History Lessons: teaching community, heritage and diversity in the National History Curriculum

2011年1月，教育国务秘书宣布对国家课程进行审查。广泛的改革为英国学士学位奠定了基础，其中包括对16岁以下的学生进行历史义务教育，作为在学校中重新培养民族自豪感和公民意识及集体认同感的一种手段。这些建议在意图和内容方面都引起了争议，特别是对修订后的课程在促进“英国身份”和“英国历史”过于同质化的观点方面的位置提出了特别关注，这种观点抹去了其全球/帝国的过去及其多样化的当代轮廓。事实证明，“黑人历史”的位置或否认特别有争议，并引发了一场全国性的运动，要求在课程中保留黑人历史，该运动获得了36，000多张选票。此外，人们还对退回到更“传统”的教学方法表示关切，这种方法侧重于线性叙述和“事实和日期”，而不是更详细和参与性的教学方法，这种方法通过“补丁”课程处理主题方法，促进对主要来源的批判性参与-"做“而不是”学“历史。修订后的课程将于2014年9月生效，其中许多问题仍未得到解决。特别是如何使“国史”具有包容性，并与英国日益多样化的学生群体相关，还没有得到充分的探讨。研究进一步表明，许多历史教师对在种族混合的教室里教授多样性--特别是奴隶制和帝国主义问题--仍然感到不安。目前的项目借鉴并扩展了澳大利亚人权委员会最近资助的两个成功项目，这些项目通过使用口述历史和生活史方法，与学校的年轻人合作，探讨了向英国移民的问题。最初的“孟加拉侨民”项目探索了印度分治后孟加拉国穆斯林移民的移民和定居历史，利用口述和生活史以及视觉方法。与Runnymede Trust、Banglastories网站（www.banglastories.org）和教育资源包一起开发，将这些故事带入英国课堂，旨在让年轻人了解多元文化英国的创造。后续项目“讲述关于移徙和归属的社区历史”与卡迪夫、莱斯特和谢菲尔德学校的120多名年轻人合作，利用口述和生活史方法以及视觉/数字方法，包括电影制作，创造自己的家庭和社区历史（http：www.makinghistories.org.uk）。“讲述社区历史”项目发现，各种背景的年轻人都建设性地参与家庭和社区历史，以此作为产生共同归属感的一种手段，这种归属感侧重于当地，特别是当这种探索嵌入主流课程并得到主流课程的支持时。随着新课程将于2014年9月推出，目前的项目旨在通过两种方式建立这些早期发现：1）与教师，学校和当地机构密切合作，开发资源和创新方法，以在新的国家课程范围内认识英国的多元历史; 2）与年轻人和教师合作，探索如何以包容的方式教授新课程，以建设性和批判性的方式参与，重点关注“遗产”以及个人和地方历史。该项目将侧重于与伦敦和大曼彻斯特地区的学校开展小规模、密集的合作，通过关注当地空间和遗址，以新的方式看待国家和地方的历史和遗产。这项工作将为可在全国范围内实施的方法和办法提供信息。

In January 2011, the Secretary of State for Education announced a review of the National Curriculum. The widereaching reforms laid the foundation for an English Baccalaureate, which included the compulsory teaching of history to the age of 16, as a means of generating a renewed national pride and sense of citizenship and collective identity in schools. The proposals proved controversial in terms both of intent and content, with particular concerns raised about the place of the revised curriculum in promoting an overly homogenous view of 'British identity' and 'British history' which erased its global/imperial past and its diverse contemporary contours. The place, or denial, of 'black histories' proved particularly controversial and sparked a nationwide campaign to retain black history in the Curriculum, which garnered over 36,000 votes. In addition, concerns have been raised about the retreat to more 'traditional' methods of teaching and learning, focusing on linear narratives and 'facts and dates' rather than more detailed and participatory teaching methods, which deal with thematic approaches through 'patch' courses which facilitate the critical engagement with primary sources - on 'doing' rather than 'learning' history. The revised curriculum comes into effect in September 2014, with many of these issues still unresolved. In particular the ways in which 'national history' can be made inclusive and relevant to Britain's increasingly superdiverse pupil cohorts have not been adequately explored. Research has suggested, further, that many history teachers remain uncomfortable with teaching diversity - especially issues of slavery and Imperialism - in ethnically mixed classrooms. The current project draws upon, and extends, two recent successful AHRC funded projects which have explored migration to Britain through the use of oral history and life history methods, working with young people in schools. The original 'Bengal diaspora' project explored the history of migration and settlement of Muslim migrants from the Indian state of Bengal in the period after Partition, drawing on oral and life history and visual methods. Developed in conjunction with The Runnymede Trust, the Banglastories website (www.banglastories.org) and educational resource pack, brought these stories into British classrooms, aiming to engage young people in understanding the creation of multicultural Britain. The follow on project, 'Telling Community Histories about Migration and Belonging' worked with over 120 young people in schools in Cardiff, Leicester and Sheffield, to create their own family and community histories, drawing on oral and life history methods and visual/digital methods, including filmmaking (http://www.makinghistories.org.uk). The 'Telling Community Histories' project found that young people of all backgrounds engaged constructively with family and community histories as a means of generating a shared sense of belonging focused on local places, particularly when this exploration was embedded in, and supported by, the mainstream curriculum. With the new curriculum set to be launched in September 2014, the current project aims to build on these earlier findings in two ways: 1) working closely with teachers, schools and local institutions to develop resources and innovative methods for recognising Britain's diverse histories within the remit of the new national curriculum; 2)working with young people and teachers to explore the ways in which the new curriculum can be taught in an inclusive way, engaging constructively and critically with the focus on 'heritage' and personal and local histories . The project will focus on small scale, intensive partnership work with schools in London and Greater Manchester to generate new ways of looking at national and local histories and heritage through a focus on local space and sites. This work will inform methods and approaches that can be implemented on a national scale.