Fundamental British Values and citizenship education: tensions between national and global perspectives

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the tensions between the development of citizenship education in England since the 1990s and a more recent obligation on schools to promote Fundamental British Values (FBVs). The foundational and enduringly influential Crick Report of 1998 that elaborated a rationale and detailed programme of study for citizenship education has a strong emphasis on political literacy that encourages acts of citizenship at scales from the very local to the global. A formal 2007 curriculum review of Citizenship advocated the framing of ‘identity and diversity: living together in the UK’ providing a locus for exploring multiple and flexible identities and cosmopolitan perspectives. However, the obligation on schools in England since 2014 to promote FBVs can be read as an attempt to reinstate the national. The policy shift from political literacy promoted in Citizenship to a focus on FBVs follows earlier attempts to promote a depoliticized values education. Previous empirical studies illustrate ways in which young people may acknowledge and respect local, national and cosmopolitan citizenship and identities. The UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Award programme resists the nationalist agenda of FBVs by encouraging schools to promote the universalist UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as their guiding statement of values. The article concludes that the tensions discussed mirror those made manifest in the Brexit process.