Education dept: ‘Nonsense to make schools teach gay rights’
By Josh Haggis
The Department of Education (DoE) has criticised government plans to force faith schools to promote gay rights.
The DoE shared its views in a tweet posted earlier today (November 2) that appears to imply that “gay rights” aren’t necessarily a part of what it terms “British values”.
Nonsense to say schools ‘must teach gay rights’. We want schools to teach broad curric based on British values
— DfE (@educationgovuk) November 2, 2014
The tweet follows the announcement of plans by the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, that will instruct faith schools in the UK to promote equality and gay rights – or face the possibility of closure. The plans are set to be published in a report later this month (November).
“Schools should broaden horizons not close minds and should encourage pupils to respect other people even if they do not agree with them,” Morgan told The Sunday Times. “I should have thought this is a principle with which the vast majority of people would agree. All schools of whatever type have a duty to protect young people and to ensure they leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain”.
“These values – democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs – are not new. The requirement to ‘actively promote’ them is designed to reinforce the importance this government attaches to these values,” she added.