An exploration into the nature and extent of diversity within history classrooms in Kent

Journal article


Stow, C. and Burton, E. 2024. An exploration into the nature and extent of diversity within history classrooms in Kent. British Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4024
AuthorsStow, C. and Burton, E.
AbstractEver since the 1970s, politicised debates have raged over the teaching of history, dubbed the ‘history wars’. These debates continue to impact primary and secondary teachers' choices of history curriculum foci to this day. This research aimed to discover history teachers' understanding of how to develop diversity within their history curricula and to discuss the possible pitfalls of their decision making. We set out to answer the following questions: (1) How do history teachers and subject leads understand the concept of diversification within the history curriculum? (2) How are schools approaching the diversification of their history curriculum? We carried out this project collaboratively with 10 history teachers and subject leads from four primary and three secondary schools in Kent, South-East England. As a result, we have developed a model of ‘school diversification’ and make several recommendations to support the development and teaching of increasingly diverse history lessons, within the confines of the current National Curriculum. This project adds to the literature by privileging the voice of teachers within classrooms and including collaboration between teachers of all phases within history education in English schools to support the development of diversity within their practice.
KeywordsDiversity; History teachers; Curriculum
Year2024
JournalBritish Educational Research Journal
PublisherWiley
ISSN0141-1926
1469-3518
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4024
Official URLhttps://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4024
Publication dates
Online06 May 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted25 Apr 2024
Deposited30 May 2024
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
References

Adi, H. (2022). African and Caribbean People in Britain A History. London: Penguin
Alexander, C. and Weekes-Bernard, D., (2017). History lessons: Inequality, diversity and the national curriculum. Race Ethnicity and Education, 20(4), pp.478-494. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1294571
Alexander, C., Weekes-Bernard, D. and Chatterji, J., (2015). History Lessons: Teaching Diversity in and through the History National Curriculum. Runnymede Trust. https://www.runnymedetrust.org/publications/history-lessons-teach-di... (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Alexander, C., Chatterji, J., Lidher, S., McIntosh, M and Weekes-Bernard, D. (2018). Our Migration Story: The making of Britain. https://www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk/about.html (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Ball S. J. (2003). The Teacher’s Soul and the Terrors of Performativity. Journal of Education Policy 18 (2): 215–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268093022000043065
Ball, S. J. (2012). Performativity, Commodification and Commitment: An I-Spy Guide to the Neoliberal University. British Journal of Educational Studies 60 (1): 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2011.650940
Ball, S. J. (2016). Neoliberal Education? Confronting the Slouching Beast. Policy Futures in Education 14 (8): 1046–1059. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210316664259
Banks, J. A. (2019a) Multicultural education: Characteristics and goals. In J.A. Banks & C.A.M. Banks, (Eds.). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (pp. 3-24). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Banks, J. A. (2019b) Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform. In J.A. Banks & C.A.M. Banks, (Eds.). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (pp. 137-157). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Barbour, M. K. (2018). The landscape of K-12 online learning: Examining what is known. In M. G. Moore & W. C. Diehl (ed.) Handbook of distance education, (pp. 521-542). London and New York: Routledge,
BERA (2018). Ethical guidelines for educational research. 4th edition. https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educationa... (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Berger, P. & Luckman, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Bracey, P., Gove-Humphries, A. & Jackson, D. (2011). Teaching diversity in the history classroom. In I Davies (ed.) Debates in history teaching, (pp. 172-185). London and New York: Routledge.
Braun, V. Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis. A practical guide. Melbourne: Sage.
Brown, G. (2006). Who do we want to be? The future of Britishness. Speech given to the Fabian Society, 16 January. http://fabians.org.uk/events/new‐year‐conference‐06/brown‐britishness/speech. (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Burn, K. & Harris, R. (2019). Historical Association Survey of History in Secondary Schools in England 2019. https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/categories/409/news/3826/ha-sec... (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Burn, K. & Harris, R. (2021). Historical Association Survey of History in Secondary Schools in England 2021. https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/categories/409/news/4014/histor... (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Cannadine, D., Keating, J. & Sheldon, N. (2011). The right kind of history. Teaching the past in twentieth-century England. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Claire, H., (1996). Reclaiming Our Pasts: Equality and Diversity in the Primary History Curriculum. London: Trentham Books Limited.

Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, (2021). Independent report. Summary of recommendations. Gov.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commiss... (Accessed: 18 December 2023).

Dennis, N. (2016). Beyond tokensim: teaching a diverse history in the post-14 curriculum. Teaching History, 165, pp. 37-41.
Dennis, N. (2021). The stories we tell ourselves: History teaching, powerful knowledge and the importance of context. In A. Chapman (ed.) Knowing history in schools, (pp. 216-233). London: UCL Press,
Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. (eds.) (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
Department for Education and Skills, (2007). Diversity and citizenship curriculum review. http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2007-ajegbo-report... (Accessed: 21 October 2023).
Department for Education, (2013). History programmes of study: Key stages 1 and 2. Crown copyright. (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Department for Education, (2021). Teachers’ Standards Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies. Crown copyright. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/u... (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Department for Education, (2022). Model history curriculum terms of reference. Gov.UK. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/u... (Accessed: 25 November 2023).
Diamond, J. (1997) Guns, Germs and Steel: The fates of human societies. New York: Vintage.
Gove, M. (2012). Education Secretary Michael Gove’s speech to Brighton College. Gov.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/education-secretary-michael-g... (Accessed: 18 December 2023).
Grever, M. (2007). Plurality, narrative and the historical canon. In M. Grever, S. Stuurman (eds.) Beyond the canon: History for the twenty‐first century, (pp.31–47). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Guba, E.G. and Lincoln, Y.S., (2005). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research, (pp. 191–215). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications Ltd.
Guyver, R. (2011) The history working group and beyond: A case study in the UK’s history quarrels. In T. Taylor & R. Guyver (Eds.) History wars and the classroom. Global perspectives, (pp. 159-186). Charlotte, NC: IAP.
Hall, D. and McGinty, R. (2015), Conceptualizing teacher professional identity in neoliberal times: resistance, compliance and reform. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 23 (88), pp. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.2092
Hansard, (2022) Schools: Model history curriculum. Vol 822 debated Monday 16 May 2022 https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2022-05-16/debates/0D71ABD2-707F... (Accessed 25 November 2023).
Harris, R. & Clarke, G. (2011) Embracing diversity in the history curriculum: a study of the challenges facing trainee teachers. Cambridge Journal of Education, 41 (2), 159-175. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2011.572863
Harris, R. & Reynolds, R. (2018) Exploring teachers’ curriculum decision making: insights from history education. Oxford Review of Education, 44 (2), 139-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2017.1352498
Harris, R. (2013) 'The place of diversity within history and the challenge of policy and curriculum', Oxford Review of Education, 39 (3), pp. 400-419. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2013.810551

