Teach Secondary 13.7

With the autumn termnowwell under way, a number of teachers and school leaders will still be thinking hard about how to respond to the ugly scenes that played out across our nation’s streets and town centres in late July and early August. Many will be acutely aware of the results of some school mock elections organised before this year’s General Election, with Reform sometimes topping the pupil poll or coming in a substantive second. These confirm the uncomfortable truth that many young people – particularly those in areas where right wing populismhas taken root – are taking up the mantle of anti-migrant rhetoric. Unfiltered discourse As the disturbances were raging, SammyWright, a headteacher in Sunderland, posted an extract on X fromhis just published book Exam Nation – the surprise ed lit hit of the summer, which seemed to eerily predict some of the terrifying attitudes on display. Wright posted, “ If you want an unfiltered version of public discourse on this subject, spend some time in the classroom. You will hear comments made explicitly that even the Daily Mail would only hint at darkly; about how refugees are rapists and Black people are ‘given priority’. ” But, Wright continued, “ You’ll also hear a quieter and much more heartening consensus, where teachers listen to and guide the attitudes of the students in their care. ” For Vic Goddard, CEO of the Passmores Cooperative Learning Community in Essex, the mock election results prompted him to consider some important questions – particularly in the light of Labour’s pledge to lower the voting age to 16 (see bit.ly/ts137-MB1 ). At Goddard’s school, Labour won the most votes, with Reform coming second and the Greens third. The results mirrored a national DailyMail poll which further uncovered an interesting gender difference. Reform placed a strong second among 16- to 17-year-old males, but polled much lower among adolescent girls, with only 12% of that group favouring Farage’s party. Community cohesion That’s perhaps not surprising, given Reform’s deliberate appeals to a form of aggressive masculinity and supposed white British hostility to incomers. But the question for everyone working in schools is, ‘W hat to do now ?’ How should we tackle the rise of populism among some adolescents? Goddard offers two suggestions – the first being better citizenship education, and the second, bringing more efforts to bear on creating greater community cohesion. Both are ideas firmly associated with the New Labour years, as I found when reading an action guide first published in 2004 by the Local Government Association, following widespread rioting across northern cities in 2001 (see bit.ly/ts137-MB2) . The early 21st century, of course, really was a different country, with New Labour governing a pre-crash, pre- austerity, pre-Brexit, pre-pandemic, pre-energy crisis UK – yet two things about the document really struck me. Firstly, there’s the startlingly deep assumption that local authorities could be capable of funding and promoting positive change, including through largely now absent youth services. Secondly, it’s sobering to observe how utterly different the world was before social media. Today’s schools have to deal with the behavioural impacts of malign influencers such as Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson, as well as the growing presence of a populist right whose representatives now sit in Parliament. Hard truths Goddard recognises both the explosive messaging alchemy of TikTok, and the continuing socioeconomic crisis that has left so many families with the sense that their lives won’t improve, and that it’s the outsiders who must be blamed. It may be a small move, but a placing a renewed emphasis on citizenship education will at least allow both teachers and pupils to challenge anyone amplifying inaccurate and distorted information at home, on the streets or via the internet. Fostering community cohesion is an altogether tougher, muchmore ambiguous ask. Yet the hard truth remains that schools are among the few civic institutions that have survived the last 20 years while managing the daily impacts of continuing conflict, particularly in deprived communities. Just as we did during the pandemic and have done amid the continuing cost of living crisis, we still look to themmanage the fallout of a nation that has, in so many respects, lost its way. After the appalling scenes of violence seen across the country this summer, we should pay close attention to the warnings from a growing number of educators about the spread of right-leaning disaffection among school pupils Melissa Benn Melissa Benn (@Melissa_Benn) is the author of Life Lessons: The Case for a National Education Service , and is a Visiting Professor at York St John university 19 teachwire.net/secondary S C H O O L O F T H O U G H T