Teachers should remain impartial on matters of lawbreaking by politicians, says Zahawi

[noblegiraffe]

Nadhim Zahawi, Secretary of State for Education is enraged that a primary school had a writing exercise where Y6s wrote to their MP complaining about the law-breaking by our Prime Minister and other government employees.

He is setting new guidance which requires teachers to provide a balanced representation of opposing opinions on political issues.

But breaking the law isn't a political issue is it? Presenting opposing views on whether the Prime Minister should be allowed to break the law is in direct conflict with our requirement to promote British Values, including respect for the rule of law.

What would he have teachers say? Should teachers shut down discussion on any topic potentially embarrassing to those currently in power?

I'm a bit of a fan of rule-following, not breaking the law, Nolan standards in public life.

You can call them 'British values' if you want - though I do think they prevail beyond Britain.

I'm a bit 😮 to think teachers are going to be asked to be 'balanced' about these values.

I mean ... yes, I'd expect teachers to engage pupils' thinking about these values - including debates and counter-factuals - but ...

Just where is our Education Sectretary going with this?

What, precisely, does he mean by 'balance'?

In fact ... wtf is he talking about?

Other than looking like a toddler tantrummung about a Year 6 writing exercise?

Is he so desperate to get the readers of the Daily Mail choking on their toast?

He looks like a bit of a twat to be honest. Children aren’t stupid and are very quick to spot unfairness and hypocrisy.

And…is he suggesting that as teachers we shouldn’t encourage students to respect the country’s laws?

Ah well, I’ll go and see if any of the papers have captured the story in their political cartoon so I can use it in my lesson on satire.

I guess it hasn't been formally proved to be law breaking yet - investigations still underway. Could that be the issue? Though that is splitting hairs really.

I don't approve of rule breaking or law breaking but I do think teachers should be impartial. Parents of any class of children will have a range of opinions and none of them should feel their child is being indoctrinated into opposing political views

Actually ... tl;dr

I think it sucks that he's attacking British Values and re-naming that attack as 'balance'.

Fuck Off.

Really.

Just ... Fuck Off.

I'm tired of it.

I had to put up with all manner of unrepresentative wankers being gifted airtime, in the name of 'balance', over the last few years.

He can Fuck Off with his truth-devoid, anti-British Values 'balance'.

"Is it wrong to break the law?" sounds like a discussion that the government would rather schools didn't have either. Maybe not in primary, but in secondary there'd almost certainly be some discussion of the Colston Four and the new Police and Crime bill.

I think it's good for pupils to have an age appropriate knowledge of current affairs. I also think even a toddler could draw conclusions that it isn't fair for the prime minister to have parties whilst everyone else in the country didn't.

It's already in the Teaching Standards not to 'indoctrinate' children.

FFS, the curriculum's so bloody full - and we're so on it with safeguarding, it's hard to see where where a modern-day Miss Jean Brodie would get the time to show her class jolly videos of neat Fascist marches now.

And MN goes into melt-down about Homework spellings. I can't see parents blithely turning a blind eye to schools across the land raising a Praetorian Guard.

This is just woeful stuff from the Education Secretary.

So we should be teaching our children that The Government Is Always Right And Must Not Be Criticised, according to the Education Secretary. Well, that isn't fascist at all, is it?

@QueenOfHiraeth

I don't approve of rule breaking or law breaking but I do think teachers should be impartial. Parents of any class of children will have a range of opinions and none of them should feel their child is being indoctrinated into opposing political views

I completely agree that children at school should not be indoctrinated into political views on either side of the political debate.

I'm curious, however, that the idea that everyone should obey the law is now being presented as a "political view" rather than a principle that is fundamental to the functioning of our society.

Are we now saying then that abiding by the rule of law is now optional - merely a matter of opinion - and that we should therefore provide a balanced perspective on whether or not it is on to break it?

Personally, I prefer the old fashioned approach of teaching children about the importance of the rule of law and that nobody is above the law. Obviously that "political view" is out of fashion these days.

Hmm. To be honest, I am not totally sure where I stand on this.

Yes, the law is the law, but asking children to write a letter of complaint is rather presupposing that there is something to complain about.

I have seen this a lot in schools, and children are encouraged to see the only rational, logical position possible is a centre-left one and that divergence from that position makes one ipso facto a vicious knuckle-dragging thicko bigot.

I realise I’ve diverted from the point there but I do feel it isn’t so much a complaint about Johnson as the Tory government more generally. I mean to say that there won’t be letters of complaint about the recent Labour MPs racist abuse or Angela Rayner’s ‘scum.’ That’s where it is problematic for me. It is undoubtedly trying to encourage children to think in a very specific way.

