New ‘guidance’ says teachers’ personal judgment is banned from classrooms and they’re not to criticise government policies and actions without also suggesting why the Tories are right, as thought and speech clampdown continues
New ‘guidance’ issued to schools by the Department for Education (DfE) under the guise of avoiding ‘bias’ bans teachers from taking a position on even issues of obvious right and wrong – and tells them that if they do bring up those issues they can only do so if they put the other ‘side’s view as well.
So if teachers want to discuss burgeoning poverty and the impact of government policies – an issue affecting around a third of England’s children – they’re only allowed to do so if they also explain, as an equally valid view, the Tories’ propaganda about why it’s unavoidable or even a good thing.
And if they want to discuss global issues of inequality and oppression, they have to put the exploiters’ and oppressors’ version too – without judgment or criticism.
And the guidance, according to the BBC, explicitly discourages any expression of support for ‘campaigning groups’ against injustice, such as the Black Lives Matter movement – while in an example of how the so-called ‘mainstream’ media shores up the Establishment’s narrative, the BBC again ‘both sides’ the issue of Israeli apartheid and oppression of Palestinians, describing this as ‘tension between Israel and the Palestinians’.
The UK’s slide from shallow democracy into totalitarianism continues and the powers that be know that our young people re the most likely to reject it. They don’t want our children to hear that it might be wrong or to think critically about the injustices it is built on and promotes.
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Meanwhile Rayner says police should “SHOOT FIRST, ask questions later”.
What will it take for some to realise a red rosette and the Labour label, does not mean those parasites share our views
??? ❔❔❔ ⁉️⁉️⁉️
SIR Keith Starmer will be DEATHLY worse compared to the worst Johnson.
Keith, exactly as he insulted the pub landlord, will tell you, me and ANY of “The Many” –
” I don’t have to listen to THE LIKES of YOU!!!!!!”
⚠️‼️⚠️‼️⚠️‼️
That’s just about done it for me! I cancelled my Direct Debit to the Labour Party today. Card snipping will follow, probably at the next CLP meeting…
Well bloody said brother.
thanks Andrew🌺🌺🌺 To be honest yesterday i felt great, but after hearing Lammy lying AGAIN, that “the people rejected Socialism” and “the manifesto”, which Lammy KNOWS 2 b a LIE, then Keith proclaiming £12,000,000.00 “closes” the matter, AND flag-waving for military action while he squats in Labour, AND now Rayner using her soul to say “SHOT NOW, ask questions later”, amazes me how so many are so easily swayed by rosettes and labels.
Think of it, even BLUE Tories are demanding we know where Huge and excessive state council estates living Queen woman found TWELVE MILLION to pay to a lady whom her favourite son only recently claim to “HAVE NEVER MET”. Even blue Tories + STAUNCH Tory supporting media people r outraged and disgusted, but NOT KEITH RODNEY STARMER (sir).
Right wing people are DISGUSTED with DAME Dick, … even Sadiq Khan of who i’m no fan, but Sir Keith ??? oh no. Keith covers for them.
He is NASTY & DISHONEST🔴 full stop … and two more 🔴🔴
There is no left and right.
Only top down. You can guess where Raynor and others see themselves
Or sister???
Andrew, Timfrom has got only one like. All these leave the party posters yet only one like???
Fickle bastards, eh!
Children will be at the mercy of idiotic robotic teachers who if follow these instructions shouldn’t be teaching anything
Not if the parents have anything to do with it…
Weren’t that long ago they were outside schools protesting about teaching that it’s normal to be gay.
Yes of course teachers know better than parents, after all I’m a retired teacher (oh, & a parent). ‘What did you learn in school today, dear little child of mine?’ In loco parentis?
Andrew – have a look at the curriculum “guidelines”. We’ve been there for ages.
For example, compulsory “synthetic phonics” and nothing else.
What can the toerags do if this is ignored? Not much I’d imagine. How are they gonna find out if a teacher has defies them? They gonna put a commissar/political officer in each & every classroom? 🤔
Hullo Toffee, touts are ten a penny. Ask Joseph.
I get the distinct feeling that if a teacher were to tell the class that the Tories were the best government this side of the Norman Conquest, that that would be considered a “balanced and neutral pov .”
