24th June 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The education secretary Michael Gove has proposed that schools should be made to promote “British Values”. Speaking in response to concerns raised over Islamist takeovers in Birmingham schools, he said that British values - including respect for the law and British Institutions - should be inculcated into the curriculum. The prime minister has backed the calls for British Values to become part of the required curriculum amid claims that some schools in Birmingham have become so called ‘Trojan Horses’ for Islamist groups. Under the education secretary’s proposals, schools inspectors Ofsted would introduce routine spot inspections of schools, in an effort to ensure that schools could not cover up religious campaigns which targeted children.
The Prime Minister added his own voice to the proposals, saying that British values should be part of every curriculum whether at private schools, state schools, faith-based schools, academies or free schools. He noted that these values should be just as important to those who came to Britain to live and bring up their families, as those who have lived here for generations. Speaking at an EU summit in Sweden, he pledged his support for the education secretary’s plans, and said that he expected the plans to receive overwhelming support from the British Public. The proposals are increasingly being seen as a defining point in how Britain responds to becoming an increasingly multi-cultural society, and have attracted criticisms from those who work with multi-cultural communities.
Faith and Communities Minister Baroness Warsi said that the government needed to do more to distinguish between extremism and conservative religious beliefs. She warned that the plans could alienate some communities, and emphasised that all communities in the country should feel like they are British whilst maintaining their right to their own religious values. She said that religiosity should not be equated with terrorism, and urged to government to tackle the problem of extremism in a way which did not make matters worse. Her concerns have been echoed by commentators who note that since coming to power, the coalition government have dramatically reduced funding for Muslim groups which were not viewed as British enough. The government is now being warned that this is a key opportunity to define how Britain can move forward as a multicultural society.