Medieval History in Schools Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley)
(Con) I rise to argue that we need to consider the teaching of
medieval history in schools. As every historian knows, when
starting an essay we have to define the topic, so what is medieval
history? At my university, I was in the last cohort to study
so-called modern history, which was defined as everything after
Diocletian split the Roman empire in 286 AD. In fact, I was in
Diocletian’s palace in...Request free
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Medieval History in
Schools
(Rother Valley)
(Con)
I rise to argue that we need to consider the teaching of medieval
history in schools. As every historian knows, when starting an
essay we have to define the topic, so what is medieval history?
At my university, I was in the last cohort to study so-called
modern history, which was defined as everything after Diocletian
split the Roman empire in 286 AD. In fact, I was in Diocletian’s
palace in Croatia only last week, but I take a newer version of
medieval history. More traditionally, medieval history is seen as
the period following the fall of the western Roman empire in 476
AD to the start of the Renaissance and the age of discovery—a
period spanning over 1,000 years. This period was one of the most
important and turbulent times of human history, but this period
is woefully neglected in our schools.
It is worth reminding ourselves about some of the key events,
such as the settling of the barbarian invaders, the reconquest of
the west under Justinian, the black death, the rise of Islam, the
Viking invasions, the Reconquista of Spain, the east-west schism
of 1054, the crusades, the travels of Marco Polo, the medieval
warm period—the list is endless. However, our education system
barely touches this, and when it does, it is only in the briefest
of ways. How many people in England know of the initial defeat of
the Viking invaders under Alfred the Great, the conquest of the
Danelaw and the reunification of England under his grandson, the
first ever King of England, Aethelstan? Where is the focus on the
ultimate clash between east and west, the crusades, during which
Edgar Aethling, the last Anglo-Saxon king, supported the first
crusade, and Richard I led the third crusade successfully, or
even the huge Anglo-Saxon component of the Byzantine Varangian
guard? Why do we never hear about the triumphs of England in the
late middle ages or the Angevin empire, when the kings ruled
England, half of France and parts of Ireland and Wales in
personal union—an early forerunner of our great United Kingdom of
today?
Medieval history is all around us, in every single constituency
and in most towns and villages, yet we do not readily recognise
this fact. I look at my own constituency of Rother Valley, where
we are rightly proud of our mining heritage. However, we rarely
hear about our area’s medieval history, though I must say that
local groups such as the Aston-cum-Aughton history group do a
sterling job of writing it. If any area wants to stake a claim to
mining longevity, it must surely be my area of Rother Valley. In
Whiston, the mining of white stone was attested to in the
Domesday Book, and many of our villages, such as Dinnington and
Harthill, stretch back to Domesday and beyond. The owner of
Firbeck Hall, Henry Gally Knight, was a Member of this House and
a source of inspiration for the novel about the medieval knight
Ivanhoe. Interestingly, Maltby in Rother Valley boasts Roche
abbey, a medieval monastery that was later suppressed by the
tyrant Henry VIII. Laughton-en-le-Morthen is home to Castle hill,
the remains of a motte and bailey castle on lands granted by
William the Conqueror. Anston also appears in Domesday as
Anestan, for North Anston, and Litelanstan, for South Anston,
potentially referring to a local feature known as “one stone”.
The local limestone was perfect for use in buildings and nearly
1,000 years later it was used to construct the very building in
which we are currently debating—the Palace of Westminster. Nearby
Lindrick Common is suggested by some as the possible site of the
battle of Brunanburh, when King Aethelstan overcame the Danes and
became Lord of all Britain.
