School history at GCSE is about to be wrecked. Should we care?
Education change is both a vast area and a small one. Macro change concerns the very nature of our
schools, their funding and their set-up.
Micro change concerns those small things that go on within a curriculum
or inside the school. Much political
attention focuses on the macro – it’s easier and everyone tends to have a
view. But bear with me for a little as I
try and explain why one of the less noticed micro changes – the complete
overhaul of the GCSE history syllabus – is such a regrettable action of
education vandalism. Of course, my
concern stems from the fact that I am a history teacher and clearly believe
that history should be a strong and coherent aspect of any healthy
curriculum. Sometimes, though, these
micro changes throw a much more illuminating light on the flux and turmoil
within education than any of the macro items. I've written a piece for the TES on this very topic, so here it is; why we should be opposing the changes to the history
GCSE.
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