Promoting "Fundamental British Values" in Schools: A Critical Race Perspective

• In Event: Education for Cultural Diversity: Changing Policy and Curriculum Priorities in Volatile International Contexts

Abstract

1. Objectives or Purposes
Britain’s schools are on the front line of an ideological and religious war, characterised by secularisation and fear of the ‘Muslim other’.
Britain’s policies and attitudes to multiculturalism have become ‘more exclusionary’ and explicitly ‘racially based’. Within British government discourses - evidenced by a so-called ‘failure of multiculturalism’ - an alleged ‘values deficit’ has been identified as emerging from ‘cultural diversity’ and ‘faith communities’ (Torres, 2013).
According to the Home Office, “Extremism is a vocal or active opposition to Fundamental British Values (FBV), including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs” (Home Office, 2011). Educational settings in the U.K. now have a legal duty to prevent young people from being drawn into terrorism, requiring teachers to actively promote FBV and challenge opinions or behaviors in school that are ‘contrary to’ those values (DfE, 2014)
This paper critically explores the U.K.’s decision to mandate the teaching of FBV and investigates the implications of the government’s ‘muscular promotion’ of ‘British values’ (Hand, 2014).

2. Theoretical Framework
This paper utilises critical race scholarship (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012; Gillborn, 2005; Taylor et al., 2009) to examine the presence of cultural racisms in current British policy, in which Western (British) culture is posited as superior to Islamic (non-British) culture. Critical scholars would contend that the government’s approach to ‘British values’ is an act of cultural supremacism - a stratification of those who ‘really belong’ (the indigenous majority), those who ‘can belong’ (those perceived to have assimilated) and those who ‘really do not quite belong’, namely the Muslim ‘other’ (Lander, 2016; Taras, 2013).

3.Methods/Modes of Inquiry
This paper is mixed method, conducting a critical examination of key government counter-terrorism and education policy texts alongside secondary survey data analysis.
4. Data Sources & Evidence
Data will be drawn from U.K. policy texts, recent election manifestos, government statements/press releases and curriculum documentation. Quantitative data will be drawn from the most recent Citizenship Survey and the 2017 British Social Attitudes Survey.
5. Results and Conclusions
This paper demonstrates:
• That the construct of Britishness - despite being too contested as an identity to be a source of unity - continues to be used as a powerful and exclusionary force.
• That ‘Britishness’ is a form of identity only accessible by certain individuals and groups.
• That the rhetoric of ‘Britishness’ damagingly obscures the good reasons to endorse liberal democratic values.
• That FBV’s normalise and perpetuate anti-Muslim sentiment and construct Muslims communities as ‘would-be’ terrorists.
• That FBV’s are an act of cultural supremacy, which closes down safe spaces and important dialogues in schools.
6. Scholarly Significance of the Study or Work
At a time where ‘Others’, both in Britain and other Western democracies, are defined through a discourse of Islamophobia, assimilation and secularisation, there is an urgent need to empower teachers and children to develop the tools to reframe discussions around ‘otherness’ in more critical ways.

Author

• Claire E. Crawford, University of Birmingham