Promoting British values – are your staff clear on what to do?

Are you confused or apprehensive about how to respond positively to recent requirements to actively promote Fundamental British Values in colleges? Are you concerned that the agenda has the potential to damage relationships and alienate groups of staff and students? Are your staff clear about what is meant by Fundamental British Values and what it means to promote these college-wide?

In June 2014 Michael Gove, then Education Secretary, announced as part of his response to the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham that all schools will be required to actively promote British values. Ofsted have announced that future inspections will evaluate how well colleges actively promote Fundamental British Values and prepare learners for life in modern Britain. This requirement is reiterated within draft guidance on the Prevent Duty, a new statutory duty on colleges to have due regard to prevent people being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas.

Regrettably, the initiative to promote Fundamental British Values received prominence following Birmingham City Council receiving a copy of an anonymous letter referring to ‘Operation Trojan Horse’, an alleged plot by some Muslim groups to install governors at certain schools and exert undue influence in the running of these schools. Subsequent investigations carried out by the Council and by Ofsted did not produce findings that were in complete agreement. Media reporting was not altogether balanced.

Unfortunately, we live in a media climate that frequently discusses British values alongside negative portrayals of Muslim people, fuelling prejudice. Even Prince Charles has got in on the act – ‘Charles to UK Muslims; Abide by our values’ (Mail on Sunday). The Sun newspaper has frequently been criticised for headlines and reporting that has at times been deliberately inflammatory and at times deliberately misleading. The report from the Leveson inquiry, set up in the wake of the phone hacking scandals, said that they had heard sufficient evidence to conclude that ‘some sections of the press have deliberately invented stories with no factual basis in order to satisfy the demands of readership.’

Many Muslim communities instinctively feel that they are British and find it deeply insulting to suggest otherwise. One of the issues is the difference between what Muslims themselves think and what people think that Muslims think. A BBC poll carried out this year found that while many Muslims feel a strong loyalty to Britain, nearly half feel that the UK is now less tolerant and Islamophobia makes it a difficult place in which to live. A student at Bradford College, Samaia Aslal, told the BBC that politicians and the media perpetuated a dehumanised image of Muslims, which opens them up to all forms of attack. She said: "It is up to the rest of British society to stop looking at us as some kind of threat, to accept us. To not always ask us how British we feel, that's…stupid”

There is a genuine risk that promoting Fundamental British Values (FBV) will damage relationships and fracture community cohesion within the college and with the local communities it serves. It runs the risk that promoting FBV causes the very thing that the government is keen to avoid – more, not less young Muslims feeling marginalised, alienated and at greater risk of radicalisation. It runs the risk of perpetuating a ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality. Staff are concerned that responding to the agenda will damage staff and student relationships and the culture of mutual respect that they have worked so hard to develop.

And yet, if handled well, promoting Fundamental British Values provides an opportunity to build on work already carried out to integrate equality, diversity and inclusion in every aspect of college life. It provides an opportunity to increase the resilience of students to challenge extremist ideology, including far-right extremism. It provides an opportunity to counteract distorted, negative and stereotypical media reporting. It can support good relationships across a college environment that is free from hate crime and intolerance and promotes mutual respect. It can genuinely prepare learners to live and work in Britain and the world as responsible citizens in society. It can even, ultimately, help change 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

A date for your diaries

I am delivering a one-day training workshop on behalf of the AoC in London on 20 May 2015. This practical and engaging workshop explains how to sensitively yet positively promote these new requirements. You can find further information about this event here