Labour to make national curriculum more ‘diverse’

[u/ConfusedQuarks]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/12/29/labour-national-curriculum-diversity-bridget-phillipson/

[u/PsychoSwede557]

Honestly, as a former English student I wouldn’t mind having the curriculum include more reference to the other nations of the UK (ie Scottish history, Welsh literature, etc.)

But that’s not the kind of diversity they’re talking about..

[u/--rs125--]

If you thought labour had hit rock bottom already...

[u/ConfusedQuarks]

Bridget Phillipson starts review to ‘refresh’ education programme so it reflects ‘diversities of our society’

The national curriculum is set to be made more “diverse” under Labour plans.

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has begun a review to “refresh” what is taught in schools, pledging to “breathe new life into our outdated curriculum”.

The new curriculum will be compulsory in all state schools, including academies that were previously free to opt out.

The Telegraph can reveal that the Department for Education’s terms of reference for the overhaul explicitly say that the department (DfE) aims to create a curriculum that reflects the “diversities of our society” and help produce young people who “appreciate the diversity” of Britain

This newspaper has also seen suggestions for changes to the curriculum that have been submitted to the review by unions and other teaching groups, including for how to “decolonise” subjects which have been branded too “mono-cultural”.

The moves were criticised by the Conservatives on Sunday night. Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, said: “Instead of spending time fiddling with our academic curriculum, which has led to English children being the best at maths and English in the Western world, the DfE needs to concentrate on getting absence rates down and kids back in the classroom.”

Changes would ‘undermine education’

Sir John Hayes, the former Conservative education minister, said the changes would “undermine the education of young people” for ideological reasons.

He added: “The truth of the matter is there’s a canon of English literature, there’s a factual basis to learning, and you can’t twist the facts to suit your political agenda.

When you do you risk undermining the education of young people and leaving them ill-equipped for life beyond schooling.”

Sir John, who trained as a history teacher, warned that the move would add to the “distortion of history” for political reasons, adding: “The pretence that some things count and others don’t – that’s just not intellectually rigorous.”

The review, announced in July, is being led by Prof Becky Francis, a feminist professor who started a call for evidence in November urging teaching experts to offer proposals on achieving the aims of the curriculum overhaul.

Prof Francis, who criticised the Tony Blair government for “an obsession with academic achievement”, and the committee leading the review are now considering proposals suggested by teaching unions, school groups, think tanks and Royal Societies.

Among the proposals submitted by major unions and educational institutions are suggestions of the introduction of more diverse material, particularly in “majority white” classrooms, and a move away from English literature which is seen as “traditional”.

The teachers’ union NASUWT, which has about 280,000 members across the UK, told the review that it must “embed anti-racist and decolonised approaches” in the curriculum and advised “inclusive curricula that reflect diverse authors, cultures and perspectives”.

The Association of School and College Leaders warned that “history and English curricula are seen as largely mono-cultural”, and welcomed plans to “diversify the curriculum”.

The group, which represents more than 25,000 senior secondary school teachers, warned that “in particular, ethnicity and sexual orientation are under-represented in the national curriculum”.

[u/ConfusedQuarks → u/ConfusedQuarks]

English texts ‘overly Western-centric’

Examination boards have also had their say. OCR, one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s five main exam boards, stated: “The literary canon should better reflect the range of cultures and experiences of all young people.”

Similarly, the Haberdashers’ family of schools, which includes several leading public schools for boys and girls, has voiced concerns that English texts are seen as “overly Western-centric and traditional” and advised greater diversity.

The proposals are under consideration by the review committee, which includes Funmilola Stewart, who is head of an “anti-racism” team at the Dixons Academy Trust, a group of 16 academies and one sixth form college in Bradford, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.

Her team set out a policy that the school curriculum “must give life to our ED&I [equality, divinity and inclusion] thinking”, stating that “for our curricula to achieve this, ED&I must be pervasive”.

The review will also seek to increase the breadth of the curriculum, ensure it makes children ready for life and work, improve assessment systems, and to boost access to music, art, sport and drama, as well as vocational subjects.

[u/BlackJackKetchum]

I’ve had no exposure to the English school curriculum since I stopped being a pupil, but even in the 70s/80s we were a long way from ‘Rule Britannia’ history and so forth. This was at a boys grammar school, for what that’s worth.