Elsewhere in Rother Valley, Aston was settled by Saxon invaders
in the 5th century, with the village name meaning “the settlement
among the ash trees” or “the eastern fortification”. Before the
Norman conquest, a man named Lepsi had a manor at Aston. After
1066, William the Conqueror gifted Aston to his son-in-law,
William de Warenne. In 1317, the village fell into the possession
of the , who held several
leading positions in Government—Lord Privy Seal, Controller of
the Royal Household, and Treasurer of the Exchequer. The villages
of Ulley, Aughton, Treeton, Brampton-en-le-Morthen, Todwick, and
Thurcroft were also all Saxon settlements in Rother Valley. That
is just one constituency. There are so many constituencies across
England. We all have medieval history in our bones and in our
soil—including you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
However, we should not fall into the trap of teaching medieval
history purely though the lens of England. We need to look at our
wider place in the medieval world and at the wider impacts. I
cannot think of a better example of the most important moments
than the reign of the East Roman—some say Byzantine—Emperor
Justinian the Great from 527 to 565 AD. His long reign
exemplifies the beauty and importance of the teaching of medieval
history, with which so many parallels can be drawn through the
ages. Of peasant Illyrian stock. Justinian rose to become the
most powerful and important man on earth—a lesson we can all
learn from. He is remembered for building huge edifices and
buildings that last and dominate to this day.
(Broadland) (Con)
I was listening with enormous interest to how medieval history
surrounds us all. That got me thinking about architecture, which
is one of the great examples of history coming to life. My hon.
Friend mentioned the medieval period starting with the reign of
Diocletian. Of course we see Diocletian windows in classical
entablature. But more recently, we have the gothic and the
neo-gothic—an example of which we are lucky enough to be in
today. I am interested in his views on where we see the accents
of medieval history in modern architecture.
My hon. Friend makes an important point about the beauty of
architecture. We can look at some of the finest medieval
buildings across this land. Westminster Hall itself was built
under William Rufus, which shows the longevity of medieval
architecture. How many buildings nowadays could last 1,000 years,
as Westminster Hall has done, or 1,500 years, as Hagia Sophia has
done, which Justinian himself rose up in praise of God?
But Justinian did not just raise up the Hagia Sophia, and many
other buildings across the empire. He also did other great works,
such as introduce the institutes of Justinian—the great
codification and rationalisation of Roman law that, to this day,
influences legal systems across the world. Perhaps above all,
Emperor Justinian is rightly celebrated for his tenacious nature
in refusing to accept decline, and successfully reconquering
large parts of the western Roman empire: north Africa, Italy,
Spain—not only was his reconquest vast, but it lasted for
hundreds of years. The Byzantine empire, the East Roman empire,
did not lose parts of Italy until well into the late 11th
century. That shows the longevity of his conquests. Some
historians claim that they were ephemeral —they were not; they
were long lasting.
Throughout his reign Justinian was supported by his wife
Theodora, who is one of the most inspirational female figures in
all history, from whom we can all learn. Under his reign, there
was the first recorded outbreak of bubonic plague, which is
estimated to have killed about 40% of the population of
Constantinople. The reign of Justinian clearly had it all, yet
like so many other hugely important moments in medieval history,
it is being forgotten and is not taught in our schools. Indeed, I
think the lack of teaching about Justinian in our schools is an
absolute travesty.
There is clearly an appetite for this history, as we have seen
with the recent runaway successes of “The Last Kingdom” on
Netflix, and “Game of Thrones”, which some say is inspired by the
war of the roses. History bestows on us an understanding of the
society, country and world that we live in. It explains why
things are as they are today and provides a guide for where we
are going. History is also wonderful for inculcating transferable
skills, including the ability to reason critically, analyse,
cross-reference, absorb and remember large amounts of complex
information, and to write coherently.
(South Norfolk) (Con)
I am enjoying my hon. Friend’s contribution and his emphasis on
the importance of history. Is he aware that the Under-Secretary
of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood
and Ongar (), who recently entered the
Chamber, hosted an event over the road at Westminster School—it
was due to be held upstairs under a big painting of Alfred the
Great but it had to be moved because of one of the many lockdowns
—at which Professor Michael Wood explained the importance of
Aethelstan’s assemblies? I for one had no idea that a strong case
could be made that the parliamentary system in this country began
not with Simon De Montfort in 1265 over the road in the
Westminster Chapter House but more than 300 years before that
with Athelstan’s assemblies. Of course, Aethelstan was a grandson
of Alfred the Great. Are those not things that we should be
teaching our children?
