Push to add Political Literacy classes to U.K. School curriculum

[PlanDeRaccordement]

Interesting article on the BBC today. Wondering what reactions are from U.K. parents?

www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-55862548

Few highlights-

“A new group of MPs and peers, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Political Literacy, held its inaugural meeting this month and says that change should begin in the classroom....”

“The APPG will be working with Shout Out UK, an organisation that already runs classes in schools across the country, focusing on topics including how to form and debate opinions and where to source accurate information.”

“The APPG wants all pupils across the UK to receive a similar level of political literacy teaching as those at Mossbourne Community Academy. It will also campaign for a new politics qualification - likely to be a BTEC or GCSE - and conduct further research into the links between civic teaching and engagement.”

“The group is made up of parliamentarians from across the political divide - Conservative MP Simon Fell and Labour peer Iain McNicol will act as chairs - but how can it reassure parents that lessons about issues such as Brexit and coronavirus will be impartial?
James Weinberg says: "That is already written into law. The 1996 Education Act makes it very clear that teachers and teaching staff can't be imposing or advocating partisan opinions in the classroom. We have to trust our teachers to be able to teach civic competencies, to teach political literacy."”

[barskits]

OMG. No no no no no!

I still well remember exactly what happened when we had something similar in the 1970's at my secondary school in a once-a-week topic called General Studies. The teachers could not teach the subject without their own political views coming to the fore. They found it impossible to be impartial. We don't want that sort of thing at school, thanks.

[GrouchyKiwi]

Yes, in principle it's a good idea, but how do you keep opinions out of it?

[PlanDeRaccordement]

That would be my concern too. It is physically impossible for humans to be objective, due to unconscious subjectivity. So opinions are going to emerge in the classroom even with a teacher who is trying their best to be impartial. And politics is not like a judge in a courtroom who has to follow a written law and sentencing regulations. Politics is not so constrained.

Even in choosing what to talk about, opinions are expressed. The article listed BLM, climate change and LGBTQ in what was clearly intended as a list of worthy political causes. If it had been written by someone more right wing, it would have been a different list altogether!

[cdtaylornats]

It would be used as an indoctrination session for the SNP in Scotland.

[AlwaysCheddar]

NO way, teachers spout their polictical views to kids already. Better allocate time to manners, values, sport and health.