Embedding British Values

What are British Values?

Democracy

• Knowing and understanding that an individual’s opinion counts
• A culture built on equality and freedom to choose
• Being aware of one’s own rights and responsibilities

Respect and Tolerance

• Being aware that not everyone will share the same values and beliefs and respecting everyone’s individuality.
• Not imposing one’s idea, values and beliefs on another

Rule of Law 

• Understanding that the law protects everyone and provides a safe and secure environment for everyone to live and work in
• Understanding that no one is above the law

Individual Liberty

• Having freedom of speech and being able to freely exercise this right
• The protection of an individual’s rights and others around the individual

British Values in our programmes

Queen Mary University of London degree apprenticeships prepare learners for work and life in modern Britain though our value-led educational approach. Our commitment to Excellence in Education includes supporting our students to contribute actively to society.

We encourage learners to take advantage of the opportunities to engage with these values, for example, by standing as course representatives, providing feedback on their learning, abiding by university and workplace policies and codes of conduct and being active members of Queen Mary’s diverse and multicultural community.

Queen Mary core values

The document Our Values in Action sets out our IPACE values: Inclusive, Proud, Ambitious, Collegial and Ethical. You might find it helpful to discuss with learners how Queen Mary's core values relate to the fundamental British Values.

Embedding British Values in delivery

British Values should be embedded within the whole curriculum and revisited regularly as it naturally occurs within the curriculum. Apprentices are expected to be able to explain British Values in the context of their working lives, and an inspector will look for evidence of this, for example resources, reviews and assessment activities.

Suggested activities

Download the British Values icons for use in your course materials, QMplus page or teaching (QMUL login required)

Here are some suggestions for incorporating British Values into your delivery.

Introducing British Values

Ask learners to watch the short introductory film from the Education & Training Foundation (YouTube).

Ideas for facilitated large and small group discussion:

• Which value do the learners think is most important and why?
• How could professional behaviours demonstrate the values?
• How do Queen Mary's IPACE values relate to British Values? Is there overlap? You can download and use the printable A5 values cards (zip file) for this activity.
• Ask the learners to reflect on how they could demonstrate the values in their study or working environment (for example in working with colleagues, other learners or service users)
• Ask learners to share their 'top tips' with each other (for example, use Mentimeter and then ask the group to reflect on and discuss the ideas which have been shared)

Remember to make the relationship between resources/activities/opportunities and British Values explicit to learners. If the relationship is not clear to learners, the opportunities will not help them develop or explore these values.

Democracy

• Create opportunities for learners to stand for election as course reps/on relevant boards and committees
• Encourage voting at Queen Mary Students' Union, local and national elections
• Organise regular Apprentice Forum meetings
• Design activities or materials that involve joint decision making ie co-creation
• Include team projects and activities; then ask the learners to reflect on their experience of working as part of a team
• Design activities that involve receiving and giving feedback
• Discuss how learners are able to share their own opinions at work; ask them to reflect on what approaches they use
• Ask learners to share their experiences of seeking the views of others at work (this might include colleagues, clients or service users)
• Discuss the ways in which democracy adds value to a business
• Explore the concept of Organizational Democracy and how this might be used in the workplace

Respect and Tolerance

• Mark key events in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Calendar e.g. LGBT History Month, Women in Engineering Day, Black History Month
• Discuss Queen Mary's ambition to be 'The most inclusive university of its kind, anywhere'
• Ask the learners to share their experiences of working with diverse colleagues and service users
• Design activities that highlight the importance of religion, tradition, cultural heritage and preferences
• Ask the learners to reflect on their own experiences of discussion and debate, both in the classroom and in the workplace, and ask them to share examples of where they have demonstrated or experienced respect and tolerance
• Discuss the learners' experiences of managing difficult relationships in the workplace
• Design activities that tackle stereotyping, labelling, prejudice and discrimination

Rule of Law

• Include in your learning outcomes the legal and regulatory requirements in the relevant workplace (eg PSRB requirements)
• Use and refer to industry codes of conduct
• Encourage learners to complete and discuss the Queen Mary Academic Integrity module (QMplus)
• Discuss Queen Mary academic policies, regulations and procedures eg Academic Misconduct, Student Discipline
• Design activities that involve the law as it relates to the workplace eg you could ask the learners to produce a video or audio on their rights and responsibilities at work or health and safety in their workplace
• Design activities that involve agreed ways of working, standard operating procedures, quality processes, policies and procedures eg role playing one or more work based scenario

Individual Liberty

• Encourage learners to feedback on their learning through student voice surveys eg NSS, module and programme evaluations
• Explore post-apprenticeship ambitions eg personal development and career planning
• Ensure that learners can exercise choice of module options/choice focus for projects
• Ask the learners to share an example of someone who has defended individual liberties; this could be someone famous, a fictional character, a figure from history or from their own personal experience. You could ask them to prepare a Powerpoint slide to share or work as a small team to produce a video or a poster
• Encourage learners to participate in class discussion and debate
• Design activities that involve rights, choice, consent and individuality, for example a group discussion on how equality and human rights might contribute to the workplace

Embedding British Values into review meetings

Here are some suggestions for incorporating British Values into your regular pastoral support meetings and tripartite reviews.

• Plan to discuss a different value in each meeting
• Use a list of standard questions and discussion prompts
• Discuss how the values apply within the work environment

What does good practice look like?

• Clearly indicate within your module specifications, module handbooks and lesson plans where British Values are considered
• Download the British Values icons for use in your course materials, QMplus page or teaching (QMUL login required)
• Indicating as part of the "aims of the session” or "session learning outcomes" which British Values are  to be discussed
• Using a suite of icons to flag British Values on powerpoint slides, to remind apprentices about the values
• Ensure that discussions about British Values in review meetings are recorded accurately including some depth about what the apprentice knows and can apply to their work situation
• Ice breaker activity at the beginning of each day discussing an aspect of the Personal Develpment curriculum in the context of work and drawing on any current affairs

Find out more

Watch the introductory video on British Values (YouTube) from the Education and Training Foundation

Find out more about how universities use British Values in student induction materials

• Sheffield Hallam University https://blog.shu.ac.uk/apprenticeship-resources/british-values-and-prevent/british-values/
• De Montfort University https://www.dmu.ac.uk/documents/business-services/higher-and-degree-apprenticeships/dmu-apprenticeships-safeguarding-brochure.pdf
• University of Suffolk https://issuu.com/uniofsuffolk/docs/apprenticeship-induction-guide-a

Guidance on British Values and the curriculum in Engineering from the Education and Training Foundation

Find out more about OFSTED and British Values and Safeguarding

• University Vocational Awards Council presentation
• University Vocational Awards Council example template UVAC Topic Guide template [PDF 295KB]