New government guidance on ‘politically impartial’ teaching risks shutting down conversations about race with students
- Dr Halima Begum is chief executive of the Runnymede Trust
Having spent more than 20 years of my career looking at education systems all over the world, including in countries such as China and Singapore, I know first hand the role of the classroom in shaping the way that students understand society.
That’s why I was disappointed to see the Department for Education’s new guidance for England on political impartiality in the classroom this week, which threatens that understanding. The confusing new advice will make it harder for teachers to tackle vital subjects such as the climate crisis and racism, by pushing for them to be “taught in an impartial manner”. In particular, the guidance singles out the antiracist campaign Black Lives Matter – which has been central to forming societal attitudes around racial injustice – as having no place in the classroom. In the words of the Department for Education, the campaign goes “beyond the basic shared principle that racism is unacceptable”. The history of the empire, meanwhile, should be taught “in a balanced manner”.
