Connected curricula: 'decolonising', de-centring and diversifying historical education in the UK

Lead Research Organisation: Goldsmiths University of London
Department Name: History

Abstract

The Royal Historical Society's Report on Race, Ethnicity and Equality in UK History (2018) challenges institutional reluctance to face legacies of racial and ethnic injustice, and the lack of diversity within the historical discipline. New directions in research have not penetrated the history curriculum in many schools and universities. A 2018 survey of teachers by the Runnymede Trust found that over 70% of respondents wanted further training in both the history of migration and empire. The under-representation of diverse histories and BME scholars in history speaks to a deeper problem in the structures of our educational processes and institutions.

Decades of advocacy by historians, teachers, BME heritage groups, and students have pressed university-based historians across the UK to consider what it means to 'decolonise' teaching curricula and research practices, and to challenge ingrained patterns of racial discrimination and exclusion in Higher Education. The phrase 'decolonise the curriculum' has become an umbrella term to describe a range of activities committed to promoting greater representation of diverse stories and experiences in history curricula. It has recently been used to refer to a set of reform-minded, anti-racist activities aimed at exposing historic legacies of colonialism and their present-day effects in the built environments and taught programmes of schools and universities.

This network will research directions that history departments in UK universities have taken to 'decolonise' or de-centre their teaching curricula and research agendas, focusing on the theories and methodologies that underpin these efforts, the practical impacts that they have had, and the ways that these processes raise larger questions about reframing the focus of historical research and inquiry. The network will also consider how initiatives to diversify who studies, writes and teaches history have been successful, and where lessons can be learned beyond the academy. We will therefore draw on expertise from schools, heritage organisations, archives, libraries and museums. Responsiveness requires not just thinking about how research enters the classroom, but openness about how academic historians undertake research.

We will work closely with the Runnymede Trust, whose award-winning Our Migration Story project has foregrounded the importance of migration history to the study of British history, and offers a template for academics to work with schools and communities. We will build on a smaller, existing network of groups connected to the Runnymede Trust that are committed to, and have a track record in, tackling issues related to 'decolonising' the curriculum and advocating reform of institutional practices that contribute to discrimination and exclusion. By extending this network across sectors, regions, and the four nations, we will maximise impact by creating connections and pathways for participation from non-London based academics and projects. The IHR, HA and RHS, as professional bodies that convene, support and train historians and history teachers across the UK, are particularly well placed to support this work.

Our meetings will generate conversations and resources beyond the network's immediate participants, through podcasts, blogs, a website, publications, a public meeting hosted at the IHR in London, and a series of articles published on History Workshop Online. We will encourage, facilitate and support press and media engagement, which has already begun to take place in national magazines, newspapers, television and radio programmes. The network will also create a strategy report of research aims and recommendation that will challenge policy-makers and educators to consider pathways to reform history curricula and actions that can be taken to diversify those who teach, study and write our histories.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Title Podcast series: Confronting Historical Controversies - Race 
Description Dr Jason Todd interviewed leading scholars Dr Kennetta Perry (then Director of the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University), Dr Robin Whitburn (Institute of Education) and Abdul Mohamud (Institute of Education). Podcast explored how 'race is an idea that has fundamentally changed the history of many countries, individuals and communities across the world, with painful and sometimes fatal consequences.' 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact Positive feedback from school teachers and the Historical Association about the usefulness of the resource to provide essential training and foundational knowledge to support teaching British histories of race and racialisation in classrooms. 
URL https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/categories/607/module/8792/podcast-series-confronting-controver...
 
Description There are four main key findings that have emerged from the project at the time of reporting, though we are continuing work related to the project on several fronts in the year ahead.

1) The importance of collaborative dialogue and connection between educators, researchers and heritage professionals working on projects or research connected to decolonising, de-centring or diversifying British history education. At the outset of this project we recognised the need for a cross-UK network mechanism to support researchers and educators working on projects at a grassroots or institutional level in order to share resources, obstacles, challenges and successes. Our engagement with network participants and project partners across the country has confirmed the importance of ongoing networks of support, connection and information sharing to ensure that local, regional or institutional commitments to decolonising, de-centring or diversifying British history education are not ephemeral or short-lived.

2) Our project has identified impactful paths for delivering British history education that situates British history as part of a global story, and makes visible the complex histories of global entanglement that resulted from processes of imperialism at all learning levels, particularly through connections with local history. Equally, our consultation and discussion with network participants around the country has identified common barriers to integrating academic research on this subject into learning environments, including a lack of training, teacher support, and cautious practices on subject selection by school leadership teams which tend to prioritise approaches to history centred on 'familiar' topics such as England's Tudor era and Britain's experiences of the Second World War. At university level, research network participants reported a lack of support and resource for early career academics appointed to develop new programmes and modules on Black British history, British Asian history, or histories of race and migration, as well as the pressures encountered by some ethnically minoritised staff to both create curriculum reform and introduce EDI reforms in departments and working contexts unfamiliar with both, which led to some sidelining of these important areas of history from the delivery of British history more broadly and complex working dynamics. Our research outputs in development will outline in greater detail the successes and obstacles faced in this work across the UK, both in schools and universities.

