B1239 - Educational Indoctrination Bill 2017 Watch

Rakas21 · 24-07-2017 19:28

B1239 - Educational Indoctrination Bill 2017, TSR Conservative & Unionist Party

A

BILL

TO

prevent the ‘extremist’ indoctrination of pupils in educational institutions.

BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

1 - Definitions
(1) Where referenced in this Act, the following words are to be defined as follows:-
(a) as defined by the Education Act 1996:
(i) ‘School’ shall refer to any educational institution which is simultaneously outside of the further education and higher education sector, yet remains a institution with provisions to provide any combination of primary, and/or secondary education.
(ii) ‘Pupil’ shall refer to any person and/or entity to whom provisions for education are made;
(b) for the sole purpose of this Act:-
(i) ‘Educational institution’ shall refer to an institution or establishment at which active provisions are made for education, regardless of the age of those to whom said education provisions have been made.
(ii) ‘Educational staff’ shall refer to those employed, through any mechanism, by schools or educational institutions; this includes but is not limited to: teachers; volunteers; entities/persons on the governing body; representatives of the local education authority; inspectors; management staff; receptionists; first aids; and, those in ‘temporary employment’, id est, those requested, or by their own accord desire, to attend school for the purpose of education, whether or not as an external speaker, teacher or observer.
(iii) ‘Indoctrination’ shall, at bare minimum, refer to the imbuement and inculcation of principles, opinions, points of view, ideals, attitudes, cognitive strategies or professional methodologies that have tangible links to proscribed organisations.

2 - Existing legislation
(1) Sections 406 and 407 of the Education Act of 1996 shall remain unaffected.
(2) Where there are contradictions between the Education Act of 1996 and the Educational Indoctrination Act of 2017, the latter is to take precedence.

3 - Indoctrination
(1) The local education authority, governing body, head teacher and all members of staff in their individual capacity, are duly obliged to:-
(a) forbid the pursuit of partisan principles, opinions, points of view, ideals, attitudes, cognitive strategies or professional methodologies by educational staff that have tangible links to proscribed organisation;
(b) forbid the promotion of partisan principles, opinions, points of view, ideals, attitudes, cognitive strategies or professional methodologies in the teaching of any subject in the school that have tangible links to proscribed organisation;

4 - Proscribed groups or organisations
(1) Proscribed groups or organisations shall refer to any individual, group, organisation or entity proscribed by Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department under section 3 of the Terrorism Act of 2000.
(2) Any organisation proscribed by Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department is said to have:-
(a) committed or participated in acts of terrorism;
(b) prepared for terrorism;
(c) promoted, encouraged or unlawfully glorified terrorism;
(d) otherwise concerned themselves with terrorism.

5 - Action
(1) On notification of an act of indoctrination with tangible links to proscribed groups or organisations, the local educational authority, the governing body and the headteacher are duly obliged to:-
(a) hold the member of educational staff, using reasonable force, on the educational institution’s premises, where the safety of pupils and fellow members of education staff are not at risk, until the member of education staff is under the control/possession of the Police.
(b) immediately surrender all files, information and known assets of the member of education staff to the relevant authority
(c) within twenty-four hours, notify the Secretary of State for Education, the Department for Education, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, and the Home Office.
(d) within seventy-two hours, convene an emergency meeting of the governing body with compulsory attendance, under the sole premise of total confidentiality, with at least one representative from each of the following:-
(i) the local educational authority,
(ii) the Department of Education,
(iii) CONTEST,
(iv) the Home Office.
(e) if and when appropriate, notify all parents of pupils currently in attendance at the educational institution, as well as all those who may have come into contact with the affected member of educational staff unless the parties detailed in subsection (c) or subsection (d) raise concerns in doing so.