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I completely agree.
That is exactly what we should be talking about. We should be
talking about the witans to which he referred and the coming
together of great Anglo-Saxon kings. I commend the
Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member
for Brentwood and Ongar (), for his work on promoting
that. I am glad to see him in his place listening to the debate—I
hope that he will contribute.
There is no doubt that the lacuna in our collective knowledge of
medieval history is largely due to how it is taught in schools
and the national curriculum. For maintained schools, history is a
compulsory subject only until the age of 14. Proper teaching of
medieval history only really starts from the age of seven, when
students are only briefly introduced to Britain’s settlement by
Anglo-Saxons, and the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for
England. For key stage 3, the Anglo-Saxon period, which is 500
years or so, is completely excluded.
For the optional GCSE in history, it is clear that medieval
history is being treated inadequately by exam boards. For
example, AQA offers 16 topics in history, but only two directly
address the medieval period and three do so tangentially. For
Edexcel, of 17 options available, only six touch medieval history
and only two directly so. But the problem does not stop there—it
gets worse. A-level students are again being deprived of medieval
history modules. AQA and Edexcel combined offer 70 history
modules, but only seven are exclusively focused on medieval
history. Students sitting WJEC papers have it worse as only one
module—less than a 20th of the total—is given to medieval
history, compared with nine modules on European history.
The options for history at both GCSE and A-level are a lot more
complex than they look at first sight. Many of the papers on
offer are so-called theme papers—for example, “Migration to
Britain over 1,000 years”—which do not meaningfully address
events in medieval history. Finally, many options cannot be sat
together, yet again restricting genuine choice and the
opportunity to study the period.
Exam boards and history departments have always seemed to have a
drive to curtail medieval history, and especially the early
medieval period. In the late 1990s, both AQA and OCR proposed a
new syllabus starting at about 1066, cutting out hundreds of
years of English history. Luckily, there was a huge effort by
lecturers and teachers to save that history, including by my own
former history teacher, Robin Nonhebel, who led the charge in
defence of Anglo-Saxon history in schools. I am pleased to say
that that was a success and I had the opportunity to study
medieval and Anglo-Saxon history at A-level, but most schools do
not teach that, and most pupils do not have the opportunity to
learn about those key events. That is clearly madness.
The medieval period is pivotal for England, but the focus tends
to be rather on the Tudors and Nazis: the so-called Henry and
Hitler version of history. Children are taught more about Stalin
than about English historical characters. They are even taught
more about the civil rights movement in the USA than about the
unification of England under Aethelstan.
Mr Bacon
Disgraceful.
Indeed.
Looking through the papers offered by exam boards, I was
dumbfounded to find topics such as “Migrants in Britain: Notting
Hill 1948 to 1970” and “Changes in entertainment and leisure in
Britain, c.500 to the present day”. Those papers show the
absurdity of the situation. The study of history should not be
reduced to bizarre themes, modern niche events over very narrow
timespans, or huge topics covering over 1,500 years of history.
We cannot learn something like that.
I praise my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (), who during his time as
Education Secretary insisted that more medieval A-level courses
became available so schools could teach them if they so wished.
The problem, however, is that most schools will not teach
medieval A-levels because they do not have teachers with the
relevant knowledge. The situation is self-perpetuating: as most
universities do not have compulsory medieval sections, few
history graduates have experienced the delights of medieval
history. Therefore, each year, fewer and fewer teachers know any
medieval history as older teachers retire and are replaced by
younger ones. And the latter, of course, only studied modern
history at university.
