Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March to Question 38689 on Racial Discrimination: Palestinians, if she will hold discussions with Educate against Hate on developing resources to tackle anti-Palestinian racism.

This government is committed to ensuring that teachers, parents, and young people are equipped with the guidance and resources designed to develop critical thinking, logical reasoning, and empathy, to build resilience to, and reject hateful narratives.

The department’s Educate Against Hate website hosts quality-assured resources to help teachers and school leaders teach students about extremism, conflict, spotting misinformation and disinformation, online safety, and our shared fundamental British values.

Following the events of 7 October 2023, a blog containing practical advice for discussing ongoing conflicts was published on the Educate Against Hate website. The blog signposts relevant resources from reputable organisations that can support schools to teach about this sensitive topic in a balanced way, avoiding antisemitic, anti-Muslim and/or other discriminatory narratives.

Educate Against Hate provides a range of resources and guides to support teachers and education practitioners in confidently facilitating conversations around the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. The resources are wide ranging and address why it is important to discuss this topic, how to navigate the news and social media, and how to support young people who may be directly affected by the conflict. All guidance and teaching resources hosted on Educate Against Hate are drawn from reputable organisations.

There are also practical resources designed to be used in classrooms, that focus on Palestine and Israel and cover the history of the conflict. They challenge students and learners to examine a range of sources such as images, maps and documentation to debate and discuss different perspectives in a polite and respectful way, and in the controlled environment of a classroom, before they reach their own views on the topic.