Lesson video

Hello.

I'm Mrs. Kennedy.

Thank you for joining me for today's lesson.

I'll been working with you today, guiding you through the lesson, helping you along the way.

Today's lesson comes from the unit, How does identity affect rights? And our lesson today is called, Do we have shared values? By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain what the fundamental British values are and what these mean in everyday life.

Let's take a look at our keywords for today.

Our first keyword is democracy.

A 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.

Our next keyword is rule of law.

This 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 next keyword is individual liberty, the ability to believe, act, speak, and express yourself freely.

Our next pillar is tolerance, the willingness to recognise and co-exist with beliefs, opinions, and values that are different to ours.

Tolerance 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 our final keyword for today is mutual respect, treating others with kindness and consideration, valuing their feelings and rights.

In today's lesson, we're going to consider three key questions.

And our first question is, what's the 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 in the UK have stated that there are five fundamental British values, and you can see them listed there.

There are five fundamental British values, of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, tolerance, and mutual respect, and you might recognise those five values from our keywords.

So let's have a check.

Which one of the five fundamental British values is missing from the list below? Have a look at the list and see if you can name the fifth fundamental British value.

So Aisha has told us that the missing value is individual liberty.

Well done if you got that one correct.

So our first fundamental British value is democracy.

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 all over the world.

The rule of law is another one of our fundamental British values.

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.

By having a society with the rule of law, it helps to ensure 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, and you can see a photo there to represent Lady Justice.

The blindfold that Lady Justice is wearing represents the idea that justice is blind.

Everyone is treated equally by the justice system.

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

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

The rule of law means that some people are treated differently because of how they look.

Is that statement true or is it false? Statement is false.

Well done if you got that right.

But why is it false? Well, the rule of law means that our justice system treats everyone equally because the law is blind.

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

So the next British value that we're going to look at is individual liberty.

The value of individual liberty means we can believe, act, speak, and express ourselves freely, and in the UK, that value is protected by many laws.

One example of a law that protects our individual liberty is the Equality Act 2010.

The Equality Act outlines a set of nine protected characteristics you cannot be discriminated against because of these characteristics in the workplace or when using any public services.

And the nine protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, being in a marriage or a civil partnership, being pregnant or on maternity or paternity leave, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

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

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

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

Tolerance is an important part of society.

It allows all people to live side by side peacefully.

Sometimes it's described as the cornerstone of a multicultural society.

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

So one example of that in the UK you will see is different places of worship.

Each faith in the UK is treated with respect and protected by the rule of law, which was another one of our fundamental British values.

Next fundamental British value we're going to look at is mutual respect.

The value of mutual respect is about treating others with kindness and consideration, valuing their feelings and their rights.

Mutual respect is important for everyone.

Laura's given us another bit of information there.

She says, "There are of interfaith events which allow people from different religious beliefs to meet and find out about religion.

This an example of mutual respect." True or false? In the UK today, tolerance means people are able to be themselves without fear of being harmed.

Do you think that statement is true or do you think it's false? Well done if you said true.

Let's take a look at why.

Tolerance is the willingness to recognise and co-exist 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.

So we've got a task to check what we've looked at so far.

Laura and Sofia have given us a couple of examples there of British values.

What I'd like you to do is identify the British value that Laura and Sofia have given, explaining how you've decided which value they are speaking about.

So Laura says, "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." And Sofia has said, "My friend goes to an LGBTQ+ club after school, whereas I attend theatre group." Have a read.

Decide which British value Laura and Sofia have given us and tell me how you decided on your answer.

Pause the video now to do that.

We asked you to identify which British value Laura was talking about, and explain how you decided which British value she was talking about.

So Laura has said, "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." So which British value do we think Laura is talking about? You may well have said that Laura was talking about tolerance.

Laura and her family are a different faith from Mrs Singh, but they still take the time to say hello to each other, as they're showing a willingness to recognise and co-exist with each other's beliefs.

I also asked you to identify the fundamental British value that Sofia was talking about when she said, "My friend goes to an LGBTQ+ club after school, whereas I attend theatre group." Hopefully you spotted that Sofia is talking about individual liberty.

