Academy Of Ideas

Recording of the opening remarks from a Battle of Ideas festival satellite event on Monday 18 November 2019. Schools are unique institutions. Their most obvious role is in relation to education and the generational transfer of knowledge. However, they also mediate between the state and parents in shaping the next generation. Schools enforce behavioural expectations and instil particular values while preparing children for the responsibilities of adulthood. Schools have always played this role. However, over recent years the values and expectations championed by schools have become more explicitly political and more contested. From lessons on climate change and recycling to cultural awareness days, it can appear as if schools, through children, aim at broader social change. In this respect we seem to now be witnessing the emergence of the ‘Culture Wars’ in Education. One consequence is that tensions between schools and parents spill out in conflicts over contentious issues such as teaching of sex and relati