Decolonised or patriotic curriculum?
Battle of Ideas festival 2024, Saturday 19 October, Church House, London
ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION
When it comes to fixing Britain’s internal divisions, would you prefer a decolonised or a patriotic curriculum? The National Education Union (NEU) argues that a decolonised school curriculum would ‘remove biases of the current system and provide a sense of belonging for black people’. Examining British imperialism, racism and the historical perspectives of the colonised from around the world, the NEU contends, allows us to better understand the colonial legacies of inequality and racism today.
In contrast, the Reform Party advocates a ‘patriotic curriculum that ensures people are proud of Britain’. Any lessons about an example of British or European imperialism or slavery ‘must be paired with the teaching of a non-European occurrence of the same to ensure balance’. Reform wants to ‘clamp down on woke ideology in schools’, from ‘BLM indoctrination to transgender’ ideology.
Some commentators suggest that the summer riots confirmed that we are now two nations, with the battle over the curriculum a symptom of this division. If people are living alongside others with radically different values and identities, some believe a solution is to use the school curriculum to provide some commonality of meaning.
Should education reflect one’s identity – be it British, black or gay – or be a means to moving beyond it? Is it socialisation or indoctrination to promote a decolonised or patriotic curriculum? Can schools be kept out of divisive politics and domestic culture wars, or should curriculum matters be left to the academic experts? Who should decide what schools teach?
SPEAKERS
Louise Burton
history teacher
Dia Chakravarty
contributing editor, Daily Telegraph
Andre Ediagbonya-Davies
digital marketing officer; speaker, Academy of Ideas Education Forum
Ben Habib
founder and CEO, First Property Group plc; former deputy leader, Reform UK; former Brexit Party member, European Parliament
CHAIR
Kevin Rooney
history and politics teacher; editor, irishborderpoll.com; convenor, AoI Education Forum; co-author, The Blood Stained Poppy