Teenagers must be taught the core values of tolerance and decency as part of the national curriculum to combat the kind of "ignorance and bigotry" shown on the Celebrity Big Brother reality TV show last week, the Education Secretary said today.

Alan Johnson said the alleged bullying and racism on the Channel 4 reality show against Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood star, mirrored the problems within society as a whole, and should be combatted.

He spoke in advance of a major Government report, carried out by Sir Keith Ajegbo, former head of Deptford Green School in Lewisham, which was today set to recommend that compulsory citizenship lessons should be reformed to examine the idea of "Britishness".

"The current debate over Big Brother has highlighted the need to make sure our schools focus on the core British values of justice and tolerance," Mr Johnson said.

"We want the world to be talking about the respect and understanding we give all cultures, not the ignorance and bigotry shown on our TV screens."

Speaking on the matter this morning on Radio 4's Today programme he emphasised that the classes should feed into the current citizenship lesson format, which teaches pupils about British democracy.

He insisted they would not simply be a format to teach political correctness - but would help to teach children about their modern history which saw Britain become an island inhabited by a multitude of cultures, so they would better understand the UK's makeup.

"It will not end up as box-ticking, it will not end up as political correctness," he said this morning.

"It will lead youngsters to want to understand and discuss these things together."

Mr Johnson added that such classes were also crucial for children in schools with very few ethnic minority students as well as those with many - as many white children in Britain often lacked any understanding of their modern society or identity.

"They (the report) asked a whole range of children about their identities and then they asked a white child, who said that he did not have an identity," he said.

"Keith (Ajegbo) said that, within that citizenship format, there is a place for this kind of discussion."

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