In earlier days it was called The Department FOR Education. Now, it’s The Department of Education Thanks, newlabour).
Can you see the difference? It’s a bit like benefits and ‘credits’ (as per ‘Universal Credit). One assumes you are important and entitled to financialm support when necessary, the other sees you as a customer and a market player (a borrower, where ‘credits’ are concerned).
Words matter! And in a ‘free-market’, neoliberal economy, benefits and governments providing Education is a dangerously democratic and inefficient idea. There’s no capital to be accumulated! None.
For heavens’ sake, such a socialist venture might end up providing citizens with skills/capabilities/abilities that allow them to be autonomous persons and less exploitable in a vicious ‘dog-eat-dog’ world (Thanks again, newlabour).
Centrists and neoliberals believe that Schools are commercial operations and the market is all they need to flourish. F*ck citizens’ need for eucation and learning!
forgive my sloppy keyboard use/typos.
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair knew EXACTLY wha he was doing when he made ‘education, education, education’ his key policy in 1997. The capitalists needed pretend-socialists to make education (and health and security) available for the capital accumulators!
G*d Damn Him (and his mother, Margaret Thatcher, and his younger (less bright) brother, Sir Sneer Rodney Starmer)!
Rathr like “public housing” becoming “SOCIAL housing.”
Has dribbling Keef rushed to the Tories’ knee, fallen down, rolled over for a tickle and lodged his gushing approval yet?
That’s not for us to know – and besides he goes straight to Klaus Schwab (WEF) and David Rockefeller (Trilateral Commission) for his £$£$ belly-rubs.
Spot on Qwertboi !
He’s most likely already written a private letter to de piffle, expressing his unwavering support.
No if, buts or equivocation…it’s re-education.
Wirral, do you mean has he come yet? Forensically, perhaps.
It really is time we called this out publicly, the farce that the Tories want an impartial education system has long been a myth.
Time to call for politics and real economics taught in school.
Mmmm. Maybe this move will lead to Marxist economic theory being given equal weight in schools.
I’m just waiting for Starmer to chip in and affirm his commitment to “both sides of the argument” and then we’ll see if he is willing to let JVL give their “side of the argument” or to encourage those who oppose the IHRA “definition” to do the same. Won’t hold my breath.
Teacher’s personal judgement or teacher’s personal values & ideologies.
I recall, when I was at school, that we had the establishment narrative pushed down our throats non stop.
From what I saw of schools when working for a couple of local authorities later in life things had changed a little. The establishment narrative was still there but cloaked in a nod towards impartiality. I don’t think that it was a deliberate strategy of slanting what students heard. It was simply that we all, in the way we approach discussion, tend to at least tend towards to our own perspective, and that’s what many of the teachers were doing.
There are always ways round this authoritarian posturing.
Did Nelson Mandela or Bobby Sands keep quiet when they were subject a extreme totalitarian regime oppression.
No way.
Do I keep quiet in Labour Party meetings.
I defy them to sanction or expel me.
There’s only one way to deal with authoritarian oppression.
It doesn’t include backing-off.
The event which was apparently at the basis of this
involved a class of 10 year olds who had been inspired
by a story on BBC “NewsRound” to write to their MP.
The lesson was “English” by the way as opposed to
“Civics” .
The story concerned “Partygate” and the childrens
letters condemned the Prime Minister .. There was
inevitable outrage from the usual quarters in which
two things were ignored
(1) That the children were not starting with a blank page –
they will have had exposure to news from newspapers,
TV and radio at home.
(2) The scope of the lesson would include the nature of
discourse and expansion of the childrens vocabulary.
Thus the inclusion of the word “scum” is because the
children would ask about it.
Actually we DID learn about “Marxism” at school –
it was while we were in fifth and sixth form. We also
learned about Nazi-ism as well as socialism and
capitalism.However the discussions very brief.
(I have to confess that in my 20s I tried to read
up on Marxist Economic Theory and found
it very boring. I could not engage as it did not
correspond with anything I knew or understood.
What I DID engage with was human rights and the
right to a decent life for everyone.)
While at a Catholic school we also learned about
Pope Leo XIII’s “Rerum Novarum” published in
1870 about Rights and Obligations of employer,
employee etc.
There was much discussion between teachers
and students and I might add that teachers in
those days were mostly Tories and we, the
students mostly Labour Party supporters. In those
days we were not allowed to vote till we were 21.