3) The growing tensions between strategic commitments to EDI in educational organisations, and the constraints of financial pressures in a sector with wide disparities in terms of wealth and material resources.

4) Our project has drawn on the established national profiles of our partnering organisations to develop lasting links, dialogue, collaboration and exchange between researchers, educators and the third sector. Project team members continue to serve in advisory roles to some of our key partner organisations, and will work to continue the initial objectives of this project in different forms.

Stated objectives related to published research outputs (including blogs, a report and an academic journal article) remain in progress in collaboration with key project partners, and will be reported in due course.
Exploitation Route The outcomes of this funding will be taken forward through the continued development of the network with project partners, and through applications for follow-on funding directed at developing collaborative digital resources to facilitate research and resource sharing. Outputs and publications from the project (both those published at present and in development) will serve as a useful resource for educators and researchers working on research questions or educational initiatives connected to decolonising, de-centring and diversifying British history education, and for policymakers.
Sectors Education

Government

Democracy and Justice

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

 
Description In brief, our project has had impact in a number of ways. Firstly, we are succeeding in developing a network of educators, researchers and heritage professionals with mechanisms to support collaboration between practitioners across disciplines, educational sectors, and people of different career stages, and have had positive feedback from network participants attesting to this. We have continued opportunities for network and exchange planned in 2024. Secondly, our project team has built lasting and meaningful partnerships with our project partners, which include the Royal Historical Society, Institute of Historical Research, Raphael Samuel History Centre, Historical Association and Runnymede Trust. These partnerships have been maintained and developed by different members of the project team, but in all cases the project team has had a measurable and significant impact on organisational conversations about EDI in the history profession, on ways to facilitate the teaching of British histories of race, migration and empire, and on strategic commitments to issues connected to decolonising, diversifying and de-centring British history. As detailed in our reporting to UKRI, members of our project team continue to serve in advisory roles for several of these organisations, and we have contributed to lasting connections being forged between these important professional bodies and organisations on these issues which will continue on beyond the duration of this project. The project team has also worked with our partner organisations on ways to develop and express lasting commitments to monitoring inequalities in the practice and profession of history in the UK. Thirdly, published outputs in the form of resources for teachers on topics connected to Black British history and histories of race produced by Dr Elias and Dr Todd on platforms curated and edited by the Historical Association have already had an impact on teaching practice. These resources have taken knowledge and research findings from academic historians and shared this information in formats accessible for school teachers. Reports on the usefulness, accessibility and application of these resources for school history teachers have been received by the project team, and the findings shared in these resources have already helped to shape teaching practice in some schools. The digital resource 'Teaching British Histories of Race, Migration and Empire' produced by Dr Elias and Dr Lidher with the Institute of Historical Research has also received positive feedback from both educators and researchers about its usefulness and impact in facilitating knowledge exchange and providing learning resources for teachers expanding their lesson plans to include diverse histories. The project team aims to develop this digital resource further, and is currently seeking additional funding opportunities to do so. Lastly, some of our project objectives related to impact on culture, society and policymaking remain in progress, including the publication of a policy-oriented report, in collaboration with key project partners. As a result, this section on project impacts will be updated in due course. Our work on this continues beyond the formal end date of the award due to staffing constraints related to long-term absence.
First Year Of Impact 2022
Sector Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