6 - Records
(1) The local education authority, governing body and the school must keep dedicated records of recorded instances of ‘indoctrination’.
(2) Records of ‘indoctrination’ must include, at the bare minimum:-
(a) the name of the member of educational staff;
(b) the date and approximate time of the instance of indoctrination;
(c) the pupil(s) affected by indoctrination;
(d) the type of indoctrination;
(e) the exact actions and/or words;
(f) at least two ‘independent’ witnesses - this may be replaced with closed circuit television footage obtained by the educational institution or unaltered multimedia sources exterior to the educational institution where the legitimacy of said source can be verified to a probability that exceeds 80%.
(3) These records must be available on demand, in full, to the Secretary of State, and provided to the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills at regular intervals.
(4) These records may also be provided through the application of external legislation:
(a) Where a request for the aforementioned records has been made to the educational institution under the entitlements as detailed under section 7 of Data Protection Act 1998, the educational institution must, in accordance with section 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998, provide the full entry with the following redacted:-
(i) personal details, other than his/her name, relating to the member of educational staff;
(ii) explicit details relating to the member of educational staff’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, membership of trade unions, physical or mental health or condition, sexual life, the commission or alleged commission by him of any offence, or any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by him, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings;
(iii) identifying information in regards to the ‘independent’ witnesses;
(b) Where a request for the aforementioned records has been made to the educational institution under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the educational institution must, in accordance with section 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998, provide the full entry requested with the following redacted:-
(i) personal details, other than his/her name, relating to the member of educational staff;
(ii) explicit details relating to the member of educational staff’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, membership of trade unions, physical or mental health or condition, sexual life, the commission or alleged commission by him of any offence, or any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by him, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings;
(iii) personal details or identifying information relating to the pupil(s) involved;
(iv) identifying information in regards to the ‘independent’ witnesses;
(c) With application to subsection (4)(b) and in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations of 2004 and section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, an educational institution may refuse compliance with a request on the basis that:-
(i) the request, in terms of resources, is projected to exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £600;
(ii) the request is deemed as ‘vexatious’;
(iii) the request is one to which the educational institution on a prior occasion complied with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within a reasonable time interval;

7 - Short title and extent
(1) This Act may be cited as the Educational Indoctrination Act 2017.
(2) This Act extends to the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
(3) This Act is to come into effect on the 1st of September 2017.

Saunders16 · 24-07-2017 19:50

Much better, aye.

Cognition! · 24-07-2017 19:54

This looks difficult to enforce.

ns_2 · 24-07-2017 19:57

(Original post by Cognition!)
This looks difficult to enforce.

Any person who pursues or promotes partisan principles, opinions, points of view, ideals, attitudes, cognitive strategies or professional methodologies by educational staff that have tangible links to proscribed organisation will be disciplined.

Jacob E · 24-07-2017 20:02

Forcing schools to call meetings is silly, the bills cannot be enforced because a lot of the time indoctrination is at a school-wide level, and there is no information on the change guilty schools will undergo.

ns_2 · 24-07-2017 20:14

(Original post by Nigel Farage MEP)
Forcing schools to call meetings is silly, the bills cannot be enforced because a lot of the time indoctrination is at a school-wide level, and there is no information on the change guilty schools will undergo.

A review will be conducted by CONTEST, the Government's long-standing counter-terrorism subsection, alongside the Home Office and the Department for Education to assess whether the problem lies within the individual or whether it is a systematic issue within the educational institution.

i.e. long-term action will be done on a case-by-case basis, and regardless, this will only be the case for those with 'tangible links to proscribed organisations' e.g. terrorism groups - in having tangible links, pupils are at risk - a risk that must be mitigated.

Joel 96 · 24-07-2017 20:16

Aye.

barnetlad · 24-07-2017 21:14

I understand the intention of the Bill to be generally well-intentioned (no Daesh sympathising or support for the Real IRA, for example). However, playing 'Free Nelson Mandela' at the time of its release at a school would have fallen within the scope of the Act. Also, I do not think school governors who are voluntary largely can be compelled. Two independent witnesses could be grumpy parents or someone with an axe to grind, as it could include adult evening classes on school premises.

As for actions, there should just be a specific offence, for which the Police and CPS can make decisions on, with upon conviction, a sentence.

Better than the previous Bill but not one i can support in its present form.

04MR17 · 24-07-2017 21:17

My main issue with this is that the current rules are close to this anyway.

It is not permitted to encourage students to support political parties, terrorist groups or anything particularly "partisan"

(Original post by ns_2)
A review will be conducted by CONTEST, the Government's long-standing counter-terrorism subsection, alongside the Home Office and the Department for Education to assess whether the problem lies within the individual or whether it is a systematic issue within the educational institution.

What Nigel was saying was that it is difficult to identify indoctrination in the first place if it is a school-wide problem involving leadership. There are no whistle-blowers in good positions in effect to "sound the alarm" (for want of a better phrase) and trigger the process.

