The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Current affairsNewsPolitics & Social issues

Plans for schools to promote “British values” revealed

Plans for schools to promote “British values” revealed
11 June 2014
Federica Marsi
Avatar
Federica Marsi
11 June 2014

David Cameron has backed the plans to promote “British values” in schools across the UK after Ofsted reports revealed a “culture of fear and intimidation” in a number of Muslim-dominated institutions in Birmingham.

Independent, private and religious schools are all bound to comply, but until yesterday the question of what constitutes “British values” remained unanswered.

During a visit to Sweden, for a mini-summit with EU leaders, Mr Cameron listed the principles that reflect the British national identity and said: “I would say freedom, tolerance, respect for the rule of law, belief in personal and social responsibility and respect for British institutions – those are the sorts of things that I would hope would be inculcated into the curriculum in any school in Britain whether it was a private school, state school, faith-based school, free school, academy or anything else.”

To ensure their promotion education secretary Michael Gove has announced a plan to carry out “unannounced dawn raid inspections” in schools and to establish a new regime to protect pupils from extremism. This involves tightening of the current system, which simply states that schools should “respect fundamental British values”.

Mr Cameron believes Gove’s move will win widespread support, including among migrant parents. The PM has also raised the culturally sensitive issue of the Islamic veil, suggesting that Muslim girls wearing the niqāb and the burqa in schools are “being silenced”.

David Hughes, one of the school leaders, told the International Business Times that he rejects the outcome of the reports.

Hughes said: “Ofsted inspectors came to our schools looking for extremism, looking for segregation, looking for proof that our children have religion forced upon them as part of an Islamic plot.”

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, argues that no one could dispute the importance of promoting the principles listed by Cameron as they are not British but “universal values”.

While the political row perseveres, the pupils of the five schools put under special measures for the alleged Trojan Horse plot, face the collateral damage of this story.

The Independent raised concern for those teenagers who will see the once respectable name of their school associated with extremism. Sadaq, a student at Park View school, fears that next year his colleagues at college will look at him and think “Is he carrying a bomb? Is he a terrorist?”

Federica Marsi

Related Itemsbritish valueseu reforms

More in Current Affairs

Women of Ireland have rolled over for long enough: The 8th and the long walk to abortion rights

Emma Kiely
Read More

Changes to expect during menopause

The editorial unit
Read More

Why Equity Linked Savings Schemes is a preferred tax saving?

The editorial unit
Read More

How the world’s top designers would rebrand political parties

The editorial unit
Read More

Royal baby furore: Proof that the British monarchy is still popular?

Eoin O’Sullivan-Harris
Read More

World Mental Health Day 2018: Raising awareness and combating stigma

The editorial unit
Read More

Seven political personalities you should know about

The editorial unit
Read More

Donald Trump: An enemy of the arts?

The editorial unit
Read More

Trump’s fortune: Where did the money come from?

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Albert Adrià reopens Enigma on 7 June as a “fun-dining” restaurant and cocktail bar
    Food & Drinks
  • The Road Dance
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Paolo Nutini at the 100 Club
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Crimes of the Future: Three new clips from David Cronenberg’s dystopian body horror film
    Cannes
  • When You Finish Saving the World
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Marcel!
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • More than Ever (Plus que Jamais)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Plan 75
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Enys Men
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • The Stranger
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • More than Ever (Plus que Jamais)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Plan 75
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Dirty Dancing the Movie in concert at Apollo Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic at the British Museum
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Eo (Hi-Han)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

EU leaders gather in Stockholm to discuss Juncker’s position
Recession led to 10,000 suicides across Europe and North America