Government urged to improve teaching of ‘British values’ in schools

British values should continue to be taught in schools or the UK will “regret it later”, a former education secretary has said.

Labour peer Lord Blunkett said the summer riots and distortion on social media showed the need to “reinforce the importance” of the values which “do hold us together”, adding more teachers should be trained.

His remarks came as he supported the Education (Values of British Citizenship) Bill, tabled by independent crossbench peer Lord Harries of Pentregarth.

The Bill aims to change the current list of “British values” required to be taught in schools in England and Wales, although education is a devolved matter in Wales.

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Values

Lord Harries has proposed that democracy, the rule of law, freedom, individual worth and respect for the environment are taught as “values of British citizenship”.In 2014, the Department for Education published guidance which stated all schools have a duty to “actively promote” the “fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs”.The values were first set out by the coalition government in 2011.

Lord Harries, moving his Bill at second reading, told peers: “I believe passionately that fundamental values should be taught in schools, at a time when the world has a growing number of dictatorships, autocracies and managed democracies, it’s vital that pupils in our schools should understand the fundamental political values on which our society is founded.”

Lord Harries added: “For young people this is often the key moral issue of our times. I believe that the addition of respect for the environment would help young people see the importance of this set of values as a whole.”

He added that the Bill would “give a boost to citizenship education, it would show clearly the political values that are to be taught, (and) it would give the subject a much sharper focus”.

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Threats

Lord Blunkett said: “We have seen over the summer the riots taking place across our country sadly, and because of course we see the most enormous threats both from the distortion on social media, and the re-emergence of the far-right across the world, so this is the moment to reinforce the importance of those values which do hold us together, the ties that bind.”He added: “Let us take this Bill and use it as a mechanism to go forward, genuinely believing if we don’t teach this now, we’ll regret it later.”Lord Blunkett also argued that teachers should receive additional training and funding to accomplish the Bill’s ambitions, saying: “We must train teachers, we must give bursaries – which we’re not doing – to enable that to take place.”

Liberal Democrat education spokesman Lord Storey welcomed the Bill but stressed the need for British values to be “taken seriously” in schools.

He questioned if teachers received specific training on the subject, adding: “It’ll end up like what often happens with subjects which are not exam assessed, they just become something that’s just pushed to one side.

“If we’re really serious about, we have to be serious about it in schools.”

Concern

For the Conservatives, the Earl of Effingham said: “Pupils are currently not tested on the values, which means that headteachers are much less focused on this. So will the Government start testing?”

Education minister Baroness Smith of Malvern said Labour governments have a “proud history” of promoting British values in the education system.

She said: “This Government will continue that tradition to ensure our children and young people are supported to become active and engaged citizens.”

Lady Smith went on to express “concern” about the Bill’s approach to legislating on British values, saying: “The fundamental British values at the moment are not currently set out as a list of values that exist within law. The guidance is non-statutory.

“Primary legislation that changes and, to a certain extent, sets in stone British values would potentially limit school freedoms to tailor their approach and would open schools up to external challenge to their provision beyond Ofsted inspections, which are right actually to ensure that values are being properly dealt with.

“Dealing with that challenge would in turn place huge burdens on schools.”

Lady Smith said ensuring schools have some autonomy in this area is important, adding: “Schools need to be free to embed the values in a way that meets the needs of their pupils.”

The Bill received an unopposed second reading and will undergo further scrutiny at a later date, although is unlikely to become law without Government support.