Lesson video

Hello, I'm Mrs. Barry, and I'm going to be your citizenship teacher today.

We've got a really interesting lesson about identity to look at together.

Some of this learning might be new to you, but that's okay because I'm here to help you and by the end of the lesson, we'll have achieved our objective.

So let's make a start.

Today's lesson comes from the unit, "How does identity affect rights?" Today's lesson is called "Shared values.

Do they Unite us?" Our outcome for today's lesson is to explain what the fundamental British values are and what these mean in everyday life.

Let's make a start.

During today's lesson, there'll be a range of key words that we use.

So let's have a look at these together now.

Firstly, democracy, a system of government in which citizens vote in regular fair elections for representatives who then make laws and decisions on their behalf.

Rule of law, the principle that all individuals within a state, including government and leaders, are subject to the same laws and must follow them.

It ensures fairness, justice, and accountability in society.

And individual liberty.

The ability to believe, act, speak, and express yourself freely.

We will also be using tolerance, the willingness to recognise and coexist with beliefs, opinions and values that are different to ours.

It enables us to peacefully live with people we may disagree with as long as they do not harm us or others through their choices.

And mutual respect, treating others with kindness and consideration, valuing their feelings and rights.

Our lesson today has three parts.

We'll be looking at what are fundamental British values? How does a school encourage British values? And does everyone agree with these values? So let's start with this first part.

What are fundamental British values? Values are basic ideas and beliefs that help us to determine what is important to us.

They can sometimes be described as our principles or standards of behaviour.

Different people will have different values.

As a nation, we also have shared values, ideas, and beliefs that are important to all of us.

British values are the values that we have as British people.

These values come from our history and our traditions.

The government have stated there are five fundamental British values, democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, tolerance, and mutual respect.

So which one of the five fundamental British values is missing from this list? We have democracy, tolerance, mutual respect, rule of law, and then which one's missing? Well done if you spotted individual liberty is missing.

As Aisha reminds us.

Democracy is a system of government in which citizens vote in regular fair elections for representatives who then make laws and decisions on their behalf.

British history has many examples of our attempts to spread democracy around the world.

For example, Britain has supported the United Nations in their peacekeeping efforts and promotion of democracy.

Rule of law is the principle that all individuals within a state, including government and leaders, are subject to the same laws and must follow them.

The rule of law ensures fairness, justice, and accountability in society.

Our justice system is often depicted as a blindfolded woman known as Lady Justice, who holds a set of scales and a sword.

The blindfold represents that justice is blind.

Everyone is treated equally by the justice system.

In British society today, people are considered innocent until proven guilty.

In criminal cases, when someone is accused of a crime, they have the right to be tried in front of a jury of 12 ordinary people who are chosen at random.

So is this true or false? The rule of law means that some people are treated differently because of how they look.

So that statement's false.

Well done if you spotted that.

The rule of law means that our justice system treats everyone equally because the law is blind.

To ensure this, we are given a jury of 12 ordinary people to hear our case.

The value of individual liberty means we can believe, act, speak, and express ourselves freely.

This value is protected by many laws in the UK.

For example, the Equality Act 2010, outlines a set of nine protected characteristics.

You cannot be discriminated against because of these characteristics in the workplace or when using public services.

Protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, being in a marriage or civil partnership being pregnant or on maternity or paternity leave.

Race, religion, belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Tolerance is the willingness to recognise and coexist with beliefs, opinions and values that are different to your own.

Tolerance enables different groups of people with different views and beliefs to live peacefully together.

It means we can live alongside people we may disagree with as long as they do not harm us or others through their choices.

Tolerance is important for allowing all people to live side by side peacefully.

It is the cornerstone of multicultural society.

Laura tells us here that multicultural means more than one culture living in the same community or society.

For example, in the UK today you'll see lots of different places of worship.

Each faith in the UK is treated with respect and protected by the rule of law.

The value of mutual respect is about treating others with kindness and consideration.

Following their feelings and rights.

Mutual respect is important to everyone.

Laura tells us here that there are lots of interfaith events which are allow people from different religious beliefs to meet and find out about religion.

This is an example of mutual respect.

