What History Should we be Teaching?

William Dalrymple’s recent article on Britain’s efforts to re-establish trading connections with a number of Commonwealth countries is a timely reminder of just how poorly we serve our children through our history curriculum. As the debate over Empire has intensified in recent years, Dalrymple’s judgement that the Empire was the most important thing the British ever did is irrefutable, as is his criticism that this is not reflected in the teaching of history in our schools. The Empire is, of course,  a polarising topic, and any who suggest the achievements of empire are soon shouted down by those who are critical of its legacy. The issue for schools, however, is not the debate, but simply giving children a knowledge of their own past so they will be better informed in the present and future and able to make their own judgements. In order to do that we need a history curriculum that is both outward-looking and contextual and which is centred around Britain and its relationship with the Empire, past and present.

There is much in our country’s story that can fascinate and entertain, but in the limited time we have allocated to teach history in our schools, we have to make choices. Our own narrative with its domestic history and mythology are important, of course, as is teaching chronology and story telling especially to younger children, but by the age of eleven, children should be learning about their nation’s story in a much wider context. If we want to keep our children in the dark about their past, then fine to concentrate on those party pieces we trot out endlessly, the Tudors and Stuarts, the six wives of Henry VIII, the War of the Roses, the Battle of Waterloo and internal dynastic disputes and let’s just pretend they are actually what define us. Taught properly they can, of course, educate and inform us about our relationship with Europe in particular, yet they are but a part of our wider history and, in global terms, a small part at that. Of course the Reformation, the Civil War, the so-called ‘Glorious’ Revolution and many other precipitious events were important in helping develop our work ethic and mercantile zeal, and our ambition to go out and search for new forms of wealth.  But surely our children should know also that the basis of our power and prosperity today is down to such vast commercial enterprises as the East India Company and the huge profits generated from controlling trade, including human trade, throughout the Empire. And is it not important for them to know something about those countries where this wealth came from and their own peoples’ place in our history and what was it that generated the wealth and influence that made this country a leading world power and established our place in the world. In order to understand our own history, we need a new curriculum that allows us to see why we are where we are and why others see us as they do - and the Empire should be at the heart of it.

Some years ago, Civitas gave every school a copy of H E Marshall’s ‘Our Island Story’ published in 1903. Many schools embraced it. Around the same time, David Cameron chose it as his favourite childhood book in October 2010 commenting:

"When I was younger, I particularly enjoyed 'Our Island Story' by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall [...] It is written in a way that really captured my imagination and which nurtured my interest in the history of our great nation”

Since being sent out to all schools, many teachers have used it to teach History to the young. Brighton College reputedly gave it to their 6th Form to read (hopefully, to disassemble). For its time one can understand its appeal and when looked at as a mix of history and mythology, especially before the 18th century, it is accessible and well-told. Thereafter, however, it is fraught with danger in a post-imperial Britain, as one would expect from a populist children’s history written over a century ago. The problem it highlights is the paucity of suitable resources and the shortage of specialist teachers to teach our island story in its wider context.

Surely, we should view our development as a nation in relation to those other countries we have long rubbed shoulders with – after all, Britain’s history is not insular, but profoundly global. Let’s explain the Middle East, Africa, Asia in the context our shared history with each. Let’s look at the quest for power and wealth which are the engines of history, in any struggle, in any epoch, in any country. Let’s teach what is the national narrative, national mythology, and what is contested history, fact and fiction, and differentiate between each; in the limited time afforded the subject (always too little), we need to select wisely what to teach in order to give our children the best possible understanding of the country they live in  and its place in the world. Let’s recognise and celebrate the cultural diversity of modern Britain in what we teach. Let’s leave all the museum pieces to the film industry and literature and not get bogged down in the rights or wrongs of what happened in the past. For there is no embarrassment in honesty or transparency, but there is in glossing over history in such a way as to ignore what actually made us who we are today.  That sort of deception will do our children no favours at all.