TitanCream · 24-07-2017 21:29

giVING IT AN AYE.

ns_2 · 24-07-2017 21:34

(Original post by 04MR17)
My main issue with this is that the current rules are close to this anyway.

It is not permitted to encourage students to support political parties, terrorist groups or anything particularly "partisan"

What Nigel was saying was that it is difficult to identify indoctrination in the first place if it is a school-wide problem involving leadership. There are no whistle-blowers in good positions in effect to "sound the alarm" (for want of a better phrase) and trigger the process.

I understand exactly what you are saying - I tried to address it in the first bill - under the title of the Educational Impartiality Bill 2017, however, people claimed it went too far - hence, I have focused on the most potent issue underlying indoctrination - extremism.

04MR17 · 24-07-2017 21:40

(Original post by ns_2)
I understand exactly what you are saying - I tried to address it in the first bill - under the title of the Educational Impartiality Bill 2017, however, people claimed it went too far - hence, I have focused on the most potent issue underlying indoctrination - extremism.

I think prevent was strong enough without this.

I support the rights of teachers to not have their entire career scrutinised to the finite detail as occurs now.

Talk of penalties here does not reflect the opposition having any respect for the teaching profession. I am not making that an accusation, I am highlighting that your legislation conveys that.

ns_2 · 24-07-2017 21:47

(Original post by 04MR17)
I think prevent was strong enough without this.

I support the rights of teachers to not have their entire career scrutinised to the finite detail as occurs now.

Talk of penalties here does not reflect the opposition having any respect for the teaching profession. I am not making that an accusation, I am highlighting that your legislation conveys that.

I concede that my earlier bill's scope was 'unrestricted' and 'over-controlling'; however, this bill is designed for the sole protection of pupils and members of educational staff alike - preventing them from being indoctrination with the tangled and wrong views of those from 'proscribed organisations' - with evident links to terrorism.

ns_2 · 24-07-2017 21:48

(Original post by 04MR17)
I think prevent was strong enough without this.

I support the rights of teachers to not have their entire career scrutinised to the finite detail as occurs now.

Talk of penalties here does not reflect the opposition having any respect for the teaching profession. I am not making that an accusation, I am highlighting that your legislation conveys that.

The Conservative and Unionist Party as a whole respects fully the contribution teachers make to society; teachers prompt development and initiate a process of investment - it is the actions of teachers now that will fund society in the future.

Without teachers, and the immense contribution they make, our society, our economy, our people would be nothing.

04MR17 · 24-07-2017 21:51

(Original post by ns_2)
I concede that my earlier bill's scope was 'unrestricted' and 'over-controlling'; however, this bill is designed for the sole protection of pupils and members of educational staff alike - preventing them from being indoctrination with the tangled and wrong views of those from 'proscribed organisations' - with evident links to terrorism.

And what's wrong with what's currently in place doing exactly that?

(Original post by ns_2)
The Conservative and Unionist Party as a whole respects fully the contribution teachers make to society; teachers prompt development and initiate a process of investment - it is the actions of teachers now that will fund society in the future.

Without teachers, and the immense contribution they make, our society, our economy, our people would be nothing.

So why make these heavy punishments behind them? This will not improve teaching for the majority and is not fair on teachers.

ns_2 · 24-07-2017 21:54

(Original post by 04MR17)
And what's wrong with what's currently in place doing exactly that?
So why make these heavy punishments behind them? This will not improve teaching for the majority and is not fair on teachers.

May I make clear that this bill ONLY punishes those with 'tangible links to proscribed groups or organisations'... how is not fair to tackle 'extremist indoctrination'? how is not fair to tackle the spread of terrorism of all forms? how is not fair to punish those who advocate cowardly organisations like the Islamic State?

That Bearded Man · 24-07-2017 22:02

I'd actually prefer my kids learn about global warming thanks.

Just Rory · 24-07-2017 22:21

what in seven hells is this?

LifeIsFine · 24-07-2017 22:43

(Original post by That Bearded Man)
I'd actually prefer my kids learn about global warming thanks.

This.
I'd also want children to know that the holocaust was real, and that Stalin was a crazed despot.

Saunders16 · 24-07-2017 23:01

(Original post by LifeIsFine)
This.
I'd also want children to know that the holocaust was real, and that Stalin was a crazed despot.

It makes me a terrorist to believe that the holocaust was real?

That's not an argument against this bill.

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