Celebrating British Culture in the 21 st Century

1. Celebrating British Culture in the 21st Century

2. Being equal doesn’t mean being the same. For equality to work all people – men, women, black, brown – must feel they are valued and not treated unfairly

3. Our Problem ‘Britain is not and never has been a homogenous and unified whole’ (Parekh, 2000) We feel; • Lack of understanding and communication between different cultures creates a breeding ground for racism and racist discourse • This is further enhanced by a lack of awareness regarding the nature of British culture today and how such culture was formed

4. Our experience as university students has made us realise that there is a lack of understanding or knowledge about the: • The racial and cultural history of Britain • The chronology of the emergence of the multi-ethnic society we live in • Major events such as; the history of the British Empire and arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948 which shed light on the reasons we live in the society we live in today.

5. How to overcome this issue? We feel; • Secondary school education should be revised to incorporate vital parts of British and world history. • Further emphasis on religious studies • Therefore encouraging a greater understanding of the world we live in, the cultures that surround us and people we live along side.

6. By doing this we wish to challenge intrinsic notions of ‘otherness’ and ‘social difference’

7. However we are aware that changing the curriculum is not an easy or achievable feat. Therefore we propose…

8. Plan of Action Each term, secondary schools across the country should dedicate a day to this topic, British Cultural History A series of lessons from visitors and teachers which educate British racial, religious and cultural history and celebrate Britains ethnic and cultural diversity.

9. Other elements • Music • Mixture of different foods • Religious education • Guest speakers • Workshops

10. This project must be taken cautiously and sensitively But our overall aim is to try and dispel the omission of race related history in schools. To educate and celebrate with young people, the multicultural society with live in ‘Britain needs to be, certainly “one nation” but understood as a community of communities and a community of citizens’ (Parekh, 2000) That is what this project aims to do.