The Department for Education should provide better support to threatened and harassed teachers, a government-commissioned review on social cohesion has found.
The government’s independent social cohesion adviser, Dame Sara Khan, has called on the department to create a “Cohesion and Conflict Unit” to collate advice for schools and provide immediate support for teachers facing “flashpoint incidents”.
She said the unit should “issue guidance, training materials and resources” for “what it means to live in a diverse democracy, how to manage opposing and different opinions, how to debate well and the importance of critical thinking”.
The review comes after an RE teacher at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire went into hiding three years ago after they showed a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad during a lesson.
‘Lack of national guidance’
Dame Sara said that the “lack of national guidance and support for schools in advising how best to respond to such incidents is inadequate”.
Her review also recommended that the DfE should collect and publish figures on the scale of targeting and harassment experienced by schools and teachers, as well as “provide better support and care” for staff through the unit.
The review also found that the “growing targeting of teachers and the teaching of controversial subjects...is being increasingly viewed as too high risk”.
Dame Sara also called for the DfE to put forward legislation that “restricts the ability for protests” outside primary and secondary schools.
The recommendation called for a “buffer zone” of 150 metres to be placed around schools, with the possible exception of pickets relating to industrial action by school staff.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said that children and staff “should be able to attend school without having to navigate protests”, but agreed that there should be an exception for industrial action.
Mr Whiteman called for ”more detail on what a care offer from the ‘Cohesion and Conflict Unit’ would look like” and agreed that “schools who are dealing with flashpoint incidents clearly need more support from the government”.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ”We agree with the principle that protests should not take place immediately outside schools because schools should be protected as safe spaces for children to learn.”
He pointed out that local authorities already have powers to restrict protests outside schools and added: “We are also conscious that the right to protest is protected under the European Convention on Human Rights.
“More detail would therefore be needed on this proposal to understand how it would operate in practice and how it would be enforced.”
In 2019, protests against LGBTQ+ teaching were permanently banned outside Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham.
Teacher in Batley case ‘let down’
Dame Sara said that the teacher in Batley was “let down by all the agencies involved”, including Kirklees Council, West Yorkshire Police and the Batley Multi Academy Trust.
The review found that the agencies ”should have issued clear messages that threats, harassment and abuse would not be tolerated under any circumstances”.
Dame Sara’s review claimed it found similar examples in other schools, leading to the conclusion that these settings are not “given adequate support, guidance and training on how to mitigate and manage such incidents”.
“There is a clear need for institutions to defend and support teaching staff who experience freedom-restricting harassment.”
Batley MAT response
A spokesperson for Batley Multi Academy Trust said: “We are extremely proud of the school and of our community, and how both have moved forward together so positively from the very difficult period in 2021.
“Those events required us to support all our students, their families and our staff, including the teacher involved, for whom we provided counselling and wider support.
“We remain clear that we delivered on our responsibilities and that we followed due process. This included immediately establishing an independent investigation, accepting its findings and acting on them.
“We are therefore disappointed by today’s report. We do not recognise much of what is in it, its description of the events, nor the characterisation of our school and community.
“We let the government know ahead of publication that its draft report contained a number of factual inaccuracies but note that these have not been corrected.
“We are also surprised that the authors of a report on social cohesion decided that the right thing to do was name our school and identify some individuals. However, our school and community is in a very positive place and we know that this report will not upset that.”
Police and council reply
A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said the force was aware of the concerns in the report. They added: “Threatening behaviour is taken seriously and measures were put in place to manage this incident and the repercussions which resulted from it.
“This included the provision of a personal contact officer for the teacher and his family. A full investigation was also carried out into the offences reported.
“West Yorkshire Police works hard to engage with all communities within its policing area, investing in Neighbourhood Policing Teams and specialist investigators to investigate offences and reduce tensions which may arise as swiftly as possible.”
A Kirklees Council spokesperson said: “The council has fully engaged with the review over the past two years and gave evidence to it.
“We will look carefully at the recommendations and any lessons to be learned by the government, councils and partner organisations.
“Local people and groups in Batley work across communities every day to promote understanding and tolerance, often in the face of challenges such as deprivation and economic inequalities.
“We will continue to amplify those constructive voices in our communities and challenge those who seek to divide us.”
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