Since Mary Price’s seminal 1968 article entitled History in Danger, great strides have been made to make school history more relevant, engaging and, yes, rigorous. Michael Gove’s draft national curriculum seeks to reverse all this in favour of an elitist, Anglocentric model, seemingly gleaned from grammar school nostalgia rather than meaningful consultation. It shows a glaring disregard for age-appropriate learning, and in its lengthy prescriptive content creates the likelihood of superficial coverage through didactic teaching. We, the undersigned history and primary teachers, signal our intention to campaign vigorously against this narrow-minded imposed curriculum. To join our campaign, email andystone2002@yahoo.com
Andrew Stone
Teacher of history and politics, London. Also signed by: Alasdair Smith (history teacher), Craig Parr (history teacher), James Fuller (history teacher and deputy head), James Looker (history teacher), Jeremy Taylor (head of history and politics), Ken Muller (former head of history), Lucy Cox (primary teacher), Mandy Carr (history teacher), Martyn Rush (history teacher), Phil Allsopp (history teacher), Rachel Jones (curriculum leader for history), Richard Horton (head of history and humanities).
