Promoting British Values

For many years, there has been a duty for schools to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils. More recently, the Department for Education has reinforced the requirement for schools to promote ‘fundamental British values’ through SMSC development:

‘It is expected that pupils should understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law. The school’s ethos and teaching, which schools should make parents aware of, should support the rule of English civil and criminal law and schools should not teach anything that undermines it. If schools teach about religious law, particular care should be taken to explore the relationship between state and religious law. Pupils should be made aware of the difference between the law of the land and religious law.’

Fundamental British values are defined as follows:

• Democracy
• Rule of law
• Individual liberty
• Mutual respect
• Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs