With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

UK teachers told to focus on slavery, also cookery

Proposals to give teachers more freedom over the topics they cover in the first years of secondary education have been overruled by the Government.

Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, yesterday released a list of extra topics that he wants to see taught...He has told the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) that it must put more emphasis on teaching:

• Global warming
• The British slave trade and the anti-slavery campaign
• Britishness
• The British Empire
• Racism and ethnicity
• Immigration
• Commonwealth
• Cookery

The topics will be included in the new curriculum for 12 to 14-year-olds which will be taught in schools from September 2008. Though most are already included in the list of things which must be taught, Mr Johnson wants to give them more prominence.
Read entire article at Telegraph