The teaching of medieval history can therefore be saved in
schools only if universities play their part. Prospective
graduate history teachers will want to teach material they are
familiar with. If the universities they attended did not teach
medieval history, or only provided options which few chose to
take, they will not choose to teach it. If medieval history is to
flourish again in schools, it needs teachers who have the
knowledge to develop courses. We must start this at the latest in
year 7. When we talk about the teaching of medieval history in
schools, it cannot simply begin in 1066 as if England beforehand
was in some dark age miasma.
Therefore, the study of medieval history must begin with
Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Danish rule, include key figures and
moments such as King Alfred’s salvation of Wessex, Aethelstan and
the formation of the Kingdom of England, and Aethelred the
Unready and the long build-up to 1066. We must teach about the
roots of Parliament, first under Aethelstan’s Witan, as my hon.
Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon) said, but also
under John, Henry III and the first three Edwards. We must teach
the wars of the roses, the black death and the peasants’ revolt,
and the important relationships between England and the Celtic
nations. We must include the formation of Europe alongside key
events such as the crusades, and even international figures such
as Justinian, Genghis Khan and the history of the papacy.
Why is this so important? First, studying medieval history is
fun. Vikings, the Norman conquest, and the crusades are obvious
in this regard, but so is the religious dimension of King
Alfred’s leadership, the battle of Brunanburh in 937, which
confirmed the rule of England by the house of Wessex,
Charlemagne’s coronation as Emperor in 800 AD, and the rout of
the Byzantines when the fourth crusade turned on their
allies.
Secondly, it is often claimed that modern history is more
relevant to today’s pupils. Why? Why is the political rivalry
between Gladstone and Disraeli any more relevant than the rivalry
between Aethelred and Cnut for the control of England, or between
Henry II and his rebellious sons? Politics 1,000 years ago
encompasses the same ambitions and the same successes and
failures as today. It could be said that the modern relations
between the Christian and Muslim worlds are more moulded by the
crusades than the present relations between France, Britain and
Germany are by the second world war. Key moments such as the
harrying of the north in 1069 began the pattern of inequality
that exists between the north and the south to this day, and the
red wall’s rejection of the European Union elites is strikingly
similar to the north’s refusal to bow to the very same European
elites who occupied this country 1,000 years ago.
Thirdly, the study of medieval history can be more testing and
interesting than modern history because of the relative paucity
of sources. Medieval historians and their students have to read
between the lines, because there are far fewer lines. And
medieval chroniclers were just as adept at spin doctoring or
propaganda as Goebbels in the Nazi Reich.
Fourthly, everyone should know something about the roots of their
civilisations. Modern political relationships and civic
institutions can only be properly understood by reaching back to
study their origins. People should not be allowed to wallow in
ignorance about why pilgrimage is important to religion, why
Magna Carta helped to frame modern day freedoms, why there are
two Houses of Parliament and, most importantly, who the first
king of England was—Aethelstan.
Fifthly, I believe that visiting medieval sites such as Hastings,
the Bayeux tapestry, Kenilworth, Bodiam castle and the ruins of
Glastonbury are often more interesting and bring history more to
life than the battlefields of the world wars.
I have argued the merits of medieval history, but what can be
done to ensure its future in our educational institutions? First,
the curriculum must be changed to make history compulsory at
GCSE. Secondly, medieval history must be a requirement throughout
history education, from the beginning to the end.
I am lucky enough to have a daughter who has just completed her
history A-level. One observation might be that—
10.00pm
Motion lapsed (Standing Order No. 9(3)).
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now
adjourn.—(.)
I was about to suggest that an argument may be made that there is
insufficient time in the curriculum to accommodate medieval
history. The experience of an A-level student in my family—I hope
she passed last week—has been to have studied the origins of the
first world war as well as the second world war to death. She has
done more German history than history of the United Kingdom. Does
my hon. Friend agree that there will be plenty of space for
medieval history if we tweak the curriculum?
I completely agree: there is plenty of space in the curriculum.