In year 6 1970 our teacher got us to watch the news early evening, choice of two in those days ITV /BBC
So at aged 10/11 we first registered we were watching the same story being framed in different ways and begging the question they can’t both be right, one of these fuckers is lying to us
Fast forward to 1981 and my first visit to Ireland and their news channels and papers
Years after that celebrating Paddy’s Day in an Irish bar in Krakow I was asked by a staunch republican how much I knew about Irish history, I said about as much as you know about the Kingdom of Northumbria
That’s something else I was taught, never mix politics and drink
I can understand the reaction against this measure, but properly implemented it could be a blessing in disguise.
Why not having robust debates in the class room? Why not encourage the pupils to dismantle the Tories and Neo-Labour arguments?
It could provide for a fantastic opportunity for political education. Turn it on its heads by all means use it to expose the Tories and Neo-Liberal lies.
It would provide with a unique opportunity to teach working class pupils how to debate and winning the arguments against the Tories and Neo-Liberals.
HFM I do recommend Capital volume 1 by Marx though it is very heavy in large parts but there are stunning chapters like the one on child Labour in the factories when many thousands of young children were half-starved, overworked and were dying each year, it is very moving.
Also the chapter on the expropriation of the land is stunning and should make your blood boil.
I actually wonder at times if we have a de-education system which is primarily about producing a wheat (managers, good jobs, good pay) and a Chaff (dull, monotonous, poorly paid but essential jobs)?
Unless of course you have a very good teacher who makes it A CONTESTED AREA, and perhaps this is what the Right Wing Tory Neo-Liberals want to crush?
What what need is an education system which nurtures critical thinkers then perhaps the Tories and their fellow travellers will fade into oblivion?
At an appropriate age we should teach young people about Neo-Liberalism, and A Left Wing Democratic Socialism.
And perhaps for the many particularly (but not exclusively) whose families may be struggling or just getting by I am confident which one may mainly resonate with their lives.
I always remember a class in secondary school by our radical history teacher on the Peterloo Massacre, and by the end of the class us working class young people were ready, we don’t know what we were ready for but we were bloody ready!
And the class was actually riveting!
We need to politically educate all citizens and once enough have the critical thinking skills I am confident oppression will be overcome.
Bazza – thank you family or your recommendations.
In fact I have read and an aware of the history
part and the terrible deprivations of the Working
classes .. I have read volumes of Victorian Literature
and Biography and there are stories from my own
family which go way back – in terms of poverty.
I remembering one particular story my mother
told me. She came from a relatively secure family but went
to school in an impoverished neighbourhood. Apparently
some children in her class went home
in the middle of the morning on Fridays because that
was the day their father received his “Dole” – and they
might not have eaten that morning or the previous
evening – or even longer.
However – you only have to
watch a few episodes of “Who Do you think you are”
to get an idea of the precariousness and injustice.of
British Society
It is the theory which I cannot get along with –
which I first came across in a book by Joan Robinson.
Oh dear .. I never got beyond the second chapter ..
Bazza – Sorry for the typos – hopefully you
can still understand it! I was interrupted
by a phone call which took me ages
to answer as it was from my iphone
which is very fiddly to use. I eventually
discovered I was going to be prosecuted
for tax fraud (!!!) I wonder if the People
who really have committed tax or other
fraud – get these calls?
Concerning my comment abut starvation
during the early part of the twentieth century
– I realise that some children are suffering
NOW from starvation and poverty.
Mariah – we did indeed have mock Elections
during GE time at my school – with a “Tory
Candidate” and a “Labour Candidate” for each
Class.
I think in general that debates are a good idea –
my part -time Engineering students used to have
them as part of their course. It gave rise to a civilised
way of discourse and was good training for those
who had to present their ideas in clear comprehensible
form to a group of people.
Next it’ll be Maths lessons and 2+2=5!
The BBC, the final few Guardian journos, the Labour Party, now the teaching profession. It’s all a bit Niemoller, isn’t it?
Not a peep from the allegedly headhunted teacher in the Caribbean, I notice 😙🎶I
He’s invariably the first to pipe up when he thinks he’s more qualified than anyone else.(which applies to any subject, ever)
Strangely silent, here, though…🤐