Race Equality Teaching © Trentham Books 2009 21 Over the past decade, the government has presented citizenship education as the main means by which racial equality might be promoted in the school curriculum in England. Since 2001, and particularly since 2005, it has also seen citizenship education as a way of promoting community cohesion and preventing violent extremism. The citizenship curriculum has a strong national focus, but even when this focus is moderated by teachers’ preference for the local (Osler and Savvides, 2009) and, since 2008, by a new official emphasis on identity and diversity, it does not necessarily prepare young people to live together in contexts of diversity or imbue them with informed and critical perspectives on race and racism. This article reflects on the implications of this for democracy and racial justice and looks at the effect on young people of recent racist and ethno- nationalist propaganda, drawing on research in three contrasting Yorkshire schools. Citizenship education policy, race and racism It was not until the election of a Labour government in 1997 that education for citizenship and democracy was placed centrally on the agenda of schools in England. The publication of the official Crick report (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, 1998) sought to achieve cross-party consensus on the need for political education. Citizenship education became mandatory in secondary schools in 2002. The Crick report acknowledged long-standing cultural, political and religious diversity within British society and stressed the need for tolerance by the majority population. But it presented democracy as a completed project rather than as an on-going struggle where race, gender and other inequalities persist (Osler, 2000). The overwhelming emphasis was on the nation-state, with passing acknowledgment of Europe and European institutions, international human rights norms, and the wider global community. Nevertheless the Crick framework’s focus on political literacy has the potential to contribute to an antiracist project: The official report of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (Macpherson, 1999), led the government and the major opposition parties to acknowledge institutional racism as a feature of British society, committing themselves to address racism within public services, including the police force and education. The consequent Race Relations [Amendment] Act 2000 (RRAA) requires schools and other public bodies not only to address discrimination but also to promote race equality. Citizenship education was identified as the main vehicle through which this would be addressed within the curriculum. Race equality initiatives in schools would be monitored through inspection. Research with school principals conducted at this time revealed scepticism over the potential of the inspection system to support race equality. The then Ofsted leadership showed no commitment to make this happen (Osler and Morrison, 2000). Political consensus on the need to tackle institutional racism was in any case short-lived. Some ten years later, there is evidence, both in government and in key institutions, of widespread denial of the on-going impact of institutional racism (Rollock, 2009). In the decade since the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report appeared, there has been heightened debate in the UK about citizenship, multiculturalism and national identity. After the 2005 London bombings, senior government figures, including Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, have encouraged and provoked public debate about so- called ‘British values’ (Osler, 2009). Concerns about security and the prevention of extremism were added to the list of official justifications for the teaching of citizenship in schools (Osler and Starkey, 2006); such concerns are codified in the Education and Inspections Act 2006, which requires schools to promote community cohesion. Schools have been pinpointed as playing a key role in strengthening social cohesion, most notably through the promotion of ‘British values’ that include duties and obligations to a common community. The original national curriculum was heavily criticised for its narrow focus and its failure to recommendation 67 Citizenship education, democracy and racial justice 10 years on Audrey Osler