Earlier, I mentioned that the “Hitler and Henry” version of
history is often done to death. Children often study the Nazis
and the Soviets at GCSE and then do the same course, just in more
depth, at A-level. There is plenty of scope to make room for
medieval courses; I have even suggested some papers that could be
removed from the syllabus to make even more room for medieval
history.
I turn back to the solutions. Thirdly, medieval history must be
taught with sufficient depth and breadth, ensuring that an array
of events and figures are covered, including pre-1066.
Whistlestop drive-by tours of the battle of Hastings alone must
be a thing of the past. Fourthly, we must prevent the teaching of
medieval history from being stymied by being included as part of
a broad, intangible theme such as “Sports from 1000 AD to 1950
AD”. Fifthly, universities must be told to include compulsory
medieval history options on their courses, so that we have a
strong and steady stream of teachers with specialisms in medieval
history imparting their knowledge to the historians of the
future.
The schools White Paper of March 2022 said that the Government
would not make any changes to the school curriculum for the
remainder of this Parliament. However, I urge the Minister to
heed my policy asks in the next rewrite of the curriculum. I also
call on teachers, schools, universities and exam boards to
provide a more comprehensive medieval history offering right
away. They do not need Government intervention to make that
happen; teachers do not need the Government to tell them to take
the courses already on offer.
Medieval history is in our blood; it is our past but also our
future. It explains why we are the way we are and why we live the
way we live, but it also gives us a guide for what lies ahead. It
teaches respect for our heritage, values, and culture, and
instils critical reasoning and academic rigour. By teaching
medieval history, we are not only preserving the past for future
generations, but ensuring that millions more Britons in coming
centuries will experience the pleasures of studying such a
fascinating and rewarding discipline.
10.03pm
The Minister for School Standards ( )
It gives me great pleasure to congratulate my hon. Friend the
Member for Rother Valley () on securing this
debate. He has shown his great passion and knowledge of medieval
history as well as his deep understanding of how history is
interconnected—a crucial part of the work on a model history
curriculum, which we are about to launch.
I am also passionate about history. I studied medieval history at
GCSE and went on to read ancient and modern history at
university—including, my hon. Friend will be pleased to hear, an
extended further subject on the near east, from Justinian to
Mohammed; I know that he is a big fan of the great law giver. I
share his interest in that individual and in the great clash of
civilisations that followed him.
I firmly believe that pupils in our schools should receive
high-quality history teaching that helps them understand
different periods in history and the links between them, and to
engage critically with knowledge about the past. The capacity
that teachers have to help pupils to really think about the past,
even when it seems far away, is always inspiring; bringing alive
history through great teaching can lead to a lifelong love of the
subject for all pupils.
Our knowledge-rich curriculum is a key tool to help teachers
develop a greater understanding of history among their pupils.
The knowledge-rich approach focuses on knowledge and
understanding; it is not about teaching a dry list of facts or
dates, but about giving pupils a deep and rich understanding of
history, making it meaningful through the use of stories and
inquiry questions based on the latest scholarship. That is all
the more relevant for the sometimes marginalised period of
medieval history, because we know that there are sweeping myths
about its many time periods and peoples. It could be argued that
some popular conceptions of the medieval period are mired in
stereotypes and reductive tropes, even among some pupils. It can
be reductively typified as an era of war and plague, especially
for England, and of castles, oppressed serfs in hovels, dungeons
and widespread ignorance—the “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
version of medieval history. Even the word “medieval” is
sometimes used as a term of denigration.
The teaching that we support in our curriculum and the great
examples that I will share show how such reductive and misleading
myths can be tackled through informed and informative teaching.
In the history curriculum, we expect that high-quality history
education will help pupils to gain a coherent knowledge and
understanding of Britain’s past and the wider world’s. History
helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the
processes of change, the diversity of societies and the
relationships between groups, as well as their own identity and
the challenges of their time. All those aspects can be taught
through medieval history from key stage 1 to key stage 3.
