Religious practice on fieldwork
Published: 6 April 2023
Field classes sometimes run across or into religious festivals - how can we accommodate spiritual needs of students?
Our GES Mallorca field class sometimes run across or into the Easter religious festival (although we try to avoid this). For some Christian students, this poses a problem, as they would normally be involved in worship or observance on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
One year, a student asked if they might not undertake research activity on Good Friday, as was the norm for her religious background. Other students wanted to attend church on Easter Sunday, delaying analysis.
We agreed in both cases that we could be flexible around religious observance and practice. We signposted all the students about the religious holiday and invited them to talk to us if they had beliefs and needs that needed to be met. We supported the student group to organise tasks so that the student not working on Good Friday still made a central contribution to group work and that no group member felt short-changed. We found a list of churches that students could attend, including one with mass in English.
We don’t have much flexibility on timing the field class, but we try hard to avoid major religious festivals. If students tell us they need to worship, observe or pray – we accommodate these spiritual needs and support the student in managing group work around this.
First published: 6 April 2023