No place for hate

How did you vote in the referendum? In the aftermath, have you seen a rise in casual racism or xenophobia that unions, head teachers, and senior leaders are reporting? How are you using the agenda to promote fundamental British values to empower staff and students to stand up for injustice and inequality?

We have had an eventful month in Britain. In the referendum, I voted to remain, some of my friends voted to leave. That is what democracy is all about. Let’s not make stereotypical assumptions that everyone who voted one way ‘thinks this’ and everyone who voted the other way ‘thinks that’. But let’s not also ignore or trivialize the alarming rise in hate crime that we have seen in our society in the last few weeks. I can’t remember seeing this level of abuse for decades. Police are reporting a fivefold rise in race-hate complaints since the Brexit result. For example:

• A video, filmed in Hackney after the referendum, shows a man arguing with someone in a car before yelling: ‘Go back to your country.’
• In Cambridgeshire, cards saying ‘Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin’ were posted through the letter boxes of Polish families and also distributed outside primary schools. The text was in both English and Polish.
• The MP Shabana Mahmood contacted the police after dozens of Islamophobic leaflets, which she described as ‘frightening’, were put through doors in Birmingham. And there have been reports that far-right leaflets have been distributed in parts of West Yorkshire.
• In the West Midlands, a BBC presenter was racially abused in the street. Trish Adudu said: 'He cycled over to what looked like an Asian student and was basically saying 'Get out of here. Go back home.' 'Haven't you heard the vote? And then he cycles around, sees me looking at him in shock, because it was so loud and so angry.  And then he says to me 'yeah, that goes for you as well. He starts calling me the N word and told me to 'go home.’
• On a BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, reporter Sima Kotecha interviewed a man in Basingstoke who used the highly offensive term ‘PXXX’ before insisting he’s ‘not racist in any shape or way’.

Education providers have a critical role to play in empowering staff and students to challenge racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and other hate crime attacks. I have been encouraged by the many positive responses I have received as I have rolled out training on promoting fundamental British values (FBV) – to teachers, assessors, business support staff, managers and leaders. In the last few weeks, it has been seen by many as very, very timely. If you are interested, you can take a look at my training page for my top 10 most popular training workshops, here.

Ofsted expect good and outstanding colleges to actively look for opportunities to have discussions around controversial or sensitive topics – in group tutorials and teaching and learning, for example. Why? Because handled well, promoting Fundamental British Values provides an opportunity to increase the resilience of students (and staff) to challenge and counteract distorted, negative and stereotypical media reporting. Actively promoting Fundamental British Values can help support good relationships across a college environment that are free from hate crime and intolerance and promote mutual respect. It can help empower staff and students to stand up for injustice and inequality, confident to challenge racism, xenophobia, Islamaphobia and other forms of prejudice and hate crime. Actively promoting Fundamental British Values can help genuinely prepare learners to live and work in Britain and the world as responsible citizens in society. It can even, ultimately, help change our society for the better.

‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’. Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and 1993 Nobel Peace Prize laureate