*Contributed anonymously by one of our teachers*
Having taught in Canada for the majority of my teaching career, I had a sort of culture shock when I landed as a supply in a UK school in London.
You would think there is not much culture difference between Canada and the United Kingdom, however there are some stark differences.
For one, in Canada the most popular school systems are Public (Non-secular: meaning no religion is practiced), Catholic schools (where students in primary must have a baptism certificate or have a catholic baptised parent) and Private schools (could be religious or non religious where parents must pay). Public and Catholic schools are funded by tax payer money.
Growing up in a Catholic school system in Canada the Christian holidays like Christmas were heavily celebrated. Â We were reconfirmed that Jesus was indeed the savior and his birthday was celebrated during this time.
When I completed my student teaching in a public school in Ontario, there was no mention of Jesus or Christianity on the menu. Christmas was strictly about Santa Claus and Rudolph the red nose reindeer. This was expected as the public school system does not promote a particular religion.
The shock came December as a supply teacher in the UK when I arrived to a public school. The majority of the students were Muslims and Hindu’s. The instructions given by the teacher stated that the students must practice particular songs for the Christmas Concert in a few days. Eagerly I sat down and clicked on the songs saved on the desktop. To my shock, “Go tell it on a mountain†was one of the songs. Confused I looked at the students which happily reconfirmed that this was one of the songs.
The next song was “Holy Night†. My jaw dropped. For those that are unfamiliar with the lyrics, here is a snippet of the lyrics .
Down in a lowly manger
Our humble Christ was born
And God send us salvation,
That blessed Christmas morn:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.
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Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born
I reconfirmed with the teaching assistant who nodded that these were indeed the songs. I then pressed play and we began to sing. I looked around the room and observed all the children singing. Numerous thoughts crossed my mind. Do the parents know? Are they happy about this? Isn’t this supposed to be a public school? In Canada this would not happen etc
Needless to say, I got through the day with many unanswered questions. I continued to supply in the school and noticed children gave each other Xmas cards before the xmas break. On the last day before break, I was approached by a concerned parent who seemed very upset and stated her child  in my class was feeling very sad because another student in my class had rejected a Xmas card. Feeling quite shocked I promptly apologised on that students behalf and said that perhaps that student did not celebrate Christmas. The parent angrily replied that the student in question and his family should be made aware of the schools “Inclusive Policyâ€. A supervisor overheard the conversation and intervened and agreed with the parent that it was unacceptable that the student had rejected the xmas card and measures would be taken. A public school is open for all children and the inclusive policy states this.
I quickly realised that the school system in the UK is proud of their roots and inclusive education is celebrated. Whether the same is done for other religious celebrations, I am not sure, I would assume so. However, I will only know when I supply during another celebration.