Exclusive polling published by Policy Exchange – conducted by
YouGov – exposes that a de facto blasphemy code is being
introduced to our schools.
In Britain, no one has the right not to be offended. Words or
actions that are taken by some as offensive – whether they relate
to one’s religion, sexuality or race – are not criminal as long
as they are not intentionally hostile and meant, or likely, to
incite hatred. Yet, this does not seem to be fully acknowledged
in Britain’s schools – as our polling shows.
Key findings include:
- A worrying proportion of teachers believe that – regardless
of a teacher’s intentions – images of the prophet Muhammad should
never be used in classrooms, even in the teaching of Islamic art
or ethics. As many as 55% of teachers said they would not use an
image of Muhammad anyway – higher for teachers of art (64%) and
citizenship (60%) – and a further 9% would not do so as a result
of the Batley Grammar School protests. The case of the teacher at
Batley Grammar who went into hiding after death threats thus
appears to have had a significant impact on teachers’ confidence
and willingness to use materials that fall within the scope of
the law.
- Alarmingly, half of British teachers believe that if
blasphemy-related protests led by activist and advocacy groups
occur outside their schools, there would be a risk to their
physical safety. The vast majority of teachers – three quarters
(75%) – thought that if protests break out, they would be
“damaging” to the teacher involved, with around four in ten (39%)
indicating that they would be “very damaging”.
- Significantly, more teachers expressed the view that images
of Muhammad were generally unacceptable in formal displays in
classrooms or assembly halls (51%) than other settings, such as
in lessons in religious studies (35%), art history (32%), and
ethics and freedom of speech (31%).
- Only 36% of teachers said that their schools have
guidance to avoid causing offence from teaching materials or
lesson content. As many as four in ten teachers (40%) indicated
that their schools do not have any such guidance.
