British values - a quick reminder!
To comply with the Prevent duty guidance for England and Wales** we must ‘actively promote’ the British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
**https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...land_Wales.pdf.
British values have been introduced to protect children from radicalisation and extremism. We are advised in guidance from Foundation Years that, “A minimum approach, for example having notices on the walls or multi-faith books on the shelves will fall short of ‘actively promoting’.” Therefore, it is about your approach to British Values and how you promote this within your childminding practice.
http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/fi...ish_Values.pdf.
Ofsted will be inspecting providers on how we comply with the Prevent duty and promote British values as part of the new Common Inspection Framework –
https://www.gov.uk/changes-to-educat...september-2015.
Ofsted have said in conversation that they do not want to see special British values displays, British flags on noticeboards (if they are not part of a display featuring flags of the world) or a page of British values planning – they want to see British values in everything we do, embedded into our day-to-day planning and activities. For example, they want to see us teaching children about right and wrong, encouraging children to help each other, demonstrating how to share and take turns, offering choices etc. We already do this when we focus on the seven areas of learning in our planning.
In schools, Ofsted want to see evidence that, “pupils develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain.” By promoting British values in our Early Years provisions we are giving children a good starting point for school learning.
British values.
You might also want to promote ‘Britishness’ in your provision to teach children how they can be proud of their local community and living in Britain. You might then introduce children to the lives of children in other parts of the world, helping them to make comparisons and notice similarities and differences – this planning will also cover festivals, celebrations, extending learning after reading a multicultural book, talking about an international news story children have heard discussed at home etc. These activities will also help prepare children for life in modern Britain – however, this is not the same as promoting British values.
Finally, you may wish to evidence this within your SEF and how promoting British values, has positively impacted on children’s learning and development.
You will find some ideas for promoting British values and teaching children about life in modern Britain here - https://www.childcare.co.uk/informat...british-values.
Thank you to Laura Henry for proofreading and adding bits I'd forgotten :D