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

However, she is still friends with a person who does attend.

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

Well done if you got that correct.

So we're now going to have a look at how does a school encourage British values? The government expects all British sector organisations to promote British values.

Andeep tells us that examples of public sector organisations include schools, the National Health Service, or NHS, the police, and the justice system.

At school, you will experience British values in lots of different ways.

Schools will share stories about different groups from across society.

This might be during LGBTQ+ Pride Month or Black History Month, and those things encourage 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.

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

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

And this is an example of your school demonstrating the rule of law.

Schools may also offer rewards to students who follow the rules and work hard, and this is another part of promoting the rule of law.

So have a read of this statement and decide if you think it is true or false.

Only schools have to promote British values.

True or false? So that is false.

Let's take a look at why.

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

They are an important part of a peaceful society.

I'm going to read you a number of statements and I want you to decide whether you think the statement is correct or incorrect.

You decide whether you are sure the statement is correct, you think the statement is correct, you think the statement is incorrect, or you're sure that the statement is incorrect.

So let's have a look at our first statement.

A school may hold an election to promote tolerance.

So we are sure that that is incorrect.

A school may in fact hold an election to promote democracy, not to promote tolerance.

Let's have a look at our next statement.

A school may hold a spelling bee to promote mutual respect.

Do you think that's correct or incorrect? I am sure that that one is incorrect.

Schools may well hold spelling bees, but it's not to promote mutual respect.

Our next statement is, a school may invite someone in to give a speech to promote tolerance.

Do you think that's correct or incorrect? That one is correct.

They may well someone to give a speech to promote tolerance.

What about the next one? A school may elect a student council to promote democracy.

That one was also correct.

And our final one is, a school may have consequences for breaking the rules to promote the rule of law.

That one is also correct.

Well done if you got those right.

I'd like you to have a think about your time at school so far.

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

So a reminder, the British values are democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and tolerance.

So your task is to think of a time that you have seen each of those being promoted at your school, and write me an example of each.

Pause the video now and have a go at that.

So we asked you to write an example of the time that you have seen each of the fundamental British values being promoted at school.

Your answers might have included things like: an example of democracy being promoted at my school is a vote held for the pupil parliament election.

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

An example of the rule of law that you might have seen being promoted at 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 we're 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 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 and understand other people's experiences.

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

And finally, 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.

I wonder if your examples looked anything like mine.

The final part of our lesson today is does everyone agree with these values? Despite the work that organisations across the UK are doing promote British values, there are still those in society who disagree.

One example of that is hate crimes are rising.

According to government released crime statistics, in 2022 to 2024, there were 145,214 reported hate crimes in England and Wales.

Jacob tells us that 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 released statistics, there were 13,777 cases of hate crime against those with a disability reported in 2022 to 2023.

This compares to 8,052 in 2018 to 2019.

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

However, this is unfortunately not the case.

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

Do you think that statement is true or do you think it is false? The statement is false.

Let's take a look at why.

People with disability are increasingly impacted by hate crimes.

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

Another example would be democracy.

Despite democracy being a British value, the UK's House of Lords is unelected.

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

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

Look at this one, do you think it's true or false? All aspects of the UK government uphold the British value of democracy.

Is that true or is it false? And that one is false.

Let's have a look at why.

House of Lords is entirely unelected, which does not model the value of democracy.

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

Then what I'd like you to do is think of any example of these being ignored in British society.

And when you've done this, I'd then like you to think about how we might overcome this issue.

Pause the video now and have a go.

So I asked you to think about two of the fundamental British values, tolerance and mutual respect, and the first thing I asked you to do is think of any examples of these being ignored in British society.

Your answer might be included something like 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 crime.

There were 5,725 additional crimes reported in 2022 to 2023 compared to in 2018 to '19.

Thing I asked you to do is think about how we might overcome this issue.

I wonder if your answer looked anything like mine.

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.

I wonder if you had any similar ideas in your answers.

Well done for a great lesson! Let's have a look at what we've talked about.

British values are shared beliefs about our society.

There are five British 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.

Thanks for joining me in today's lesson.