Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who they are consulting on the
content of the new model history curriculum.
(Con)
We will work with history curriculum experts, historians and
school leaders to develop a model history curriculum that will
stand as an exemplar of a knowledge-rich, coherent approach to
teaching history. The model history curriculum will build on the
history curriculum and support teachers to make sure that all
children can benefit from the breadth and depth of content in the
national curriculum. We will shortly announce the panel
supporting this work.
(LD)
My Lords, those of us who remember Mrs Thatcher’s attempts to
reshape the national history curriculum, David Cameron’s praise
for teaching our island story, as he would put it, and Michael
Gove’s calls for a more coherent patriotic history are concerned
that authoritarian states teach a patriotic history; democratic
states should teach debate and inquiry. Are the Government still
committed to the fifth of the six aims stated in the 2013
definition of the national curriculum, which says we want
students to
“understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how
evidence is used rigorously”—
I know some Ministers are not very keen on evidence—
“to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting
arguments and interpretations of the past have been
constructed”?
That is what secondary school students should be taught in
history.
(Con)
I do not recall Margaret Thatcher’s reforms to the history
curriculum but I may have been a beneficiary of them. I should be
clear to the noble Lord that the model history curriculum does
not change the national history curriculum. It is designed to be
an additional resource to help teachers, where they choose to use
it, to fully develop their approach, consistent with the 2013
national curriculum on history and with the principles that he
pointed out in his question.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Africa—I declare
an interest as a member—has just carried out an inquiry on the
representation of Africa and its diaspora in the national
curriculum, well led by the noble Lord, . This work concluded that
there were some good practices but serious shortfalls and
shortages of information and rightful facts on the history of
Africa and Islam, for instance. Will the noble Baroness undertake
to ensure that she talks to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for
Africa and to the noble Lord, ? Finally, I take this
opportunity to pay tribute to Lady Afshar, who was such a
champion on education and history in this House. We will all miss
her deeply.
(Con)
My Lords, I believe that my right honourable friend the Secretary
of State has engaged with a number of the groups referred to by
the noble Baroness. I reassure her that the model history
curriculum is being developed to reflect the richness of world
history, teaching pupils about societies and civilisations within
and beyond Europe.
(Lab)
My Lords, the National Education Union has called for England to
follow the Welsh Government in making the teaching of black
history mandatory. Have the Government considered doing so?
(Con)
My Lords, I am aware of the Welsh Government’s initiative in this
area. The Government are clear that, within the existing national
curriculum, there is a wide range of opportunities to talk about
black history as well as other diverse histories that have shaped
our country. We are focused on developing the model history
curriculum, which will provide additional resources to teachers
as well as providing, and signposting teachers to, other
resources that they can use in teaching not just history but
citizenship and other areas of children’s education.
(Con)
My Lords, if we are to cohere as a democracy, should we not be
teaching our children that they are not just a random set of
individuals born to a different random set of individuals but
heirs to a common tradition shaped by our parliamentary
institutions, the common law, the tradition of personal freedom
and all the rest of it, and that wherever their parents or
grandparents were born, being our sons and daughters makes them
partakers of this sublime patrimony?
(Con)
My noble friend will be reassured to hear that the reformed
history curriculum introduced in 2013 does place more emphasis on
understanding British history in the context of world history.
The curriculum sets out within a clear chronological framework
the core knowledge that enables pupils to know and understand the
history of Britain, from its first settlers to the development of
institutions that help to define our national life today, as well
as aspects of Europe and wider world history.
(LD)
My Lords, will the Minister support Troy Deeney, the captain of
Birmingham City Football Club, who is running a high-profile
campaign to make the teaching of black, Asian and minority-ethnic
history experiences mandatory?
(Con)
My Lords, I am aware of the article and campaign referred to by
the noble Lord; I read it myself. I am afraid that my answer is
not hugely different from that which I gave previously. We
support the teaching of black history within the national
curriculum; there are many opportunities to do so. We are
developing a model curriculum for history that will provide
teachers with more resources to teach a diverse history, and one
that reflects the story of these isles.
(Con)
My Lords, may I draw attention to Latin America in this context?
By that I mean not only the ancient cultures in Latin America, of
which there are many, but the links with the slave trade and the
important support for the independence movements there; these
have created huge goodwill, very relevant to our trade and other
efforts to improve relations with the countries of Latin
America.
(Con)
My noble friend’s question reflects the fact that, when we talk
about diversity in the teaching of history, there are many
different stories and parts of the world that pupils can learn
about, along with how they relate to the history of this country.
That is why the national curriculum and the model history
curriculum provide a framework in which teachers can then use
their expertise to ensure that pupils gain an understanding and
the knowledge that they need to take the study of history
forward.
of Burry Port (Lab)
My Lords, I have heard the noble Baroness’s replies to the two
previous questions and that leads me to ask mine. With the
freedom that she describes to choose the ethnic-minority and
black history theme likely to be exercised among populations
where there are significant populations dominated by people of
colour, is the mandatory approach not the one that will see to it
that people in white areas will learn about black history? Is
that not the whole point?
(Con)
I reassure the noble Lord that, in teachers and schools having
the freedom to determine the topics of teaching within the
framework of the national curriculum, it has been noted in a
recent survey of history teachers by the Historical Association
that more teachers have commitments to develop their content in
their teaching of black and diverse histories. I think that is a
pattern that we have seen across the country, and it is in the
framework of the national curriculum that they are able to do
so.
(Con)
My Lords, I refer to my entry in the register of Members’
interests. Does my noble friend share my concern that the British
Education Suppliers Association is considering legal action
against her department for the way in which it has introduced the
Oak National Academy, and that its attempt to effectively
nationalise the provision of supply of the curriculum and
severely damage our highly successful education technology market
is not what one would expect from a brilliant Education Secretary
who is himself an entrepreneur?
I do not share my noble friend’s characterisation of the
development of Oak National Academy and the resources that it
provides. I agree with him that there is a wide range of
resources available to schools and teachers in developing their
lessons. The Oak National Academy and its successor have added to
that range of resources, and that has been a positive
development.
