The IIS Secondary Curriculum
The Institute of Ismaili Studies’ Secondary Curriculum (SC) adopts an approach to the study of Islam in which humanistic, civilizational and normative perspectives are intertwined. It seeks to acquaint secondary students with the diverse and dynamic interplay of Islamic expression – religious, social, cultural and material – that has and continues to manifest itself in Muslim societies of the past and present day.
The curriculum strives to achieve this aim through seamlessly integrating the religious components of the curriculum with social, scientific, literary and philosophical approaches. In the SC, religion is not viewed as a detached and compartmentalized phenomenon of human history and society, but rather in terms of its multifaceted connections with all the dimensions of human experience. It therefore leads students progressively to reflect on the place of the sacred in human culture. At the same time, the curriculum encourages secondary students to analyze their own contemporary situation and to reflect on the social and ethical challenges of an increasingly plural world.
The Secondary Curriculum therefore calls for pedagogical approaches consonant with its philosophical framework. It calls for a profile of teachers with a broad set of proficiencies; a profile that is not narrowly specialist but reflects an acquaintance with a range of contexts. These pedagogical approaches must invite the active engagement of teachers and students with the content of the curriculum so as to engender thought and reflection on contemporary issues that affect Ismaili Muslims, other Muslim communities, and human societies in general.
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