Teaching the early medieval period, pre-1066—the late classical
period, as it is sometimes defined—lays foundational knowledge
for teaching at key stage 3 and beyond. I reassure my hon. Friend
that the history curriculum already refers to many of the
interesting pre and post-1066 examples that he raised, whether as
a requirement or as examples of what can be taught, such as the
Anglo-Saxons, the Viking raids, the struggle for the kingdom of
England at the time of Edward the Confessor and—as the
Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood
and Ongar (), will note—Aethelstan, the
first king of England. In particular, the Anglo-Saxons are an
important part of teaching at key stage 2, which is why their
history is not, I accept, repeated at key stage 3, but it is
further built upon. I assure my hon. Friend the Member for Rother
Valley that medieval history before 1066 is an important part of
our knowledge-rich curriculum.
In key stage 3, as part of the required theme of the development
of Church, state and society in medieval Britain from 1066 to
1509, we set out some non-statutory examples, including the
Norman conquest, the crusades and Magna Carta; society, economy
and culture; feudalism; religion in daily life, including
parishes, monasteries and abbeys; farming, trade and towns,
especially the wool trade; and art, architecture and literature.
Teachers can teach other examples at key stage 3 than those
suggested, and can cover many of the themes that my hon. Friend
referred to.
Local history is also a key requirement in the curriculum. My
hon. Friend referred to some fantastic examples from his Rother
Valley area, including its mining history, which I knew about,
and its contribution to the fabric of this building, which I have
to say I did not. As the Member of Parliament for one of
England’s great Norman cathedrals, which hosts the tomb of King
John, I am well aware of how local buildings can inspire students
of medieval history. I agree that medieval history is all around
us. Much of the infrastructure of the period still
survives—Westminster Hall, which my hon. Friend mentioned,
castles, cathedrals, windmills, bridges and, indeed, some of our
ancient universities. Teachers can use local history, combined
with wider storytelling, to bring the period alive and inspire
the interest of children and young people in history.
Although I have mentioned castles as a dominant part of the
stereotyping of the medieval age, they are also wonderful
physical examples that children can visit as part of learning
about the era. Many types of building were seen as castles in the
period. The variety in their use helps to teach about the
complexity of medieval life—not just their military use, for
example, but their importance as living communities and as places
of court.
We also require that at least one study of a significant society
or issue in world history and its interconnections with other
world developments be taught as part of the curriculum. The
non-statutory examples that we give are mainly beyond the
medieval period, but teachers and schools can determine their
own. The medieval era from 500 to 1500 is required to be taught
as part of GCSE history; it can also be studied at A-level. At
GCSE, there is a requirement to
“study significant events, individuals, societies, developments
and issues within their broad historical contexts”,
which must be taken from the period from 500 AD to 1500 AD,
“demonstrating both breadth (through period studies) and depth
(through studying of a narrower, more specific topic)”.
My hon. Friend expressed concerns about the extent of medieval
history in exam specifications and papers, but the period’s
inclusion in GCSEs and A-levels can further develop pupils’
understanding of it and can further develop knowledge taught at
earlier key stages.
Inspiring stories are an important tool of teaching. Used in the
right way, they can enable teachers to help children and young
people to really understand, engage with and remember history.
Key stories from medieval history help to define our national
culture, and I hope that they are not neglected: Alfred and the
cakes, Lady Godiva, Robin Hood and Prince John, Henry II and
Thomas à Becket, Henry V at Agincourt and—for our friends in the
north, who sadly have not come to this debate—Robert the Bruce
and the spider, to name but a few. Some of these stories also act
as a conduit into history, and remain an inspiration for people
today.
