25th June 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The education secretary has recently said that schools should be made to promote ‘British Values’ as part of the curriculum. This is in the wake of allegations that several schools in Birmingham have been taken over by Islamists, an accusation which has caused much debate about what kind of values we should be promoting in a multicultural society. Backing the education secretary’s plans, the prime minister said that British Values should be part of the curriculum, and cited ‘tolerance’ and ‘personal and social responsibility’. He also cited ‘respect for the law’ and for British institutions in his list of values that should be inculcated into students, and here I have more of a problem. Should we, as private tutors, be upholding such values with our students?
In so far as we have influence over the students that we teach, it is our responsibility to make sure that we set a good example, and encourage them to flourish both academically and socially. But this can be interpreted in a broad way, and it is important that we examine our own conduct to ensure that we are doing right by our students. One of the most important things that a tutor can do for their students is to teach them to question and be critical. This is a skill which will not only help them succeed academically, but also in life.
For this reason, I urge tutors not to blindly follow the education secretary in pushing a set ideal of British Values on their students. One to one tutoring in particular is an ideal environment to ask far more helpful questions, like ‘what does ‘British Values’ mean in a multicultural society’? As for respect for the law and British institutions, one would hope that no tutor or teacher is actively encouraging their students to break the law. But one would also hope that they are doing their best to encourage them to question the society in which they live, ask questions about social justice, and not stop to question when being told what kind of society they should be living in.