This study investigates recent curriculum policy reform ‘Promoting Fundamental British Values’ (BV), (DfE, 2014) for secondary schools in England. Whilst the ‘War on Terror’, rising global Islamophobia and increased popularity of anti-immigration movements constitute the international context, BV policy forms part of the UK counter-insurgency strategy Prevent. Evidence of co-ordinated action to introduce an intolerant and divisive culture into some schools (Trojan Horse, Clarke, 2014) and recruitment of students by ISIS raised Government concerns about English schools becoming sites of radicalisation, and stimulated the introduction of counter-terrorist curriculum policy. Marking the growing securitisation of education, it is now statutory duty for teachers to prevent young people being drawn into terrorism through legislation of BV in the school curriculum. According to the policy, British values consist of ‘democracy’, the ‘rule of law’, ‘liberty’, ‘mutual respect’ and ‘tolerance of different faiths and beliefs’. The policy requires all schools to promote these values and Ofsted inspectors assess BV teaching. But BV policy is problematical because it assumes the existence of observable signs of radicalisation in individual students and takes for granted a cause and effect relationship between students’ radical beliefs and violent action. It presupposes that ‘vulnerable’ students will ‘catch’ the extremist virus and that prevention of student radicalisation rests in unquestioned technical procedures of risk management (O’Donnell, 2016). Davies (2016) argues that BV policy curbs discussion about controversial issues in schools as students and teachers fear accusations and reporting to the authorities, and it risks essentialising certain groups. According to O’Donnell (ibid) student alienation, disaffection and resistance may result. This pilot project is designed in 3 stages: 1) Stakeholder meeting with teachers responsible for BV in schools, BV training providers and BV policy maker to identify issues 2) Policy analysis of BV curriculum policy ensemble deploying Mills’ (2014) interpretation of Bhabha’s (1994; 1983) colonial discourse and Winter’s engagement of Derridean perspectives in curriculum policy analysis (2017) 3) Analysis of teacher interviews with focus on the ‘psychic life’ of BV policy enactment. The psychic life of power (Butler, 1997) and the ‘psychic life of colonial power’ (Hook, 2012:18), are well-developed methods for exploring how subjectivities are shaped through relations of power. Its conceptual base is Frantz Fanon’s psychopolitics. It focuses on how power relations (ie BV policy) shapes people’s subjectivity. The question guiding the study is how do teachers accept/negotiate/re-work/resist BV policy in a sample of case study schools?
