The Swap uses kids in a ‘bold social experiment’. But it’s simplistic at best and harmful at worst

The Swap’s third and final episode airs on SBS on Wednesday. The TV series sees six high school students at the Islamic College of Brisbane ‘swapped’ with three pairs of students from Catholic and public schools. Photograph: SBS

In the years since 9/11 and the height of the war on terror, there has been ongoing tension within the Australian Muslim community about how we should be represented.

The glaring eye of media and government – and the intensifying and violent Islamophobia that proliferated in Australia – demanded a response, but there was division that continues to this day over what that response might look like.