Promoting ‘British Values’

Are you aware that all schools are now required to teach and promote ‘British Values’? But what does this mean in practice? And is promoting British Values a good thing or divisive?

Just before Christmas, the Department for Education published guidance for schools relating specifically to the requirement to actively promote British values. Schools, who had previously been required to ‘respect’ these values must now have a clear strategy for embedding these values and demonstrating impact of their actions.

The checklist of British values include:

• Democracy
• Individual liberty
• Mutual respect and tolerance

Do I think that this requirement to promote British values is a good idea? Yes and No

Yes, because schools, colleges and universities educate for life – they have an important role in preparing young people to live and work as responsible citizens in society. It’s why Ofsted, for example, are keen to see providers integrating and embedding equality and diversity across all aspects of a learner’s journey.

No, because I don’t understand why these values are ‘British’, and not, for example, ‘Swiss’ values, or ‘French’ values, or ‘Italian’ values. I have heard some Government ministers attempt to answer this question by saying that these are values that British society abides by. The problem, however, is that by using ‘British’ as an adjective implies that there is something especially ‘British’ about these values – it defines and describes ‘us’ in comparison to ‘them’ who are not British. And that has the danger of causing deep offense and division. Talking about British values in the same breath as talking about being a Muslim could, for example cause understandable anger and resentment among the Muslim community, and could fuel Islamophobia.

At the risk of simplifying what I know is a complex issue, isn’t it the reality that these values are simply ‘human’ values?

And let’s not forget that in the 1920s, the British Empire had over 450 million subjects in almost a quarter of the Earth’s land area. But this imperial glory was achieved by the forceful imposition of ‘British values’ that included colonialism and systematic genocide.

You can read the press release to the DfE guidance on promoting British Values here

You can download the guidance here

Comments

[Adriana Temali-Smith]

Many thanks Christine for raising this issue, as it isn't only schools who are considering this question. Working in a FE college in Kent, we held two staff workshops in December to discuss what we feel British Values are, how they might play a role in the college, and whether or not we should 'promote them'. In the end, both groups decided that the published British Values were already a part of our college through our mission statement, vision and values. And importantly, both groups felt the issue was highly divisive particularly leading up to the election, and therefore needs to be handled delicately with audiences of all ages.
Adriana Temali-Smith, Diversity and Development Adviser MidKent College