“You gotta practise what you preach.” How non-English teachers conceptualise fundamental British values

This research emerged from my fascination with British exceptionalism represented in government policies regarding the promotion of fundamental British values. The intention of the government was to prevent the radicalisation of young people by promoting such values in schools. But the moniker ‘British’ makes it difficult to identify with the given values and divides society into discrete groups (Ragazzi, 2015), racialises some individuals and groups, and frames them as both dangerous and vulnerable (Saeed, 2018). In this thesis I argue that the concept of fundamental British values is exclusionary and that the values are not exclusively British.

Using life history methodology in order to explore counter-narratives, I conducted interviews with five non-English teachers teaching in an independent international school in South East England. The theoretical framework of the research is provided by Critical Race Theory. Drawing on themes of Critical Race Theory such as intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1995), conceptual whiteness and conceptual blackness (Taylor, 2016), and the centrality of experiential knowledge and commitment to social justice (Solorzano and Yosso, 2016), analysis of the interviews examines how the teachers conceptualise fundamental British values, how these values interact with their personal or cultural values, and how they promote these values in their practice.

My analysis offers four findings. First, the personal or cultural values of the participants aligned with the presented fundamental British values. Second, the values may not be uniquely British, but rather can be conceptualised as Western liberal or even universal values. Third, the participants found the English society generally liberal and living these values, which is linked to the fourth finding: it is not enough to teach the values or about the values, but to practise them, in order for them to be meaningful and effective.