History Matters: creating 'joined-up' resources for a diverse history curriculum

新的英格兰学校国家课程于2014年9月生效，此前长期存在争议，特别是围绕英语和历史课程的修订。历史国家课程特别有争议，被指责过于关注狭隘的构思和庆祝英国的“岛屿故事”，而牺牲了更全球化的观点和内容。此外，“岛屿”叙事因促进“英国身份”和“英国历史”的同质化而受到严厉批评，这抹去了其全球/帝国的过去，其悠久的移民历史和当代多元文化英国的基础。2012年，“黑人投票行动”（Operation Black Vote）发起了一项运动，旨在将关键的黑人人物保留在课程中，该运动获得了3.6万多个签名，其中包括政界领袖。2015年，最近一项将黑人历史作为小学课程必修部分的运动获得了近4.4万个签名。虽然修订后的课程解决了其中一些问题，并提供了研究古代文明的机会，奴隶制和非欧洲的历史，仍然有很少的空间与英国的多元历史“在家里”参与。因此，在2014年12月，OCR考试委员会透露其计划引入一个新的GCSE历史模块“移民到英国”，探索移民对英国在过去2000年的影响-第一个，迄今为止，唯一的同类模块。然而，支撑这一模块的内容和资源尚未开发。我们之前两个成功的AHRC资助的后续项目“制作历史”和“历史课”，使用口述和当地历史来探索移民到英国，揭示了学生和教师对英国黑人历史的兴趣，以及教师对如何教授多样性的不确定性，以及缺乏可用资源。这种缺乏容易获得的资源，沿着对教师的时间和专业知识的需求增加，很可能注定OCR和其他未来的倡议失败。然而，我们以前的项目也表明了学者，博物馆和档案馆，口述和当地历史学家和黑人历史档案馆以及教师的强烈意愿，合作制作可供教师和学校采用的材料。目前的项目计划建立在以前的研究经验和协作链接，以开发连贯和可访问的资源，以支持在关键阶段4（GCSE）不同的历史教学。与Runnymede和OCR考试委员会合作，我们将汇集一系列学者，历史学家，教师和利益相关者，开发一个创新的在线互动网站，该网站研究了20世纪和21世纪移民英国的历史，并探讨了塑造当代多元文化英国的各种移民流动。该项目寻求让一系列合作伙伴和利益攸关方参与一项独特的合作事业，旨在使历史课程多样化，并制作适当、创新和可访问的在线资源，以支持教师和学生参与这一进程。该项目将利用类似的研究网站和资源，如处理奴隶制问题的网站和资源，促进对课程编制和支持采取“联合”办法，将学术研究、工作计划、主要资源和辅助材料汇集在一起，为希望教授或研究英国多元历史的学校、教师和年轻人提供“一站式服务”。

The new National Curriculum for Schools in England came into force in September 2014 in the wake of prolonged controversy, notably around the revisions to the English and History curricula. The History National Curriculum was particularly controversial, accused of being overly focused on a narrowly conceived and celebratory British 'island story' at the expense of a more global outlook and content. Moreover, the 'island' narrative was heavily criticised for promoting a homogeneous account of 'British identity' and 'British history', which erased its global/imperial past, its long history of migration and the foundations of contemporary multicultural Britain. A campaign by Operation Black Vote in 2012 to retain key black figures in the curriculum garnered over 36,000 signatures, including leading politicians, while a 2015 recent campaign to make black history a mandatory part of the primary curriculum received nearly 44,000 signatures.While the revised curriculum addressed some of these concerns, and offers the opportunity for study of ancient civilisations, slavery and non-European histories, there is still little scope for engaging with Britain's diverse history 'at home'. Accordingly, in December 2014, the OCR exam board revealed its plans to introduce a new GCSE history module 'Migration into Britain', exploring the impact of migration on Britain over the past 2000 years - the first and, to date, only module of its kind. However, the content and resources underpinning this module are as yet undeveloped.Our previous two successful AHRC funded follow-on projects 'Making Histories' and 'History Lessons', which used oral and local histories to explore migration to Britain, revealed both an appetite for black British histories amongst pupils and teachers, and uncertainty on the part of teachers as to how to teach diversity, as well as a lack of available resources. This lack of easily accessible resources, along with the increased demands on teachers' time and expertise, is likely to doom the OCR's and other future initiatives to failure. However, our previous projects also demonstrate a strong willingness by academics, museums and archives, oral and local historians and black history archives, as well as teachers, to collaborate on producing materials that can be adopted by teachers and schools. The current project plans to build on previous research experience and collaborative links to develop coherent and accessible resources to support the teaching of diverse histories at Key Stage 4 (GCSE). In partnership with Runnymede and the OCR exam board, we will bring together a range of academics, historians, teachers and stakeholders, to develop an innovative online interactive website, which examines the history of migration to Britain in the 20th and 21st centuries, and explores the various migration flows that have shaped contemporary multicultural Britain. The project seeks to engage a range of partners and stakeholders in a unique collaborative venture aimed at diversifying the history curriculum and producing appropriate, innovative and accessible online resources to support teachers and pupils in this process. Drawing on similar research-based websites and resources, such as those dealing with slavery, the project will facilitate a 'joined-up' approach to curriculum development and support, bringing together academic research, schemes of work, primary resources and supporting material to provide a 'one stop shop' for schools, teachers and young people wishing to teach or study Britain's diverse histories.