Teaching Black British History – Where are we now?
The Debate
The debate on teaching Black British history has gathered momentum in the past three years as a result of our advocacy work at The Black Curriculum and the #TBH365Campaign. The realisation that the National Curriculum barely covered Black British history however goes as far back as 2014 when the following petition to ‘Introduce Black History in the primary curriculum’ was made to the UK Government:
“To make Black History part of the school curriculum for Primary education. It helps to enrich the development of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural needs of all ethnic groups.
We believe Black History should be made a mandatory element of the national curriculum.”
This petition generated 43,914 signatures. The former Conservative-Liberal coalition Government’s response to the petition was that there was “plenty of scope” in the history curriculum for Black British history to be covered. The language used in the Government’s response to the petition, and reiterated here, that “schools have the flexibility to deal with these topics in ways that are appropriate and sensitive to the needs of their pupils” is quite a revelation.
The use of language such as “deal with these topics” and “appropriate and sensitive” infers that Black British history topics are likely to make people uncomfortable, and for schools to have a narrative that lessens or negates the truth behind the history. Perhaps this is why there has been a lack of political will to embed Black British history explicitly in the curriculum.
The push towards an “appropriate and sensitive” narrative is emphasised in our research ‘Black British History in the National Curriculum’ where we note that “’ the history national curriculum, in its current guise, continues to disassociate Britain from a legacy that has oppressed Black people historically in favour of a more romanticised, filtered legacy that positions Britannia as all conquering and eternally embracive of ethnic and cultural difference.”
Fast forward 6 years later in 2020 another petition to: ‘Teach Britain's colonial past as part of the UK's compulsory curriculum’ was put in motion by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson at The Impact of Omission. This time the petition generated 268,772 signatures and was debated in Parliament on 28th June 2021 (because it had received over 100,000 signatures). The Government’s response again was similar to that of the previous petition, leaving the decision to schools to choose how they embed Black British history in their lesson plans:
“There are opportunities within the themes and eras of the history curriculum for teachers and schools to teach about Britain's role in colonisation and the transatlantic slave trade.”
Around the same time as the above petition was registered, The Black Curriculum also requested a meeting with the former Secretary of State of Education, Gavin Williamson, this request was rejected with the response that the “national curriculum as a framework is broad, balanced and flexible.”
Where are we now?
Our work with schools shows that they recognise the importance of teaching Black British history. Teachers acknowledge that teaching Black British history can improve social cohesion as well as address racism and stereotyping in schools. Runnymede Trust’s report ‘Race and Racism in Secondary Schools’ calls for “overhauling the curricula to increase racial diversity, and to centre anti-racism.” The report highlights that the “school curricula too often fail to reflect the diversity of contemporary society, and the National Curriculum does not mandate for engagement with the colonial legacies – or racist underpinnings – of contemporary Britain.”
In answering the question – we still have a long way to go but we are beginning to see changes at the grassroot level. Our aim is that Black British history is mandated in the National Curriculum, and we at The Black Curriculum will continue to advocate that this happens.