(South Norfolk) (Con)
My hon. Friend has mentioned King John’s tomb, around which I
used to play as a child, because I went to the school next to
Worcester cathedral for 10 years. He has also mentioned
Aethelstan. I do not know whether he is aware that Aethelstan was
half West Saxon and half Mercian—otherwise known as Angle—and
that he was placed in Mercia with, I think, his mother’s family
to keep him safe, because not everyone wished him well in west
Saxony. When he eventually became king, he was able to ally the
Mercians—or Angles—with him in the battle to defend what became
England against a combination of marauding Vikings and marauding
Scots. Does it not surprise my hon. Friend that no one from the
Scottish National party has turned up, given that the creation
and the strength of England are largely down to the Scots?
Mr Walker
My hon. Friend has brought an extra touch of medieval history
knowledge to the debate, for which I am extremely grateful. I am
always pleased to celebrate the contribution of a fellow
Worcester man. Of course, the Scots have come off badly in
Worcester on a number of occasions, not all of which fit within
the medieval period.
Let me give an example, which is connected to our shared home
city, of medieval history’s relevance and importance today.
Within the next few weeks, I will be taking part in the unveiling
of a plaque to commemorate the eviction of Worcester’s medieval
Jewish community in the 13th century—a precursor of the wider
expulsion of Jews from England under Edward I, and a reminder
that the events of the past too often have echoes in the issues
of today, or of more recent times.
Teachers have access to a strong community of expertise within
history, including the fantastic work of the Historical
Association and its resources and publications, all of which help
to support high-quality teaching. Teachers can also draw on the
heritage schools programme managed by Historic England, which
offers continuing professional development and resources to
schools to support the teaching of local history. Wider resources
from English Heritage and other organisations are also available.
Oak National Academy now offers resources and lessons on, for
example, Vikings and Anglo-Saxons, medieval monarchs, the
crusades, Baghdad and the Normans, to name only a small
selection.
The good practice and examples that I now want to describe show
the range of teaching that is already offered to pupils. My hon.
Friend the Member for Rother Valley said that teaching should
cover the breadth and depth of medieval history, and I hope I can
demonstrate to him that that is happening in some of the best
schools in the country. He spoke about the importance of teaching
expertise, and I agree with him about that. The strong community
of history experts within schools supports such teaching, and
acts as a forum for sharing good practice through, for example,
the Historical Association and its publication Teaching History,
whose special issue dedicated to the teaching of medieval
history, published in 2018, went to all state secondary schools.
Ian Dawson edited that edition, drawing on research on pupils’
attitudes to the medieval period and making the case for
reviewing and renewing teaching in this area in order to
challenge myths and stereotypes. Since then, Teaching History has
featured many more articles by teachers and other experts on
teaching medieval history.
The special edition took an approach to the middle ages summed up
by three words: sophistication, respect and representation. Its
aim was to display the sophistication of life and ideas in the
middle ages, and to help to explain why the people of the period
deserve greater respect than they are often accorded for the ways
in which they dealt with the issues and dilemmas that they faced
in all aspects of their lives. That approach helps to illustrate
to pupils how many of the aspects of the medieval period
developed from the preceding historical periods, and also
developed further into institutions, systems and ways of life
that are still important today. As John Gillingham has said,
“It is in the Middle Ages, after all, that crucial early stages
of many things can be found: above all, of course, the languages
of England, Scotland and Wales, but also some central political
and educational institutions: parliament, monarchy, schools,
universities, the law and the legal profession, as well as our
freedoms, think Magna Carta”.
Elizabeth Carr, Head of History at Presdales School, makes clear
that laying the foundations of knowledge about the medieval
period proves essential for pupils to be able to make sense of
later periods. For example, understanding the Reformation
requires secure knowledge of medieval Christian culture and the
pervasive influence of the Catholic Church. Similarly, Parliament
in the medieval period was very different from Parliament today,
but the evolution of Parliament in later periods makes sense to
pupils only when they have an understanding of its origins and
role in the medieval context.
