined in this chapter are selected results of a six-year-long national survey. The survey reports selected results from a large-scale study of attitudes towards Islam and Muslims amongst Australian secondary students. The participants are 3340 students from Years 10–11 in 90 secondary schools around Australia (excluding the Northern Territory and Western Australia). The results of the first stage of analysis in this chapter involved 1000 students in 20 schools. Secondary schools of Muslim or Jewish affiliation were not approached for this survey, nor were Muslim or Jewish students. Widespread negative stereotypes and the relatively new presence of the Muslim community in Australia tend to suggest non-Muslim students may not be well informed, while the long-standing multicultural posture of educational policy suggests otherwise. Variation in responses between boys and girls, religion or non-religion affiliated, also revealed a high level of significance. The findings show Australian students are generally ignorant about Muslims and Islam, and few believe that schools are filling the gaps in their knowledge. While non-Muslim students agree that acceptance of Muslims does not come easily in Australia, the school does not emerge as a site for change
