Transcript The strange disappearance of the national narrative in English schools

Dr Nicola Sheldon, Institute of Historical Research, London
HEIRNET conference
Hunter College, City University of New York. 13-15 September 2010
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Myths and icons and the English national
narrative in schools up to the 1970s;
Why did the national narrative disappear
from the school curriculum in the 1970s and
80s?
Did the new National Curriculum of 1990
restore it?
To what extent is there a ‘new style’ national
narrative in English schools?
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The Strange Disappearance of the National Narrative
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Not a new
phenomenon….
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Courtesy of Muriel Longhurst
1947-50 and Ian Colwill 1960-67
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No central or nationally-legislated curriculum
No prescribed text books
‘Advice’ given by Board of Education
dwindled after 1945
No central control over teacher training
Examinations c0ntr0lled by university bodies
Majority of children never took leaving
examinations pre-1965.
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Age 11-12: Ancient World to Norman Conquest
Age 12-13: British History 1066-1485
Age 13-14: British, European and World History
1485-17th,18th or 19th century….
Age 14-16:
 British History 1815-1945
 British/ European History 1789-1939
 British Social and Economic History 1700-1945
 Modern World History 1870-1945
A New Look at History (1976) p.26
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Courtesy of
Julie
Johnson
1974-7
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We never questioned it, you just did as you were
told, didn’t you? And I tried to make it as fun as
possible. And the other thing is it succeeded, and
teaching in those days was full of tricks…, memory
games. You would teach a set content, an
accepted content, a corpus, you would teach that
in as interesting a way as you could find. … You
had these little games and tricks that you played,
the children loved them, and then they went away
and learnt it and just then copied that as much
from memory as possible, for their exams.
(Interview: J D Clare 7 April 2010)
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Threats
Comprehensive secondary schools by end of 1970s – mixed
ability classes and full ability range to cater for.
New subjects crowded the curriculum.
History seen as traditional and unpopular (surveys).
Opportunities
New post-war cohort of teachers (and more of them due to
expansion of training colleges).
1964 Schools Council set up to fund curriculum innovation.
Response
‘Defensive innovation’ by history teachers: New curriculum, e.g. world history, social history, local history
 A re-think of the rationale of the subject - ‘love, freedom and
new history’
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I got a job in Devon at Exmouth School, which was the
largest comprehensive in England at the time with
2,400 students. Great place … to learn. There were
twelve NQTs (first appointment teachers) in the
school the September I started. It was a time of huge
excitement and we really thought that the world was
going to change. It was 1969, the world was going to
change, it was going to be a better place, there was
going to be peace and love and better history and I
expected and hoped to be part of that movement.
(Interview: Chris Culpin, 22 September 2009)
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Courtesy of Charlotte Crow, 1979-80
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Schools Council History Project based on the
‘needs of the teenager’
 What is History? - introductory investigations
 History Around Us – local history study including
site visits (coursework = 20%)
 Study in Development – a theme through a long
period of time (Medicine Through Time)
 Depth Study – Elizabethan England 1558-1603;or
Britain 1815-1851; or The American West 1840-1890
 Modern World Study – Communist China; or
Arab-Israeli Conflict; or The Irish Question
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1988 introduction of the National Curriculum
in 10 subjects;
History the most controversial – PM wanted a
core of factual information based on British
history - a chronological national narrative;
History Working Group responded by
constructing a curriculum for ‘social identity’
not ‘national identity’.
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Cultural identity at the heart:‘the centre of gravity of Welsh history … has
lain in the social, economic and broad cultural
experiences of the people of Wales’
‘the awareness of the Welsh as a separate
people rests… on a belief in the particularity
of their own past and traditions… the
teaching of the history of Wales … is a crucial
aspect in safeguarding that identity.’
(Final Report of the History Committee for Wales, June 1990, paras. 4.2, 4.5))
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Old narrative out of date – end of Empire;
Multi-ethnic Britain challenges any single
narrative;
Devolution and the problem of English
national identity;
Uncertainty about the national
characteristics England/Britain should
promote;
Cultural change since the 1960s – scepticism
the basis of the new history?
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The slave trade and the Holocaust the only
mandated topics in the National Curriculum
(although most teachers still do a lot of British
history)
(Be nice!) Tolerance and social cohesion the
priority
Citizenship more prominent (history as a means
of learning lessons for the present).
But…. No national narrative – so, have we lost
our way or reached a new level of maturity in our
study of history in schools?
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