[u/ThisSiteIsHell → u/BlackJackKetchum]

I was in the school system in the 2000s/2010s. There was quite a substantial portion on the slave trade and the East India Company + subsequent British rule, so I think I got a fair education on the ugly side of the empire. That was, however, a secondary academy, so while still publicly funded they had some freedom in the curriculum.

However, I will say the curriculum could stand to be diversified. Too much bloody US history! I somehow doubt that's what the unions mean, but there you go.

[u/BlackJackKetchum → u/ThisSiteIsHell]

A departing history teacher bequeathed my year a sizeable module on women’s suffrage, women’s education and the like. You can imagine how well that went down, but with hindsight I’m glad of it.

[u/ThisSiteIsHell]

This newspaper has also seen suggestions for changes to the curriculum that have been submitted to the review by unions and other teaching groups, including for how to “decolonise” subjects which have been branded too “mono-cultural”.

Must be noted that this is not anything official, this is just some nutter or some small group of nutters.

That said, how in the everloving fuck do they reckon you're going to "decolonise" a school subject? OK, you can have better representation of international history and culture in the curriculum, that's grand, but I don't know what that has to do with colonialism.

[u/LordSevolox → u/ThisSiteIsHell]

In this context it literally means “remove western/‘white’ things’

Examples of ‘decolonisation’ in places like university have included (from that of what I remember): Stopping of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ (Y’know, the English) and stopping teaching of local authors like Shakespeare.

It’s stripping away English and other British (lesser extent other western) cultural identities in schools (or whatever they else is being ‘de-colonised’) to make way for multi-cultural ones.

One would assume (as nothing concrete has been said) that ‘mono-culture’ (English) subjects would be that like English Literature where you read… well, English books, poems, etc which I’d expect would start to largely be replaced by translated works of other countries. Other subjects would likely include History, where I assume it will shift to being teaching about mostly other nations histories instead of our own, except for saying “oh and the Brits did bad things there”

[u/Candayence → u/LordSevolox]

teaching about mostly other nations histories instead of our own

Honestly, this could be a lot worse. Splitting history lessons into British History and World History is a good idea - there's a shocking lack of knowledge about general history, and far too much time focused on the world wars.

[u/LordSevolox → u/Candayence]

There isn’t an issue in teaching other nations histories, but there should still be a focus on English/British history. I think it’s more important for kids in England to learn about 1066, WW2, the monarchy, etc instead of learning about the Mughal Empire of India because there’s a prominent local Indian population - they’re not in India, their history isn’t exactly overly important compared to that of the country they reside in.

A separate class, like you say, would be an avenue - but there’s not enough school hours to justify it, a lot of learning is crunched for time as it is. I can agree on a shift away of focus on the world wars, they should certainly be prominent but I think teaching greater parts of history (important areas of our history like the Glorious Revolution aren’t really covered other than a literal footnote as to why Mary II was Queen) is more important as then students can dive deeper into areas on their own time.

[u/Candayence → u/LordSevolox]

Sure, I agree that no-one really cares about the Mughals. But I never really learned about the Byzantines or HRE etc in school, and it'd have been helpful to have something of an overview about them, instead of getting my first real exposure in EU4.

And whilst it's important to learn about various big dates in the UK, we tend to overly focus on a few important aspects, and not do a very good job of it. 1066 for example, was taught fairly well. With Henry VIII, I was under the impression for some time that he was Protestant, and divorce absolutely unacceptable - there was nothing about Anglo-Catholicism, his wife's relation to the Emperor, or the Pope being sieged by said Emperor.

A separate class, like you say, would be an avenue

No separate class needed, we can halve the amount of hours we put into the world wars and do a brief overview of western history - and put an optional eastern overview in for A-levels. History curriculum changes are always shocking, we have history of medicine at the moment. Like, why? Sure it's interesting, but it's completely irrelevant compared to the Revolutions, etc.

[u/LordSevolox → u/Candayence]

I learnt about Byzantium and the HRE through EU4

Chad Paradox enjoyer detected.

