Three-quarters of
teachers in
A nationwide study
found the majority of teachers felt they should not be promoting the subject at
all in the classroom, with some preferring to instruct their pupils in the
benefits of 'universal brotherhood'.
And even those who
felt positively about patriotism felt the need to qualify and tone down their
support, stressing that they disliked 'jingoistic
flag-waving'.
The findings are a
blow for the Government after Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke out in favour
of encouraging pupils to be patriotic, calling for 'Britishness' lessons to be
part of the curriculum.
The study by the Institute of Education at the University
of London surveyed teachers and pupils at 20 secondary schools, and found 74
per cent believed it was their duty to point out the danger of patriotic
sentiments.
'Praising patriotism
excludes non-British pupils,' one teacher told researchers. (Patriotism is being declared
here by socialist teachers as racism)
'Patriotism about
being British divides groups along racial lines, when we aim to bring pupils to
an understanding of what makes us the same.'
Other responses
included:
(The invisible hand of satan here clearly guides
to one worldism)
While two-thirds of
teachers claimed they encouraged discussion of patriotism in their classrooms,
more than half of pupils said patriotism was never discussed at school.
In their report, Dr
Joanne Pearce and Dr Michael Hand argue much of history and politics is
incomprehensible without understanding of the power of patriotic sentiment.
They told the Times Educational
Supplement: 'Schools have a responsibility to ensure that students not only
understand the phenomenon of patriotism, but are equipped to make reasoned
judgments about the place it should occupy in their own emotional lives.'
Novelist and commentator Frederick Forsyth said: 'I wish these teachers would see that patriotism in the sense of that
quiet pride is nothing to be afraid of. It's not aggressive. It doesn't put
down foreigners. It doesn't noisily wave flags and it certainly doesn't swerve
towards the BNP.'
Pupils at a
state comprehensive school are to be given therapy lessons by staff from a celebrity
rehab clinic on drug addiction, anger management and eating disorders.
Teachers at Notley
High,
They have developed a
programme of cognitive behaviour therapy to tackle issues including anger, low
self esteem, eating disorders and drug addiction.
Staff
hope the
voluntary lessons will help pupils avoid developing such problems in the first
place.
Headteachers are
earning as much as £50,000 ($!00,000) on top of their regular
salaries
for advising struggling schools, it emerged yesterday. Successful school leaders are
charging state schools £850 ($1,700) per day in consultancy fees for their expertise. Many heads have
struck deals with their governing bodies, allowing them to set up private
companies and then share the profits between themselves and their school.
Although legal, the revelation raises worrying questions about the rules
governing salaries for heads, especially those who take on extra schools. It
also comes at a time when schools are preparing for their budgets to be
squeezed to cut public-sector debt.