According to the newspaper, schools will receive new statutory guidance that will give teachers the right to freedom of expression. Headteachers will not be able to suspend staff or students in response to blasphemy complaints from religious groups. Last November, a YouGov survey of more than 1,000 teachers conducted for the Policy Exchange think tank found that 16% of them admitted to self-censoring to avoid causing religious offence. The think tank claimed this had created a “de facto blasphemy code in schools across the country”. A total of 1,132 teachers from across the UK took part in the survey.