We can cut the number of hours learning about WW’s

I think it’s a careful balance. WW1 and especially WW2 are hugely important events within our history, especially since they’re (relatively) recent and should be taught pretty well. It make sense as to why they’re covered pretty heavily, but I do agree we can cut back to some extent.

We learn about medicine atm

Surprised that’s still on the ticket, I finished my GCSEs the better part of a decade ago now and was doing that at the time, as well as the Rise of Evil (WW2 again, woo)

A-levels were a tad more interesting with the early history of the Soviet Union (WW1 until just after Stalin) and Modern (post WW2 up until Blair) Britain

[u/HenryCGk → u/ThisSiteIsHell]

One can only guess it means to stop pretending that before 1991 more than 5% of the population where anything other than English, Welsh, Scottish, or Irish.

Given that can't possibly be what HM Government mean I've got no clue.

[u/TallAubrey]

Is any other country is the west doing this, or is it just us fucking ourselves up? Any one on the other side of the world desperately trying to change their education system in this way?

[u/LobsterMountain4036]

Less STEM, more vacuousness.

[u/CountLippe]

"appreciate the diversity", "decolonise", and "mono-cultural" - the educational drive of hateful zealots keen to brainwash and install anxiety within the young. Precisely none of it will give children the skills they need to build a meaningful life in an increasingly brutal world.

[u/ConfusedQuarks]

Labour has started doing what left wing parties usually do - Start propaganda and brainwashing from childhood.

As always, the Tories will complain about it but do nothing to change this even if they come to power. And the cycle will continue.

[u/enterprise1701h → u/ConfusedQuarks]

This is the point i willnever understand, the tories sat back and allowed this take over and even if they won...would not reverse it

[u/AkashUK → u/ConfusedQuarks]

"including for how to “decolonise” subjects which have been branded too “mono-cultural" - Using words such as decolonise and mono-cultural does make for some good soundbites though.

[u/WhoIsYourDaddy04 → u/ConfusedQuarks]

A cynic might suspect that this time they're taking the extra step of forcing as many kids out of private schools and into state schools as they can reasonably get away with too.

[u/No-Taste-223 → u/WhoIsYourDaddy04]

this one ain’t it, charging VAT for private schools is just common sense tbh. (As someone who will be sending their kids to one.)

[u/Gatecrasher1234 → u/ConfusedQuarks]

Exactly

My partner's nephew was calling Nigel Farage a racist and Margaret Thatcher a Nazi.

When I questioned him why, he had no evidence. It was what he had been told by teachers in, school.

Worrying

[u/ConfusedQuarks → u/Gatecrasher1234]

Part of the reason why Labour doesn't like private schools. Public school teachers in general will be aligned with left wing ideology as their careers are aligned with the left wing parties.

[u/mr-no-life]

How is integration meant to happen when the children of foreign parents are not learning about the fundamental bedrocks of British culture? Is this an open admittance of an active plan for Britain to simply be an economic zone for the corporate elites rather than a nation? (Which is clearly is) The march through the institutions continues.

[u/LucaTheDevilCat]

We all know the Tories would probably be doing this but only more subtly.

[u/Responsible-Slip4932]

Massive waste of money, and bureaucratic entanglement that the next rational government will have to spend time untangling 

[u/Beanonmytoast]

Brilliant, we need more division and difference rather than one shared culture, let’s make sure we ensure everyone understands they have nothing in common with the other.

This is such an important matter, to think we used to prioritise maths and science ? Education is all about identity politics

[u/mcdowellag]

I think that we should prepare to defend a characteristic part of the UK system - the option for pupils to specialise in STEM after GCSEs, by taking e.g. Math, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry to A level. I suspect that this will come under attack because it is harder to infiltrate ideology into these subjects, and because this is not how other countries do things. I think that we can defend this because of the prestige of STEM, and because these subjects prepare not only for engineering, but also for medicine. Are Labour prepared to deprive our glorious NHS of the future nurses and doctors it needs?

[u/Elegant_Rice_8751]

This will May work as my school among others last year did a general election mock thing and reform won. The riots were not particularly negatively received also, it seems that even in schools some odd rebellion is turning people away from the diverse curriculum

[u/LeChevalierMal-Fait]

Soft bigotry of low expectations

[u/BuenoSatoshi]

Thanks, I hate it