Dr Paul Stott is the Head of Security and Extremism at Policy Exchange. Iain Mansfield is the Director of Research and Head of Education at Policy Exchange.
A single terror attack can reach around the world. Who would have thought Hamas’s attacks of 7 October, and the inevitable Israeli retaliation, would affect school attendance in Burton upon Trent?
Over the weekend Policy Exchange published the first detailed report on the school strikes that spread across the country last month. Starting in Bristol on 3 November, several thousand children have left classrooms in Burton, Glasgow, Manchester and a series of London boroughs including Hackney, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.
These were not spontaneous walkouts by pupils sickened by the death toll in Israel and Gaza; hey were not led primarily by teenage rebels plotting revolution from the back of the 6th form common room.
Nationally, the guiding hand is shown to be campaign groups such as Stop the War Coalition and Counterfire, a splinter group from the Socialist Workers Party. Online materials explain how parents can avoid being fined for their children’s non-attendance, with template letters to send to Headteachers, and advice on setting up WhatsApp groups to best organise protests.
Pictures and videos of the resultant demonstrations show many of the children to be very young – roughly 8-9 years old for example, well below the age they could be expected to properly evaluate political issues, never mind ones as complicated as Israel versus Palestine.
Analysis of material disseminated through WhatsApp groups found much political spirit but rather fewer attempts at introducing children to a range of nuanced views. Indeed in the Hackney group a campaign poster was circulated declaiming ‘From the river to the sea’, which we are told was produced by an 11 year old.
While there is some debate about the exact meaning of this slogan, it features in Hamas’s revamped 2017 constitution, and is widely seen as calling for the end of Israeli sovereignty over any territory between the Jordan river and Mediterranean sea. It leaves open the question of where some seven million Israeli Jews are then expected to go.
To some extent, these protests are also a self-inflicted wound, courtesy of our existing public culture. In Bristol especially their roots may be traced to the school strikes for climate action, which spread from Sweden in 2018 across the west, and culminated in 20,000 people, overwhelmingly young, attending a Bristol rally with 17 year old Greta Thunberg on Friday 28 February 2020. The authorities broadly acquiesced.
When schools and public authorities enthusiastically take up the cause of Pride, or Black Lives Matter, it is inevitable others will expect the cause of Israel or Palestine to be afforded similar status, and the actions of Hamas or Israel to be spoken of in the same manner. And if society fails to do so, the grievance culture embraced by so many Islamists will ensure accusations of racism follow.
The Government should now get a grip. What would it do for our social cohesion, for example, if a future conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir saw similar walkouts from the classroom, or children’s marches from different communities clashing in the streets?
Schools have a statutory duty to maintain political impartiality – as well as to safeguard the children in their care and to prevent them from being drawn into extremism. It is unclear the extent to which schools or teachers have been involved in supporting or promoting these strikes, but if any were to do so that would clearly be a breach of their duties.
Chanting or making posters of inflammatory slogans such as ‘from the river to the sea’ do not constitute a balanced presentation of opposing views – and the Government’s own guidance makes clear that it “would not be appropriate for a teacher to suggest that pupils join a certain campaigning group or engage in specific political activity, for example, an upcoming protest.”
Nor should we forget the most fundamental point that, during the school day, children should be in the school, not on the streets. These strikes support a culture in which school is optional, in which political activism is more important than obtaining an education.
Evidence shows that every day missed from school has a small but measurable impact on pupil attainment. Yet following the pandemic, the proportion of students persistently absent has doubled to 22 per cent, with the figures even worse for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Our report has shown that the existing rules on absence are completely inadequate for schools looking to get a grip on these strikes, with no clarity that absence for activism should be unauthorised, and local authorities frequently hamstringing schools by saying that a child must have three or four days of unauthorised absence in a term before their parents can be fined.
Of course, children have a right to a voice, but protests should be occurring at the weekend or in holidays – not on school time. Getting policy on school protests correct now, matters. Indulging protests in previous years has arguably not helped.
The Department for Education and Ofsted need to recognise that what schools do today sets precedent should future international conflicts play out on the streets of British cities. The social cohesion of tomorrow is shaped by the decisions we take in our schools today.