 
Description Historical Association 
Organisation Historical Association
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Service on major advisory boards within the Historical Association's organising structure; participation in events and workshops hosted by Historical Association; publications and digital outputs; Project Team hosted network meetings and events to facilitate knowledge exchange between teachers, educators, research academics and people working in Galleries, Archives, Library and Museums (GLAM) sector which promoted greater collaboration and network building for both the Connected Curriculum Project and the Historical Association.
Collaborator Contribution Communications and administrative support for events and meetings; providing national platform to reach active network of History teachers across the UK; using longstanding connections in the education sector and working in education policy to facilitate meetings with key contacts at exam boards and history textbook publishers to discuss ways to facilitate teaching and understanding of histories of race, migration and empire.
Impact Contribution to Teaching History journal produced by the Historical Association (by Dr Hannah Elias with Martin Spafford - listed in publications section); collaboration on creation of digital learning resources including podcasts (via Dr Jason Todd). Dr Hannah Elias and Dr Sundeep Lidher (project consultant) invited to serve on Historical Association 'Diversity Committee' and 'Higher Education Committee' in 2021 and continue to play a significant role in the Historical Association's 'Higher Education Committee', offering ongoing advice on strategic directions to build bridges between teachers and educators and historians to promote teaching histories of race, migration and empire in British schools and universities, promoting multi-disciplinary collaboration between Education and History. Dr Elias and Dr Lidher's roles in these advisory capacities has helped to keep issues connected to diversifying, decolonising and de-centring British history education an active priority within this major professional organisation representing teachers and historians. Dr Todd, Dr Elias and Dr Lidher participated in a conversation with representatives of exam boards and members of the Historical Association to discuss opportunities and impediments to changes to history examinations when it comes to representing issues connected to race, migration and empire, and identify strategies for change. Historical Association contributed to development of major multi-disciplinary workshop hosted at the Institute of Historical Research, sharing network and communications resources. Collaboration is ongoing, and outcomes of further planned outputs and outcomes can be reported in next cycle.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Institute of Historical Research 
Organisation University of London
Department Institute of Historical Research
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Dr Hannah Elias has served as Chair of the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) Equality Working Group since 2021, has played an active role in shaping EDI strategy and objectives for IHR, as the UK's national centre for historians. Dr Sundeep Lidher and Dr Jason Todd have also contributed to this working group in an advisory capacity. Dr Hannah Elias and Sundeep Lidher collaborated with IHR Library team on development of a crowdsourced digital resource for Teaching British Histories of Race, Migration and Empire which began in 2020 during the period of developing this grant application, and its maintenance continued during the term of the grant. Project Team hosted network meetings and events to facilitate knowledge exchange between teachers, educators, research academics and people working in Galleries, Archives, Library and Museums (GLAM) sector which promoted greater collaboration and network building for both the Connected Curriculum Project and the Institute of Historical Research.
Collaborator Contribution Communications and administrative support for events and meetings; event space; support of IHR Library and Digital teams to develop electronic resource on IHR website; strategic advice and support from IHR Director Professor Claire Langhamer.
Impact Digital, crowdsourced resource 'Teaching British Histories of Race, Migration and Empire' launched in 2020 and updated through period of grant term by IHR Library team on IHR website; Dr Elias's ongoing role as Chair of IHR Equality Working Group supports the IHR Director in realising a strategic, ongoing commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in UK history. This includes ongoing research and questionnaries to all History Departments and Units in UK Universities about EDI practices, to identify structural obstacles and areas where greater support and development is needed for History Departments to meet EDI expectations and goals. A major multi-disciplinary workshop was hosted at the Institute of Historical Research in Autumn 2023 and saw the development of important policy-oriented conversations about recommended changes to British history education in UK schools, which has encouraged further network building, knowledge exchange and provided a foundation for research outputs still in development. Collaboration is ongoing.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Raphael Samuel History Centre and History Workshop 
Organisation The Raphael Samuel History Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Learned Society 
PI Contribution Project Team hosted network meetings and events to facilitate knowledge exchange between teachers, educators, research academics and people working in Galleries, Archives, Library and Museums (GLAM) sector which promoted greater collaboration and network building for both the Connected Curriculum Project and the Raphael Samuel History Centre. Project team has contributed to special series of blogs and digital content to be published by History Workshop Online (a digital platform supported by History Workshop Journal, which is closely partnered with and supports the Raphael Samuel History Centre) in early 2024. Project budget provided resource to support an Editorial Fellowship for a racially minoritised PhD student to work on digital content related to the content, to be released shortly.
Collaborator Contribution Digital communications, event organisation and logistics, administrative support, network faciliation.
Impact Outcomes included a public engagement event on decolonising, de-centring and diversifying UK History education; collaboration with History Workshop Online team is ongoing and publications and other forms of digital engagement will be issued in the first half of 2024.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Royal Historical Society 
Organisation Royal Historical Society
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Dr Hannah Elias invited to speak at public event on 'Black British History: Where now, where next?' hosted by the Royal Historical Society for Black History Month 2023; Project Team hosted network meetings and events to facilitate knowledge exchange between teachers, educators, research academics and people working in Galleries, Archives, Library and Museums (GLAM) sector which promoted greater collaboration and network building for both the Connected Curriculum Project and the RHS education officer. Published outputs for RHS platforms in discussion and development at present.
Collaborator Contribution Communications support for network events and meetings; strategic advice and support for the project by Professor Margot Finn during her RHS presidency; ongoing conversation about supporting network via publications on RHS platforms.
Impact Published outputs in development at present. Dr Elias's talk at the RHS event on 'Black British History: Where Now, Where Next' contributed to an affirmation of renewed commitment to RHS activities on issues of equality, diversity and inclusion specifically related to matters of race and ethnicity from RHS President Professor Emma Griffin.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Runnymede Trust 
Organisation Runnymede Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Dr Elias and Dr Lidher contributed to Runnymede Trust advisory group on History Education and matters of diversity, inclusion and representation. Dr Lidher has provided advise to the Runnymede Trust on matters connected to education and policy. Conversations about a collaborative policy report produced by project team with support of Runnymede Trust ongoing in 2024.
Collaborator Contribution Runnymede Senior Policy Officer and Education Officer have provided critical information and support in network building between anti-racist organisations, teachers, educators, research academics and people working in Galleries, Archives, Library and Museums (GLAM) sector. Runnymede Senior Policy Officer spoke at Connected Curriculum Network first event, launching cross-UK collaboration between academics, educators and organisations.
Impact Conversation about outputs is ongoing; goal is to create a policy report or set of recommendations. Runnymede Trust support for and participation in first major network event, drawing together colleagues from across the UK, was an important part of network building and framing for subsequent network activities.
Start Year 2021
 
