Nicky Morgan: Promote British values to quash racism concerns
Laura McCardle
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
The promotion of fundamental British values will make the children's workforce more confident in investigating concerns linked to race, the Education Secretary has said.
Nicky Morgan told MPs that there needs to be a cultural change following the Trojan Horse investigation in Birmingham and the child abuse scandal in Rotherham, when in both cases fears of being branded racist prevented council staff from dealing with allegations.
During a hearing by the education select committee on extremism in schools, Morgan was asked how councils and other institutions working with children can help the workforce feel more confident and safe investigating concerns where race could be an issue.
In response, she said the promotion of fundamental British values by those in positions of authority – at both local and national levels – is key to shifting perceptions.
Morgan said: “We must not be shy in this country about talking about fundamental British values and promoting them.
“If we don’t talk about them other people will, as we have seen, attempt to get their own ideology across.”
She said the values need to be “woven through” both workplaces and the curriculum in order for the cultural change to take place.
Asked if the measure would be sufficient, Morgan said: “I am confident that eventually we will be able to get the cultural change. Part of that is knowing that there are proper whistleblowing procedures when people raise concerns.
“One of the real tragedies in this case [Birmingham] is that head teachers and others were raising concerns but they weren’t dealt with.
“In some cases compromise agreements were entered into and these heads were removed or moved out to other schools rather than the allegations being dealt with.”
During the hearing, Morgan said that Ofsted has made changes to the way it trains inspectors as a result of the Trojan Horse inquiry.
All inspectors are now trained in the government’s counter-terrorism strategy and are encouraged to “look behind” what is shown to them during visits to schools, she added.
A series of inspection reports, published by Ofsted yesterday, show that five of the schools involved in the Trojan Horse inquiry have failed to make improvements and have been placed in special measures.