So is this true or false? In the UK today, tolerance means people are able to be themselves without fear of being harmed.

So I dunno if you spotted that's true.

Tolerance is the willingness to recognise and coexist with beliefs, opinions and values that are different to ours.

It enables us to peacefully live with people we may disagree with as long as they do not harm us or others through their choices.

Let's bring together what we've learned so far.

So what I'd like you to do is identify the British value from the examples and explain your answer.

So Laura tells us, "On my way home from church on Sunday, we often stop to say hello to our neighbour, Mrs. Singh.

She goes to the local Sikh temple." Sophia says, "My friend goes to an LGBTQ+ club after school, whereas I attend theatre group." So give that a go.

Pause the video, and once you've tried it, come back and we can have a look at what you might have said.

Well done for giving that a go.

And I asked you to identify the British value from the examples and explain your answer so your answer could have included, that this was an example of tolerance from Laura.

Laura had said "On my way home from church on Sunday, we often stop to say hello to our neighbour, Mrs. Singh.

She goes to this local Sikh temple." So Laura and her family are a different faith to Mrs. Singh, but they still take the time to say hello to each other as they are showing a willingness to recognise and coexist with each other's beliefs.

Sophia had said, "My friend goes to an LGBTQ+ club after school, whereas I attend theatre group." So you might have written something like this.

This an example of individual liberty.

Sophia can attend LGBTQ+ club, but she doesn't.

However, she's still friends with the person who does attend.

She recognises they have a right to express themselves how they choose.

Well done if your answers sounded something similar to these.

On to part two of our lesson now and we're going to look at how does a school encourage British values? The government expects all public sector organisations to promote British values.

Andeep tell us here that examples of public sector organisations include schools, the NHS, the police and the justice system.

At school, you will have experienced British values in lots of ways.

Schools might ask you to vote for a student leadership team or a school council who are there to represent student voice.

This is an example of democracy.

As part of the curriculum, schools will teach you about other cultures and faiths.

This promotes tolerance.

Schools might encourage you to reflect on your own actions to promote individual liberty.

Schools will share stories about different groups Across Society.

This might be during LGBTQ+ Pride Month or Black History Month.

This encourages mutual respect.

By learning about and experiencing other people's stories.

We can understand different points of view.

We can learn lots from other people's experiences, which can help us to show mutual respect to them.

It is the responsibility of schools to prepare young people for life In modern Britain.

This means that if you do something wrong, they will help you to understand what, but there may also be a sanction or consequence.

This is an example of demonstrating the rule of law.

Schools may offer rewards to students who follow the rules and work hard.

This is part of the rule of law.

So is this true or false? Only schools have to promote British values.

Well done if you spotted that was false.

All public sector organisations such as the NHS have to promote British values.

They're an important part of a peaceful society.

Let's have a look at this task.

So what I'd like you to do is I'd like you to consider what a school may or may not do to promote British values.

We've got lots of statements here and I'd like you to tick the box whether you think it is that you are sure it is correct, you think it is correct, you think it is incorrect, or you are sure it's incorrect.

So A says, hold an election to promote tolerance.

B says, hold a spelling bee to promote mutual respect.

C says, invite someone in to give a speech to promote tolerance.

D says, elect a student council to promote democracy.

And E says, have consequences for breaking the rules to promote the rule of law.

So give that task a go now and then we can have a look together at what you might have put.

So well done for giving it a go and a school may hold an election to promote tolerance and that one is incorrect.

It says, hold a spelling bee to promote mutual respect.

And that one again is incorrect.

Invite someone to give a speech to promote tolerance is correct.

Elect a student council to promote democracy is correct.

And have consequences for breaking the rules to promote thee rule of law is correct.

So well done if you are sure and certain of those correct answers.

Think about your time at school so far.

Write one example of where you have seen each of the fundamental British values promoted.

So we have democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance.

Pause the video here, give that task a go and then come back and we can have a look at what you might have written together.

Well done for giving that task a go.

And I ask you to have a think about your time at school so far and write one example of where you've seen each of the fundamental British values promoted.

And your answers may have included something like this.

An example of democracy being promoted at my school is a vote held for the Pupil Parliament election.

