'An exploration of the distinctively religious nature of Islamic private schools.' 'What makes a school "Islamic"?

Muslims are by far the largest religious minority in the UK, and the number of Islamic schools has risen sharply (Abram, 2011; Tinker, 2006). The rise in quantity of such schools correlates with the establishment of immigrant communities since the 1970s as they gained sufficient confidence to assert their ideological and religious norms (Saifullah-Khan, 1977). Moreover, the demand for Islamic private school with a distinctive religious nature based on a particular form of education and sexual segregation is linked to cultural assimilation and prominence of religious identity of Muslim communities (Zine, 2008). Although there is now a high demand and a better level of provision, literature focusing on the distinctively 'religious' pedagogy, intentions and attitudes, and the effect and outcome of such schools has been very limited (Shakeel 2018; Riaz, 2016; Tinker, 2006; Haw, 1995; Levit, 2006).
Despite the demand for such schools, there have been controversial reports about their nature, effects and outcomes as religious academic institutions. Therefore, this proposal has an exploratory purpose aiming to analyse, problematise and unpack the distinctively religious nature of Islamic private schools in the United Kingdom