People should read the actual draft curriculum which is available here:
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/h/history%2004-02-13.pdf
Also see the contributions of teachers and historians in favour:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/15/history-teaching-curriculum-gove-right
And against:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/feb/18/history-teachers-learn-face-facts
The link below takes you to a parliamentary petition which explains the objections of many academic historians and history teachers as follows:
Keep the history curriculum politically neutral
Responsible department: Department for Education
We strongly object to the government’s proposed new history curriculum and want it to be scrapped on the following grounds:
1) An almost exclusively British history course encourages insularity, needlessly narrows the horizons of pupils and is a poor preparation for later life.
2) The content of the course is impractical to deliver, dry and likely to disengage pupils from history.
3) The proposals have been made without adequate consultation with professionals.
4) The use of the education system to promote a nationalist political agenda will stop history being a vehicle for teaching critical thought and is an assault on academic freedom."
Please readers do your bit. History is a vital element in forming the identities and perceptions of young British minds. Do something to prevent the subject becoming politicized, boring and inward-facing.
I agree it's a painfully anglocentric curriculum. I don't know how issues such as slavery and the Empire are going to be taught, but purely on the grounds of what it misses out, I'll support the petition.
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ReplyDeleteMany many issues make this completely unworkable so really glad you put this post up Patrick. In addition, readers can also visit our opposition facebook hub https://www.facebook.com/SaveSchoolHistory to voice concerns and find links to more articles such as this.
ReplyDeleteI very rarely find myself agreeing with Ferguson or Gove on any matter but can't help but feel that with this curriculum there is much that can benefit the teaching of History.
ReplyDeleteI understand the objections coming from its British-centric orientation but have found my own experience with history (particularly during the course of my MSc and PhD) as a subject that benefits when undertaken from an 'interdependent' perspective. That is, when taken as study of global relations, relations which are formed between nations/civilisations. To this extent I find the centring of the curriculum around Britain and later the British Empire (the largest 'global' empire) as merely one of many contexts through which a global perspective to the teaching of history can be achieved. Yes in the case of slavery these relationships were unequal but if the teaching of history was to incorporate the centrality of power within social- as well as historical- relations (as any social theorist has argued- Gramsci, Elias, Bourdieu, Foucault) then teaching both the relative rise and, more importantly, the eventual decline of the British Empire can provide important lessons. Especially, when providing a basis from which contemporary power relations (the rise and possible decline of the US and its relationship with Russia, China and the fellow 'BRICS') can be understood. The fact is that for the early stages of this curriculum, the history of the British Isles, that is, the history of England, Scotland, Ireland- later N. Ireland- and Wales, are all considered- an important issue what with the upcoming Scottish Independence Referendum and continuing troubles with in N. Ireland. Ultimately I feel this curriculum aims to tackle the teaching of history as process (often repetitive and specifically 'global') which can then be transferred to an understanding of history in other civilisations (Egypt, Middle East), possibly at a Higher Education Level.
I find too many students completely unaware of how current divisions within the UK are linked irrevocably with the history of Britain, a history which for large parts was based around both the rise and decline of a global empire. These are sensitive topics and I think a large part of it will come down to just how 'patriotically' carried away the teachers will get when teaching it.
However, great post!