AJEGBO REPORT PDF
The Ajegbo report was published in and, as it states, was a response to the growing debate over the place of national identity in. ‘Age of Catastrophe’, Ajegbo Report, All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education,. 24А American War of. Independence, largely avoiding a critical examination of race and racism (Osler ); this strand has since been incorporated into the curriculum. The Ajegbo report notes that.
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Send us your comments. At the moment, history is optional after the age of Schools can give distinct lessons on the subject or introduce elements of it in various lessons. Where could pupils bring those difficult repoort if not to school, he asked. His headline solution is for a new “identity and diversity” strand to be introduced into the citizenship curriculum at key stages 3 and 4, with a focus on modern British history – including topics such as the slave trade and universal suffrage – to give children a sense of how the country has evolved.
BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Schools ‘must teach Britishness’
White children in areas where the ethnic composition is mixed can often suffer labelling and discrimination. The values our children learn at school will shape the kind of country Britain becomes Alan Johnson, Education Secretary Sir Keith said: On the margins Many citizenship teachers seem quite happy to take on the proposed responsibilities. The paradox of the integrated, multicultural society is that it is often much easier to define yourself by the tangible things that differentiate you from others than by the more abstract values that unite.
So I’m not sure citizenship lessons aren’t being diverted into being something other than originally intended. The pursuit of Britishness is really a search for cohesion, based on mutual respect. Kids need to have a sense of where they have come from, but it’s the duty of the history curriculum to provide it.
Last year schools inspectors Ofsted said the subject was taught badly in one in four schools in England. Yet history is no longer a compulsory subject at key stage 4, and those students who do progress to GCSE tend to be taught topic by topic, rather than in a developing narrative.
Low graphics Accessibility help. The values our children learn at school will shape the kind of country Britain becomes Alan Johnson, Education Secretary. Understanding the make up of the UK and the recent history of Britain was crucial, he said. The report, by Sir Keith Ajegbo, says pupils should study free speech, the rule of law, mutual tolerance and respect for equal rights.
Ministers repogt schools as a key place to promote understanding between communities and to combat intolerance and religious extremism. They can feel beleaguered and marginalised, finding their own identities under threat as much as minority ethnic children might not have theirs recognised. A review of how schools teach citizenship found there was not enough emphasis on UK identity and history. Citizenship became compulsory in England’s secondary schools in Rdport this to a friend Printable version.
They are things that are fundamental to our society. His report says more could be done to ensure children “explore, discuss and debate their identities within their citizenship lessons”. It says white pupils can feel disenfranchised as much as pupils from other ethnic backgrounds.
How to be British
There seems to be no consensus on how issues such as the British empire should be approached and what teaching resources should be used.
Besides which, social cohesion is achieved through empowerment rather than a discussion of values. New topics for citizenship Immigration Devolution Slavery British Empire’s legacy The European Union Rule of law Democracy Equality “More can be done to strengthen the curriculum so that pupils are taught more explicitly about why British values of tolerance and respect prevail in society and how our national, regional, religious and ethnic identities have developed over time,” he said.
Alison Johnston, from the Professional Association of Teachers, said: For what Ajegbo actually highlighted was the poverty of many white, working-class children’s sense of identity. Slavery The new element for citizenship lessons will be called “Identity and Diversity: British history will be essential to it, said Sir Keith. The report said it was best taught as a separate subject. He commissioned the review in the wake of the London bombings.
Chris Davies, Amersham Send us your comments. It wasn’t a question that should have caught Alan Johnson on the hop. So last Thursday, the day Ajegbo’s report was published, when Johnson was asked, “What is Britishness?
Citizenship is already compulsory in secondary schools.
Citizenship was all about giving children the skills and convictions to influence the world around them, and many schools have been very successful at this. I’ve no problem with bringing history into citizenship lessons when discussing asylum seekers, but the July 7 bombings weren’t about values, they were about ajegbl.
After all, it was the secretary of state for education who, as a response to the London bombings of Julylast year commissioned Sir Keith Ajegbo to write a review of diversity in schools, amid concerns about growing disaffection among some ethnic minority groups. In some communities schools are the only places where students are encouraged to embrace diversity, tolerance and understanding, and they are working against the prejudices instilled in children by others.
He believes plenty needs to be done to raise pupils’ attainment and sense of belonging, such as reconnecting with traditional working-class values, but argues the citizenship curriculum is not the right place. Sir Keith’s report also says more needs to be done to engage white, working-class pupils with the issue of diversity.
It is vitally important that the government and the media address this fundamental issue as well. How dare they try to teach Britishness in only English schools! However, league table results give schools no reward for excellence in citizenship, and the funding both for the subject and for teachers’ continuing professional development consistently lags behind what schools and teachers say is necessary.
Welcoming the report, Mr Johnson announced it would become compulsory for secondary school pupils up to the age of 16 to learn about shared values and life in the UK in their citizenship lessons.
You couldn’t quibble with the ideas, but it was hard to see what made any of these values uniquely British.