Harris, R. (2021) Risk aversion in a performativity culture – what can we learn from teachers’ curriculum decision making in history? Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2021.1884294

Historical Association, (2011) The National Curriculum review and history 2011. HA website. https://www.history.org.uk/ha-news/news/1052/the-national-curriculum... (Accessed 25 November 2023).
Historical Association, (2019) Historical Association primary survey report 2019. https://www.history.org.uk/primary/categories/709/news/3823/primary-... (Accessed 12 November 2023).
Historical Association, (2022) Historical Association primary survey report 2022. https://www.history.org.uk/primary/categories/709/news/4151/primary-... (Accessed 12 November 2023).
Huxtable, S.A., Fowler, C., Kefalas and Slocombe, E. (Eds) (2020) Interim Report on the Connections between Colonialism and Properties now in the Care of the National Trust, Including Links with Historic Slavery. Wiltshire: National Trust. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/research/addressing-our-... (Accessed 2 November 2023).
Kauffman, M. (2017) Black Tudors: the untold story. London: One World.
Levstik, L. and Barton, K. (2010) Doing history: Investigating with children in elementary and middle schools. 4th edition. New York: Routledge.
Matthieu, F. (2018) The failure of state multiculturalism in the UK? An analysis of the UK’s multicultural policy for 2000–2015, Ethnicities, 18 (1), pp. 43-6. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796817713040
Maylor, U. (2010). Notions of diversity, British identities and citizenship belonging. Race Ethnicity and Education, 13(2), pp.233-252. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613321003726884
Mohamud, A. and Whitburn, R., (2016). Doing Justice to History: Transforming Black History in Secondary Schools. Trentham Books: IOE Press.

Page, D. (2018). Conspicuous practice: Self-surveillance and commodification in English education. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 27(4), 375–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2017.1351309

Parallel Parliament (2020) Teach Britain's colonial past as part of the UK's compulsory curriculum. https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/petitions/324092/teach-britains...

Percival, J. (2020). Understanding and Teaching Primary History. London: Sage.

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, (QCA) (2007). The National Curriculum statutory requirements for key stages 3 and 4. Crown copyright. https://docplayer.net/21065356-History-programme-of-study-for-key-st... (accessed 20 November 2023)

Royal Historical Society, (RHS) (2018). Race, ethnicity and equality report. UCL https://royalhistsoc.org/racereport/ (Accessed 12 November 2023).

Seixas, P. (2000). Schweigen! Die Kinder! Or, does postmodern History have a place in the schools? In P. N. Stearns, P. Seixas & S. Wineburg, (Eds.) Knowing, teaching and learning history. National and international perspectives, (pp. 19-37). New York: New York University Press.
Sim, J. & Waterfield, J. (2019) Focus group methodology: some ethical challenges. Quality and Quantity, 53 (6), pp. 3002-3022. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s11135-019-00914-5
Sleeter, C. E. & Grant, C. A. (1991) Mapping terrains of power: Student cultural knowledge versus classroom knowledge. In C. E. Sleeter (Ed.) Empowerment through multicultural education, (pp. 49-68). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Steinberg, S.R. (2020) Say what, Sisyphus? Decolonising our attempts at decolonisation. BERA Research Intelligence, 142, pp. 26-27. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340870420_Decolonising_the_...
Taylor, T. (2004) Disputed territory: The politics of historical consciousness in Australia. In P. Seixas, (Ed.) Theorizing Historical Consciousness, (pp.217-239). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
UCL Department of History (2023) Legacies of British slavery. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/project/ (Accessed 2 November 2023).
Watson, M., (2020). Michael Gove’s war on professional historical expertise: conservative curriculum reform, extreme Whig history and the place of imperial heroes in modern multicultural Britain. British Politics, 15, pp.271-290. https://doi.org/ 10.1057/s41293-019-00118-3
Whittaker, F. (2021) Model history curriculum will help schools teach about ‘migration and cultural change’. Schools Week https://schoolsweek.co.uk/model-history-curriculum-will-help-schools... (Accessed 8 December 2023).
Young, M. (2013). Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: A knowledge-based approach. Journal of curriculum studies, 45(2), pp.101-118. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2013.764505
Young, M. (2021) Powerful knowledge of the powers of knowledge: A dialogue with history educators. In A. Chapman (ed) Knowing history in schools, (pp. 234-260). London: UCL Press.

Permalink -

https://repository.canterbury.ac.uk/item/97v7q/an-exploration-into-the-nature-and-extent-of-diversity-within-history-classrooms-in-kent

  • 20
    total views
  • 9
    total downloads
  • 18
    views this month
  • 6
    downloads this month

Export as