About the Project

The full title of this research project is ‘Free Expression at School? The Making of Youth Engagements with Race and Faith’. The reason for this focus is that idea that freedom of expression about race and faith-based issues is ‘under threat’ in education – particularly in universities – has become repopularised in recent years. The UK government has introduced a Bill for universities to regulate the intolerance of ideas that might challenge conventional wisdom. But at the same time, recent UK government ministers, have also made comments to schools about their engagement with issues to do with race and faith equality, and re-issued guidance to schools regarding impartiality on social and political issues. These events take place amid a wider set of debates about what should or should not be taught in schools with regards to equality issues.  

Of course, schools are different to universities: schools typically follow a national curriculum. Young people aged 14-15 are also arguably in a more sensitive period of identity formation than young adults, and teachers have a duty to foster their development. But young people are equal citizens, with rights recognised under the UN Charter on the Rights of the Child. They can and do speak out and take action on various issues that are important to them, including climate change, and race and faith equality.  

This project thus aims to unveil the factors that shape young people’s expression on these issues in both schools and wider society. In so doing, it benefits from a mixed methods research framework. A nation-wide survey, for the first time, is being undertaken on how youth expression on race and faith equality is ‘made’ and experienced across England’s state-funded secondary schools. The study also will create in-depth case studies illustrating youth experiences of expression in and out of such schools through narratives, images, and sound (e.g., music). The particular locations of these case studies are Birmingham and London, as they are two of England’s largest and most ethno-religiously diverse cities. In addition, this research looks at the roles of national education policy and analyses policy documents. As hinted above, policy and political discourse play an important role in the making and regulating youth expression on race and faith matters. Therefore, alongside school context, debates in social media and discourses of non-school stakeholders are among the concerns of this research and are investigated. 

As the overall outcome, the project aims to develop a greater understanding of what is/is not/needs to be taught, to help schools and young people generate ideas about democratic futures, and ultimately, to provide a new, interdisciplinary, and youth-centred framework for freedom of expression to be implemented in schools. Individual schools will benefit in terms of Ofsted/school improvement planning. Those participating in the survey will benefit from a bespoke report which compares their anonymised pupil survey results to those of pupils across England, and schools participating in our in-depth case studies will benefit from anonymised case study comparisons with a small number of contrasting schools. Also, the project team will be compiling resources on this website to support all participating schools.

The project is generously funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and runs from September 2022 to February 2025. We intend to make the survey findings available mid-way through the project, and we will produce a final study report available to all participants and the general public.