The schools minister Robin Walker has confirmed plans for a model history curriculum, which will equip teachers to teach about “migration, cultural change and the contributions made by different communities”.
It comes after Schools Week revealed last week that Walker’s predecessor Nick Gibb had announced plans for a model history curriculum developed with the help of subject expert Christine Counsell.
Walker told a debate organised to mark Black History Month that the government was “taking steps to develop a model history curriculum”. It follows calls for schools to teach more about black history.
“We will work with history curriculum experts, historians and school leaders to develop a model history curriculum that will stand as an exemplar of a knowledge-rich, coherent approach to teaching history.”
It comes after the government published a similar non-statutory model curriculum for music earlier this year.
Walker said diversity would be an “important aspect of the model history curriculum, as we demonstrate how the content, themes and eras of the national curriculum can be brought to life by teaching them in an interconnected form throughout key stages”.
“A diverse history can be taught because history is diverse. As so many members have said today: black history is British history.”
He added that the curriculum would “equip teachers and leaders to teach migration, cultural change and the contributions made by different communities to science, art, culture and society”.
“We will announce further details in due course, but I am pleased to show our commitment to high quality teaching in this debate.”
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