In Ark schools, pupils study wide-ranging medieval history in
Year 7, including 11th-century Constantinople, the Normans in
England and in Sicily, the crusades, the Angevin empire, the
influence of Muslim scholarship on medieval and renaissance
worlds, the north African empire of Mali and its connections with
wider worlds, and the role of the silk roads in linking differing
medieval worlds. They also study detailed stories of political
change throughout England’s medieval centuries, culminating in
late medieval political instability and the long-term effects of
the black death on the medieval economy and society in rural and
urban areas. They draw on wide-ranging historical scholarship in
shaping their curriculum and introducing pupils to contrasting
interpretations of medieval pasts.
Elizabeth Carr set out in another article published in Teaching
History in September 2021 how she uses the biographical stories
of Empress Matilda and Eleanor of Aquitaine to explore the
concepts of power and authority and the relationship between
England, France and the Holy Roman Empire. In doing this, she
sets English medieval kings, particularly the much-studied John,
and Magna Carta into a much broader geographical and political
context. I do not want to detain the House too much longer with
endless examples—
I agree with everything the Minister is saying. I know that he
wants to end soon, but does he agree that we should not just be
teaching medieval history as a stand-alone subject and that it
should be imbued in all other subjects? For instance, when we are
talking about geography and climate change now, we should look
back to the medieval warming period and discuss the implications
of that. We could also link medieval history to sociology and
religion. It can be included in every single subject, including
maths. It should be in every aspect of life, and not just in
history subjects.
Mr Walker
I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend that a full
understanding of history can contribute so much to that broader
understanding. In the case of climate change, as he has
mentioned, we can refer back to the late medieval warm period. We
should absolutely take into account the longer view that medieval
history can give us. I wholly agree with him on that.
I have endless examples that I could give the House, but I think
that people have probably heard enough of them. What I would say
is that we have an important opportunity before us. My hon.
Friend rightly referred to our White Paper and the fact that we
are not changing the curriculum at this time. That is because the
curriculum is a framework that allows for some very rich, broad
teaching. Indeed, the changes made by my right hon. Friend the
Member for Surrey Heath (), which my hon. Friend
praised, are in the curriculum that we are preserving.
It is important that we exemplify what can be done within that
curriculum, particularly at key stages 1 to 3. That is why we are
developing a model history curriculum to support the teaching of
this time period across key stages 1 to 3. I am delighted today
to have published on the Department for Education’s website the
names of the expert panellists who will lead this work. I am
delighted that Michael Kandiah from King’s College London is the
chair and that Christine Counsell is the lead drafter. We will
benefit enormously from Christine and the wider panel’s expertise
in the development of an exciting, broad and knowledge-rich
exemplar curriculum, which will demonstrate the breadth and
connectivity of what can be taught at primary and key stage
3.
The exemplar of the model history curriculum will also
demonstrate the principles of a well-sequenced curriculum. As my
hon. Friend has highlighted, knowledge builds upon knowledge, and
learning about key events, figures and themes pre-1066 is a basis
for understanding the later medieval period. In turn,
developments in medieval times in politics, government and
society help to develop greater understandings of later periods
including the history of the 18th and 19th centuries, the
development of this Parliament and the understanding of American
history. There is expertise about the medieval period among the
panellists. They include Professor Robert Tombs, professor
emeritus of French history at the University of Cambridge, and
Professor Toby Green of King’s College London.
The model history curriculum will draw on the best that already
exists in the history community and act as a further stimulus to
great curriculum design. It will help teachers to teach our
history national curriculum, which already offers breadth and
depth of teaching on medieval history. We also hope that the
breadth, depth and geographical span will inspire more teaching
of different periods of history across wider geographies.
Although it is an example for schools, it could even inspire our
universities to teach broader spans of time, as my hon. Friend
suggested. As he has demonstrated, medieval history has a vital
role to play in the sequencing of history that all children
should learn. I am sure he will agree that the examples I have
shared about good practice in schools show that there is
wonderful teaching on this subject in our schools today, all of
which helps our children and young people to develop a strong
knowledge-based understanding of history. Once again, I commend
him for bringing forward such an important and historical
debate.
Question put and agreed to.
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