New government guidelines for schools to take a balanced approach to teaching politically sensitive topics such as the Israel-Palestine conflict have been welcomed by the Board of Deputies.
Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board, said the guidance showed, “how schools should meet their existing legal duties on political impartiality and includes bias around teaching about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and issues with inappropriate pupil-led political activity – which, last year, included antisemitic behaviour and the targeting of Jewish pupils and staff in some places”.
Introducing the guidance, the Department for Education said it would “help teachers and schools navigate issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the legacy of the British Empire or societal responses to racism in accordance with the law”.
Last May, the then Education Secretary Gavin Williamson voiced concern about the backlash on Jewish staff and students in non-Jewish schools during the violence in Israel and Gaza, when anti-Israel sentiment spilled over into antisemitism.
Mr Williamson said “schools should not work with or use materials from organisations that publicly reject Israel’s right to exist”. He recommended that schools use organisations that took a balanced approach such as Solutions Not Sides or Fodip (Forum for Discussion of Israel & Palestine).
The Community Security Trust recently reported that antisemitic incidents in non-Jewish schools rose from just 14 in 2020 to 99 last year.
According to the new guidance, published last week, teachers must not encourage pupils "to support or adopt a one-sided view expressed with a political purpose”.
Different views should be presented “in a fair and dispassionate way, avoiding bias”.
Extreme views based on discrimination and prejudice should continue to be challenged, it states.
It warns against using material on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that does not provide a balanced view.
Schools may work with external organisations that hold partisan views as long as they do not promote them to pupils.
When schools become aware of pupil-led political activity, “they should offer pupils a balanced account of opposing views,” the Department for Education says.
But its guidance makes clear that religious schools are free to teach “according to the tenets of their faith”.
The Jewish schools network, PaJeS, will be holding training for teachers in Jewish schools on how to implement the new guidelines.
Rabbi David Meyer, executive director of PaJeS, said the policy was intended to “address the increasing concern that extremist views have been promoted within the classroom. This has included concerns of antisemitic rhetoric that were widely reported last year.”
However, its implementation was “complex,” he added, “and it is important that the government’s intention is not lost. Good teaching has always incorporated a balance of views and encouraging students to form their own opinions.
“The PaJeS JTracks Israel curriculum incorporates different perspectives and the sixthform Ethical Dilemmas curriculum and our primary and secondary school debate competitions are specifically designed to give students the tools to investigate and debate differing views.”
Education Secretary Nadhim Zadawi said, “Parents and carers want to be sure that their children can learn about political issues and begin to form their own independent opinions, without being influenced by the personal views of those teaching them.”
The Muslim advocacy group Cage has mounted a legal challenge to Mr Williamson’s directive that schools should avoid materials or organisations that challenge Israel’s right to exist.
