Fundamental British Values, Michel Foucault, and Religious Education Teacher Subjectivity: A Critical Investigation

This book is a critical examination of the impact of fundamental British values on the subjectivities of secondary religious education (RE) teachers. To set the scene the book examines the ways in which national identity has been utilised by successive governments in post-war politics before focussing on the introduction of fundamental British values (DfE. (2011). Teachers’ Standards. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1040274/Teachers__Standards_Dec_2021.pdf) in 2012. Using Foucault’s concept of power, the book argues that fundamental British values (DfE. (2011). Teachers’ Standards. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1040274/Teachers__Standards_Dec_2021.pdf) and the government’s counter-terror strategy, the Prevent duty (DfE. (2015). The Prevent duty. Departmental advice for schools and childcare providers. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/439598/prevent-duty-departmental-advice-v6.pdf), function as exclusionary and divisive forms of normalising power. Interviews with the teachers reveal how they were able to resist the alienating effects of British values through their own practice as ethical subjects committed to free spokenness and critical, pluralistic RE.