Dr Paul Stott is the Head of Security and Extremism at Policy Exchange. Iain Mansfield is the Director of Research and Head of Education at Policy Exchange.
A single terror attack can reach around the world. Who would have thought Hamas’s attacks of 7 October, and the inevitable Israeli retaliation, would affect school attendance in Burton upon Trent?
Over the weekend Policy Exchange published the first detailed report on the school strikes that spread across the country last month. Starting in Bristol on 3 November, several thousand children have left classrooms in Burton, Glasgow, Manchester and a series of London boroughs including Hackney, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.
These were not spontaneous walkouts by pupils sickened by the death toll in Israel and Gaza; hey were not led primarily by teenage rebels plotting revolution from the back of the 6th form common room.
Nationally, the guiding hand is shown to be campaign groups such as Stop the War Coalition and Counterfire, a splinter group from the Socialist Workers Party. Online materials explain how parents can avoid being fined for their children’s non-attendance, with template letters to send to Headteachers, and advice on setting up WhatsApp groups to best organise protests.
Pictures and videos of the resultant demonstrations show many of the children to be very young – roughly 8-9 years old for example, well below the age they could be expected to properly evaluate political issues, never mind ones as complicated as Israel versus Palestine.
Analysis of material disseminated through WhatsApp groups found much political spirit but rather fewer attempts at introducing children to a range of nuanced views. Indeed in the Hackney group a campaign poster was circulated declaiming ‘From the river to the sea’, which we are told was produced by an 11 year old.
While there is some debate about the exact meaning of this slogan, it features in Hamas’s revamped 2017 constitution, and is widely seen as calling for the end of Israeli sovereignty over any territory between the Jordan river and Mediterranean sea. It leaves open the question of where some seven million Israeli Jews are then expected to go.
To some extent, these protests are also a self-inflicted wound, courtesy of our existing public culture. In Bristol especially their roots may be traced to the school strikes for climate action, which spread from Sweden in 2018 across the west, and culminated in 20,000 people, overwhelmingly young, attending a Bristol rally with 17 year old Greta Thunberg on Friday 28 February 2020. The authorities broadly acquiesced.
When schools and public authorities enthusiastically take up the cause of Pride, or Black Lives Matter, it is inevitable others will expect the cause of Israel or Palestine to be afforded similar status, and the actions of Hamas or Israel to be spoken of in the same manner. And if society fails to do so, the grievance culture embraced by so many Islamists will ensure accusations of racism follow.
The Government should now get a grip. What would it do for our social cohesion, for example, if a future conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir saw similar walkouts from the classroom, or children’s marches from different communities clashing in the streets?
Schools have a statutory duty to maintain political impartiality – as well as to safeguard the children in their care and to prevent them from being drawn into extremism. It is unclear the extent to which schools or teachers have been involved in supporting or promoting these strikes, but if any were to do so that would clearly be a breach of their duties.
Chanting or making posters of inflammatory slogans such as ‘from the river to the sea’ do not constitute a balanced presentation of opposing views – and the Government’s own guidance makes clear that it “would not be appropriate for a teacher to suggest that pupils join a certain campaigning group or engage in specific political activity, for example, an upcoming protest.”
Nor should we forget the most fundamental point that, during the school day, children should be in the school, not on the streets. These strikes support a culture in which school is optional, in which political activism is more important than obtaining an education.
Evidence shows that every day missed from school has a small but measurable impact on pupil attainment. Yet following the pandemic, the proportion of students persistently absent has doubled to 22 per cent, with the figures even worse for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Our report has shown that the existing rules on absence are completely inadequate for schools looking to get a grip on these strikes, with no clarity that absence for activism should be unauthorised, and local authorities frequently hamstringing schools by saying that a child must have three or four days of unauthorised absence in a term before their parents can be fined.
Of course, children have a right to a voice, but protests should be occurring at the weekend or in holidays – not on school time. Getting policy on school protests correct now, matters. Indulging protests in previous years has arguably not helped.
The Department for Education and Ofsted need to recognise that what schools do today sets precedent should future international conflicts play out on the streets of British cities. The social cohesion of tomorrow is shaped by the decisions we take in our schools today.