It’s time for schools to be politically impartial

While the government’s strategy on Covid might be as clear as mud, on the problem of a partisan school sector, it has recently struck a remarkably forthright position.

Yesterday, the Minster for Equalities Kemi Badenoch said:

‘We do not want teachers to teach their white pupils about white privilege and inherited racial guilt. Let me be clear that any school that teaches those elements of critical race theory as fact, or that promotes partisan political views such as defunding the police without offering a balanced treatment of opposing views, is breaking the law.’

Saying this shouldn’t be controversial. It’s long been a legal requirement for schools to be non-partisan and to cover political issues in a balanced fashion. Just as schools and teachers must abide by health and safety legislation or the Equality Act, so they should follow the law on political impartiality.