@QueenOfHiraeth

I don't approve of rule breaking or law breaking but I do think teachers should be impartial. Parents of any class of children will have a range of opinions and none of them should feel their child is being indoctrinated into opposing political views

It does rather depend on what you define as a political view though.

We're not allowed to be impartial on respecting the rule of law - that is a British Value that we have to promote.

Why is Zahawi trying to redefine lawbreaking as a political issue? Perhaps because it is his party that is under fire.

I don't think the children were asked to write a letter of complaint. They watched news round, had a discussion and then wrote a letter their mp. The content of the discussion and letters came from the children, not the school.

It sounds like the Education secretary wants teachers to go down the route of explaining to children that some people think that the law applies to everyone, whereas others think that it only applies to the masses and not to the very important people who run the country. And that these differences of opinion are OK because those very important people are very special and they went to Eton and they shouldn't have to bother with the rules that the rest of us plebs have to follow. Is that balanced enough, I wonder?

Kids are not stupid. They understand the concept of rule breaking. Why the hell shouldn't they hold our leader to account just because his own party is failing to do so?

The conversations I have had with primary age children about this topic (initiated by them) have been along the lines of 'I couldn't have a birthday party / my mum couldn't get married, why were they allowed? Wasn't it against the law?'

You are right op. The current government really are quite sinister
As for children being indoctrinated by teachers. Children are far more likely to be indoctrinated by their parents who they are brought up by than a teacher. People that worry about this are usually people who have brought their kids up with Daily Mail style views and don't want them to ever be exposed to any alternative viewpoints.

This seems less like being politically impartial and more about suppressing valid criticism of the government.

I mean, all the kids have heard about this story. They all understand it. They don't need 'indoctrinating' by teachers to be pissed off by it. So what Zahawi is really asking teachers to do here is defend it.

I don't think it really matters. All the teachers who expressed political views when I was at school were raving lefties, it didn't make any of the kids into raving lefties when they grew up. If anything it had a negative effect as it reinforces the idea that being left-wing is childish and something you believe when you're young and impressionable and then grow out of.

It's a ridiculous position for him to be taking.

The students were asked to have an opinion and write to that. The teacher would be wrong to tell them them that their opinion was unacceptable because it critical of actions taken by politicians. The students opinion was valid. Part of the activity was to take a view point and justify it, as with many opinions they have over the course of their lives, some will agree with them and some will disagree.

I had hoped that Nadhim Zahawi might be the third vaguely capable cabinet minister. Seems I was mistaken.

Presumably teachers will not be allowed to criticise serial adultery or forcing a woman into an abortion either, because Mr Johnson is alleged to have done both.

I had hoped that Nadhim Zahawi might be the third vaguely capable cabinet minister. Seems I was mistaken.

I had higher hopes for him as well. Clearly I was wrong.

I'm curious as to who the other two vaguely capable cabinet ministers might be though? I haven't come across them yet!

British values
www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-fundamental-british-values-through-smsc

Schools should promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs1
. This can help schools to demonstrate how they are meeting the requirements of section 78 of the Education Act 2002, in their provision of SMSC.

Actively promoting the values means challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values. Attempts to promote systems that undermine fundamental British values would be completely at odds with schools’ duty to provide SMSC.
The Teachers’ Standards expect teachers to uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school. This includes not undermining fundamental British values.

It is expected that pupils should understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law.

The school’s ethos and teaching, which schools should make parents aware of, should support the rule of English civil and criminal law and schools should not teach anything that undermines it.

If schools teach about religious law, particular care should be taken to
explore the relationship between state and religious law. Pupils should be made aware of the difference between the law of the land and religious law

an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety;

an understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence;

an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination

ensure that all pupils within the school have a voice that is listened to, and demonstrate how democracy works by actively promoting democratic processes such as a school council whose members are voted for by the pupils;

consider the role of extra-curricular activity, including any run directly by pupils, in promoting fundamental British values.

There are so many discussions to be had about the current Government and their attitude towards British Values.

I'm a teacher. Fuck off, tories.

@AlexaShutUp in my opinion Ben Wallace (having doubts) and Michael Gove (rudest man in politics but does detail and has a plan, even though I don't like the plan).

@cakeorwine

There are so many discussions to be had about the current Government and their attitude towards British Values.

Well, exactly. I'd have thought that it's an excellent teaching opportunity.