British Values
All have a duty to ‘actively promote’ the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
Ofsted see ‘fundamental British values’ as:
- Democracy.
- The rule of law.
- Individual liberty.
- Mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith.
Democracy
A system of government, in which power is vested in the people who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives; your opinion counts.
The rule of law
The legal principle that law should govern a nation, as opposed to being governed by arbitrary decisions of individual government officials and: no-one is above the law, the law protects everyone and under UK law a person is innocent until proven guilty.
Individual liberty
The liberty of an individual to freedom of speech and to exercise freely those rights generally accepted as being outside of governmental control.
Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs includes:
- Allowing others to freely hold different religious beliefs
- Allowing others to practice their religious faith, within reasonable limits
- Accepting that followers of various religions consider their own beliefs to be true
We are expected to respect other people with particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010, i.e. age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation.
The key to this is:
- Being alert to cause for concern, including awareness of expression of extremist views
- Being able to support everyone to become fully rounded members of society and treat others with respect and tolerance, regardless of background
- Being able to encourage children and young people to understand the aims of respect and be fully prepared for life in modern day Britain
- Being able to “promote equality of opportunity and diversity exceptionally well so that the ethos and culture counters any form of direct or indirect discriminatory behaviour.”
Think about personal values, morals and ethics.
How you treat people and wish to be treated. How do you like to be treated and do you think good manners are important?
Think about your community (neighbours / college / work) and how people treat each other and work together; identities and heritages of the people around you.
Do you get on well with the people around you? Do you ever get into disagreements with people?
Think about the country, and what it means to be part of a democracy in comparison to other countries; the government and the right to vote, and how with freedom comes responsibility.
Do you know what a democracy is?
Are you registered to vote?