I voted for Roy, because we had the best ideas to improve sustainability in our school and he suggested ways to help make everyone recycle more.

An example of the rule of law being promoted at my school is facing the consequences when a pupil breaks the school rules.

For example, at lunchtime last week, my friend had their phone confiscated because they were texting even though were not allowed to have our phones out at school.

An example of individual Liberty being promoted at my school is when we get to choose some of the subjects we want to study for our GCSEs, like picking between art, drama or computer science.

The teachers encourage us to make decisions based on what we're interested in and what we enjoy.

So we feel more in control of our learning.

An example of mutual respect being promoted at my school is the celebration of black history month as it is important to listen, understand other people's experiences.

I attended my school's assembly on important black figures from our local area.

An example of tolerance being promoted at my school is when we have assemblies and lessons about different cultures and religions, beliefs and traditions.

We're encouraged to respect everyone's differences and understand that not everyone will think or live the same way.

I had a lesson last week in religious studies about Hinduism.

So well done if your examples sounded something similar to these.

Onto the last part of our lesson today.

And we're going to look at does everyone agree with these values? Despite the work that organisations are doing to promote British values, there are still those in society who disagree with them.

For example, hate crimes are rising.

According to the government released crime statistics in 2022/2023, there were 145,214 reported hate crimes in England and Wales.

Jacob says, "Hate crimes are crimes that are motivated by prejudice on the basis of skin colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity." Hate crimes committed against transgender people and those with disabilities saw the largest increases.

According to government release statistics, there were 13,777 cases of hate crime against those with a disability reported in 2022/2023.

This compares to 8,052 in 2018/2019.

If all citizens in the UK agreed with our fundamental British values, you would expect to see low levels of hate crime in society.

However, this is unfortunately not the case.

So is this true or false? People with disabilities are least likely to be affected by hate crimes in England and Wales.

Well done if you spotted that's false.

People with disabilities are increasingly impacted by hate crimes.

There are 13,777 cases reported in 2023, which is significantly higher than it was in 2018.

Despite democracy being a British value, the UK's house of laws is unelected.

The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK parliament.

It works separately from the House of Commons and helps makes laws and check the government's work.

Is this true or false? All aspects of the UK government uphold the British value of democracy.

Well done if you spotted that's false, the House of Lords is entirely unelected, which does not model the value of democracy.

What I'd like you to do is think about two of the fundamental British values, tolerance and mutual respect.

Can you think of any examples of these being ignored in British society? And then can you think about how might we overcome this issue? Write your answers down and once you've given it a go, come back and we can have a look together at what you might have put.

Well done for giving that a go.

And I asked you to think about two of the fundamental British values, tolerance and mutual respect.

I want you to think of any examples of these being ignored in British society, and your answer might have included this.

Despite tolerance and mutual respect being two fundamental British values, which are meant to be promoted by all public bodies, there has been a rise in hate crime in the UK in recent years.

Since 2018, there has been a marked increase in the number of people with disabilities who have reported instances of hate crime.

There were 5,725 additional crimes reported in 2022/2023 compared to in 2018/2019.

And then I asked you to think about how we might overcome this issue.

And so your answer might have included something like this.

To further promote the values of tolerance and mutual respect, we could run education and awareness raising campaigns to better educate people about the experiences of those with disabilities.

Furthermore, tougher consequences and sentences could be introduced to those found guilty of hate crimes.

Additionally, the media could look at how they portray those with disabilities to ensure positive and diverse representation.

Well done if your answers were similar to these.

In today's lesson, we've considered shared values and do they unite us British values are shared beliefs about our society.

There are five values, democracy, rule of law, tolerance, mutual respect, and individual liberty.

Schools and other public sector organisations must promote these values.

They may do this through activities like hosting charity events, running clubs, and holding talks and assemblies.

Despite the view that these are shared beliefs, our society still has problems. For example, even though democracy is a shared value, the House of Lords remains unelected.

Furthermore, despite tolerance and mutual respect being fundamental values, we have seen a rise in hate crimes.

Well done for working through today's lesson with me and I look forward to working with you on another Citizenship lesson soon.