Civic virtue and values teaching in a ‘post-secular’ world

Drawing on empirical data, this article makes a contribution to knowledge through bringing together the apparently disparate elements of contemporary education policy, religion, civic virtue and values teaching, in particular, the teaching of ‘fundamental British values’. I illustrate, through a discussion of the linkages between these elements, how religion remains a strong influence on contemporary education policy, both explicitly with regard to the integration of Muslim ‘others’ and implicitly through the growing popularity of values education in schools. In order to develop this argument, I first outline the extent to which Christianity, often de-theologised, shapes normative Western European values and permeates apparently secular spaces. Second, I identify some school responses to the British values policy and note the importance of the political and social context informed, I argue, by acute anxiety around Islam and extremism. Third, through the discussion of one particular school site, I identify the trend towards emphasising values education in secular schools, and the implicit religious undertones within this. I suggest that we can understand this trend as an instance of the post-secular where religious influences remain strong in apparently secular places, but argue that there are limitations to such an approach to values education in terms of increasing pupil voice and agency.

Taking a cooperative inquiry approach to developing person-centred practice in one English secondary school

Recent legislation within the English special educational needs arena details coordinated child and family centred provision whereby person-centred approaches are advocated for as a central way of working. Pupil voice and participation in planning, however, have not been found to be well embedded in mainstream school practice and are likely to require a high level of understanding and openness, for successful implementation. This paper explores the experiences of a group of educational practitioners aspiring to develop person-centred informed practice by engaging in cycles of inquiry and action. A cooperative inquiry group engaged in dialogue around practice, exploring both personal and professional values and their resonance with values embedded within person-centred practice. A significant claim of the paper is that cooperative inquiry, in its alignment of values with person-centred practice, is a powerful tool to facilitate the learning necessary to embody collaborative person-centred practice, strengthen the voice of both those engaged and in turn the children and young people on the receiving end of practice and make discussable the performative contradiction inherent in developing person-centred practice systemically.