This week the Department for Education presented the Independent Review of Antisemitism in Schools and Colleges in England, led by Sir David Bell, to Parliament. It is a serious and important piece of work, and SNS is named in it.

In the section on helping teachers handle sensitive and controversial issues, the review says:

"Stakeholders also highlighted Solutions Not Sides as an effective resource for promoting dialogue and supporting understanding of complex geopolitical issues. Students and staff who had participated in its programmes generally reported positive experiences, particularly in improving knowledge and confidence in discussing issues where prior understanding was limited."

Impartiality is at the heart of this. Schools have a legal duty not to promote partisan political views, and the review is clear that this duty is important. But it also found that the government's political impartiality guidance is often misread. People who gave evidence told the review it is "sometimes misunderstood as requiring silence on controversial issues rather than balanced discussion and critical inquiry." Teachers described senior leaders banning discussion of Israel-Palestine altogether, or limiting it to a single assembly with no follow-up.

This is exactly what the work of SNS was built for. For us, impartiality means how you hold the conversation well. We help students foster empathy and critical thinking by humanising our Palestinian and Israeli speakers, and recognising the difference between criticising a government and targeting a people. Teachers need more support in this difficult area, and we hope to share what we have learned with the Department as it develops clearer guidance for teachers.

We also welcome the review's recommendation that citizenship education should have room to address contemporary antisemitism alongside other forms of hatred and prejudice. The review points to research on anti-Muslim hostility showing that meaningful contact between people from different backgrounds reduces prejudice. We believe every child deserves the same attention and protection, and that the two problems are best tackled together when it comes to discussions and learning about Israel-Palestine. We hope to see a similar review into anti-Muslim hate in our schools and colleges. We know from our work that antisemitism and Islamophobia both rise when Palestine-Israel is in the headlines, and young people on every side feel the effects.