Children 'should learn religious tolerance in nursery schools'

The foundation stage of the national curriculum (for three- to five-year-olds in nurseries and playgroups) is "the optimum stage in which to communicate tolerant attitudes" the National Union of Teachers will say today. The call comes in its evidence to an all-party Parliamentary committee of inquiry into anti-Semitism.

Twenty-eight anti-Semitic incidents were committed against schools and pupils in 2004 - the last year for which figures are available, the NUT says

Jewish students or academics were the targets in another 21 incidents, it says.

At one Jewish school in Liverpool, the head of a pig was left on the doorstep and a burning cross placed in a goalmouth on its sports field.

"Foundation stage education provides the basis on which appropriate behaviour can be built," the NUT says. "Teaching young people about racism and anti-Semitism will have a profound effect on their understanding and attitudes."

Older pupils, it argues, should be taught the difference between freedom of speech and freedom from intimidation.

The union is critical of the Department for Education and Skills for omitting anti-Semitism from its pack for schools on how to avoid incidents of racist bullying. "The NUT believes that all forms of racism are unacceptable. Anti-Semitism has both connections to, and similarities with, other forms of racism."

Incidents of anti-Semitism tend to fluctuate in response to events in the Middle East, the union says. It is an issue for all schools - regardless of the number of Jewish pupils or staff.

"There is a need for all school staff to respond to any anti-Semitic language they hear even if there are no Jewish pupils directly involved. Indeed, staff may not even be aware that there are Jewish pupils in the school," it says. "Allowing racist language to go unchallenged, whichever group it is directed against, gives racism a degree of legitimacy to other pupils."

Steve Sinnott, the union's general secretary, said: "The challenge for schools in dealing with racism has never been greater.

"Schools have a responsibility to support teachers that may be personally affected by racist incidents and the personal demands this may place on them.

"The NUT believes that the struggle against racism, to be effective, cannot be selective about the forms of racism to be tackled. An attack on one minority group is an attack on all."

The all-party Parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism was set up last month amid fears that incidents have reached record levels. Last year, 532 anti-Semitic incidents were reported - the highest number since records were first kept in 1984.