The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said telling children about the country's democracy, law and traditions could encourage 'cultural supremacy' and urged a new focus on 'international human rights' instead. Union leaders said the the term 'British values' was demeaning to other cultures 'particularly in the context of multicultural schools and the wider picture of migration'.
Christopher Denson, an NUT representative: 'We need to fight to reject this notion of British values, to fight for notions of human values and human rights. We have to stand together across communities to bring down barriers, bring down borders, to say no to Islamophobia, no to anti-Semitism, no to fascism and any form of racism.'
Mr Denson said he disliked using the term 'fundamental British values' in his classroom when many of his pupils had ancestry in countries which had encountered British colonialism. He said: 'The inherent cultural supremacism in that term is both unnecessary and unacceptable. And seen with the Prevent agenda, it belies the most thinly veiled racism and a conscious effort to divide communities.' He added: 'It's our duty to push real anti-racist work in all schools.'He said he had requested a week of themed assemblies every year in his school, with topics including apartheid and the rise of Islamophobia.'This year we focussed on the migrant crisis,' he added. 'We organised a politics day for Year 8s... ...Apart from the quality of the work, the other thing that really made my proud was that every single tutor group had as a policy, 'refugees welcome, open the borders', We need to be pushing at every level for anti-racism to be in the core curriculum.'
The NUT passed a motion that criticised the government for only taking in a 'minute fraction' of refugees and vowed to campaign for 'policies that welcome' them to the country.
Many at the conference said they volunteered at migrant camps in Calais. Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT said: 'Schools and teachers play a key role in welcoming migrant
to this country... The NUT condemns the Government's inadequate response to the current migrant situation... The NUT has produced a guide to Welcoming Refugee Children to your School... The NUT will continue to work with Show Racism the Red Card, Hope Not Hate and others, to campaign for Government policies that welcome migrants and refugees to this country. The NUT will also continue to press for anti-racism work to be enshrined within the curriculum of all schools.'
Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: 'Teachers should not be playing the role of fifth columnists in the ideological war currently being fought over our national identity... Teaching children that British values are part of "cultural supremacism" will, at best, make them feel guilty about being British and, at worst, radicalise them in order to 'make up' for the sins of their fathers. If one wishes to destroy a nation and build a "brave new world" you begin by indoctrinating and brainwashing the children. This process of 're-education' has started some years ago in our schools and we are, now, seeing its consequences in the suppression of free speech on our university campuses. The notion of 'value relativism' - that all views are equally valid - has [resulted, in] many classrooms, [in] the views of terrorists being given equal weigh to those of the victim of terrorism.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3512619/Teachers-want-stop-promoting-British-values-cultural-supremacy-fears.html#commentsAnyone else worried about the ridiculous political bias of teachers?