Community, citizenship and cohesion: schools and the promotion of fundamental British values
29 November 2018, 5:30 pm–7:00 pm

What are 'fundamental British values'? A love of tea drinking? Queuing? Supporting the Queen or the NHS?
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Organiser
-
Joanna Gzik
Location
-
Room 728UCL Institute of Education20 Bedford WayLondonWC1H 0ALUnited Kingdom
The government defines 'fundamental British values' (FBV) as democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths.
Since 2014, teachers in English schools must promote these British values and their promotion is inspected by national inspectors, Ofsted. However, there has been little empirical research to date on how teachers have reacted to this requirement.
What plans have been put in place in schools, what lessons are taught? And how do teachers feel about suddenly being in the forefront of disseminating a set of national values? More broadly, what issues does the FBV policy raise about citizenship and who belongs and who does not in the liberal polity?
The speakers draw on recent research to answer these questions. In particular, they:
- Explore the context for the enactment of the FBV policy;
- Examine how teachers and schools have understood and responded to the requirement to promote FBV, and identify the pedagogies and practices now in place in schools around the promotion of FBV;
- Highlight similar developments in France in promoting a set of national values through schools.
Registration
This event is free and open to all, however, registration is required. Please email Joanna Gzik (j.gzik@ucl.ac.uk)
Links
About the Speakers
Professor Carol Vincent
Professor of Sociology of Education at UCL Institute of Education
Carol Vincent reports on the findings of a two year, Leverhulme-funded project on how teachers understand and promote fundamental British values. The presentation considers the processes of enacting the FBV policy in schools and the resulting practices and pedagogies. It concludes by considering what the enactment of the FBV policy reveals about contemporary understandings of citizenship.
More about Professor Carol VincentDr Reza Gholami
Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Education at University of Birmingham
Reza Gholami presents a paper on secularism, counter-extremism and education. In the context of the formal inclusion of both citizenship and education in the counter-extremism agenda, the paper examines how secularism works through policy to problematize and/or valourise ‘religion’. This has implications for how we approach extremism and ‘fundamental British values’ as well as for teaching and learning generally.
More about Dr Reza GholamiJonathan James
PhD student at UCL Institute of Education
Jonathan James reports on interim findings from his doctoral study of reports into the impact of Islamist terrorism on education policy and practice in England and France.
More about Jonathan JamesAndreas Pantelides
London secondary school teacher
Andreas Pantelides gives some examples of his approach to teaching contemporary political and social issues.