Children as young as seven to be told they are not 'racially innocent'
Fury as children as young as seven are to be told they are not ‘racially innocent’ because they view ‘white at the top of the hierarchy’ as part of Green-controlled Brighton Council’s diversity training for teachers
- Brighton and Hove council is under fire for its diversity plans in education
- It has been accused of ‘indoctrinating’ children into a particular mindset
- Tory MPs said they would be taking up the issue with the Government
Children as young as seven are to be told they are not ‘racially innocent’ under plans at a local authority, it was revealed today.
Brighton and Hove council sparked uproar after unveiling its anti-racist education plans — with some parents pulling their children from classrooms.
But it has now been accused of ‘indoctrinating’ youngsters after pushing ahead with training teachers to improve ‘specific racial literacy-focused lessons’.
Leaked slides shown to staff, and reported in the Sunday Telegraph, tell staff that children learn to attach value to skin colour when they are just five years old — with ‘white at the top of the hierarcy and black at the bottom’.
Another says there is ‘ample evidence’ that youngsters are not ‘racially innocent’, despite this being the widespread view in society.
Staff were also told that Christianity had influenced the slave trade, portrayed its heroes as white and that science ‘upholds the status quo’.
And that society is obsessed over the muscle size of black sportspeople, rather than their white rivals.
Former education minister Sir John Hayes has blasted the training as ‘sinister’, and called on the Government to look into the plans.
He warned the Green-controlled authority’s plans looked like ‘indoctrination’ similar to that seen under brutal Communist regimes.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has previously warned schools not to teach children that white privilege is a fact.
Brighton council is the first in the country to launch an anti-racism plan for schools, and said it was needed because of ‘inequalities’ in society.
Brighton and Hove council is under fire after unveiling plans to anti-racist its education system plans (pictured above is Brighton’s palace)
Former education minister Sir John Hayes (left) warned the plans were similar to ‘indoctrinating’ children. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has previously warned schools not to teach children that white privilege is a fact
In guidance issued to schools, the council reportedly says the training is required for all teachers.
It adds that key stages two, three and four pupils — aged 8 to 16 — will ‘need specific racial literacy-focussed lessons’.
One slide shown to teachers during training says: ‘Between the ages of three and five, children learn to attach value to skin colour; white at the top of the hierarchy and black at the bottom.’
A separate one shows a pyramid diagram containing acts that constitute ‘white supremacy’, such as the denial of white privilege, and saying ‘it was just a joke’ when a person of colour becomes offended.
During the training, teachers were also told pupils must not be taught that race ‘does not mean anything’.
This was because, trainers warned, ‘we leave them [pupils] vulnerable to concluding that white people must just be better’.
Campaigner Adrian Hart, who has a son in sixth form in the city, has led a petition against the plans which gained more than 4,000 signatures.
He claimed that a parent has already withdrawn their 12-year-old child from a Brighton school because of the race strategy.
Brighton launched its plans following widespread protests in 2020 over race relations and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement (Pictured: Protesters in London in 2020)
Mr Hart previously urged the council not to use critical race theory (CRT) — which argues race is a social construct used to exploit people of colour — in its plans.
Instead, he called on them to adopt a more inclusive and liberal approach that he said would foster good relations between groups.
Mr Hart told a council meeting: ‘The invitation CRT issues to children is, precisely, that they should define themselves and each other as victims or oppressors according to their colour.
‘Among younger children in particular this will foster confusion, upset and division.
‘Your choice of CRT is, therefore, a breach of the Equality Act and, specifically, the “public sector equality duty” — the duty to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.’
Mr Hart added: ‘We strive to offer children a politically neutral sphere where they learn how to think as opposed to what to think.
‘At GCSE or A level stages, partisan political or religious ideologies are rightly presented, discussed and balanced with differing perspectives, but we accept that they should never be promoted.’
Tory MPs have railed against the plans enacted by Brighton council, saying it was similar to ‘indoctrinating’ children.
Former education minister Sir John Hayes told the Telegraph: ‘This echoes the kind of indoctrination used by Maoists and Marxists — there is nothing more cruel than those with duty of care warping the minds of young children.
‘I will be raising this as a matter of urgency in the House of Commons and expect the Secretary of State for Education, in defence of Brighton’s children, to crack down on these militant extremists.’
Education Nadhim Zahawi has previously warned schools not to teach children about white privilege as though it is a ‘matter of fact’.
Mr Zahawi said late last year it was a ‘contesting view’ and teachers who promote it risk pushing ‘partisan’ politics on pupils.
He added that political issues on race should be taught ‘in a balanced and factual manner’.
And he said schools have a ‘legal duty’ to maintain ‘political impartiality’ when covering ‘sensitive and complex issues’.
Brighton council launched its plans in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, when protests swept across the US, UK and many other Western countries.
Its chair of children, young people and skills, Hannah Clare, said training has been ‘co-developed with people affected by racism, and addresses the urgent need to tackle issues that have historically led to inequalities for people of colour’.
She added: ‘Education settings have confirmed that there is a need for this strategy and commitment to the work. It includes behaviour management, recruitment and retention of staff and helping young people understand the complex issues of race.’
Ms Clare said feedback on the programme had been ‘overwhelmingly positive’.
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