Teachers in attack on plan to teach kids 'Britishness'

From the archive, first published Tuesday 10th Apr 2007.

TEACHERS have attacked Government plans to teach British values in schools.

Jerry Glazier, Essex representative of the National Union of Teachers spoke out following a debate at its conference in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

Delegate Baljeet Ghale, the NUT's first ethnic minority president, questioned how Britishness could be defined.

Mr Glazier said: "She was absolutely right. Britishness is incapable of a sustainable definition. How do you define it? We are a multicultural society that changes and continues to change as any society does."

Earlier this year ministers announced it would be including core British values such as free speech, tolerance and respect for the rule of law, in secondary school citizenship classes to promote better community relations.

But Mr Glazier said it was clear the Government hadn't thought through its proposals and he echoed Mrs Ghale's fears that such lessons could have racist undertones. He said: "We have always been a country which has on its shores a variety of people and now that continues to be the case.

"Whatever the intentions were in terms of arguing that case by the Government, it has the potential to backfire and actually create a problem where one does not exist.

"The British National Party considers itself to be a British party, but few people would want to be seen supporting those views."