Description 'What can it mean to Decolonise British History?' Workshop with Dr Christienna Fryar 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact A specialist workshop for Black and minority ethnic PhD students, Early Career Researchers and people working in GLAM and heritage contexts in and around the South of England. 25 people attended an online workshop facilitated by Dr Hannah Elias and Dr Christienna Fryar. Dr Fryar shared ideas that have informed from her latest project 'Entangled Lands: A Caribbean History of Britain', and the workshop had a very critically engaged discussion about the longstanding work that has been done to 'decolonise' UK universities, and the utility of 'decolonisation' as a term or phrase to describe this work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Connected Curriculum Network - England Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Digital event hosted for 40 key organisers, researchers, educators and heritage professionals working to decolonise, de-centre and diversify British History education. Successful in building continued connections across regions of the UK for professionals and educators embarking on similar projects locally. Led to calls for further meetings in person and further opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange, and create recommendations to inform public policy.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Connected Curriculum Network - Scotland Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact 25 participants in meeting with researchers, educators, people working in Heritage sector in Scotland to decolonise, diversify and de-centre British history education. Meeting resulted in calls for closer and more meaningful collaboration with people working in similar areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and plans to develop further opportunities for conference or workshops in 2024.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Connected Curriculum Network - UK-wide Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Connected Curriculum Network's first major meeting took place online, assemling 50 educators, policy advisors, researchers, people working in GLAM and Heritage sectors, and representatives of anti-racist organisations and exam boards and publishers to discuss the work being undertaken across the four nations of the UK to diversify, decolonise and de-centre British history education. People working actively on this issue from all four nations of the UK spoke at the event, allowing important comparative perspective on progress, obstacles, grassroots conditions and policy contexts for creating change. Multi-disciplinary event. Outcomes reported as: increased collaboration between network members across regions; active discussion and debate. Provided foundational questions for research outputs in development. The event persuaded those present of the importance of keeping a comparative lens on conversations about history education across the UK, though this is a devolved power.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Policy Visioning Workshop at the Institute of Historical Research 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A major workshop at the Institute of Historical Research gathering educators, researchers, representatives of exam boards, and people working in GLAM and heritage contexts to discuss and vision possible policy recommendations for changes to the UK History Curriculum. Sparked in depth questions and discussion over the course of a 5 hour collaborative workshop aimed at knowledge exchange and a space for creating research questions and frameworks. In person workshop hosted by the Institute of Historical Research, with break-out groups to work on specific areas of recommendations. Participants reported desire to participate in future conversation and further collaborative work. Questions and discussions raised are forming the foundation of publication output in development by project team.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description RHS Panel - 'Black British History. Where Now, Why Next?' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An event organised and coordinated by the Royal Historical Society; Dr Hannah Elias invited to speak as a panelist at the event. Sparked questions and discussions, RHS President shared a renewed commitment to EDI concerns connected to race and ethnicity after the event. Led to offer to develop publishing contract from Cambridge University Press.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://royalhistsoc.org/rhs-panel-black-british-history-where-now-why-next/
 
Description Raphael Samuel History Centre public event: 'How can historians work with schools? Good practice and challenges' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Audience of 65 people for online public event led by Dr Jason Todd on ''How can historians work with schools? Good practice and challenges', which sparked questions and discussion afterwards, and we received requests from historians and researchers wanting to learn more about how to engage directly with schools.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Teaching British Histories of Race, Migration and Empire digital resource 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A crowd-sourced digital resource where educators, researchers and people from GLAM sector could share resources to support and enable the teaching of British histories of race, migration and empire. Received thousands of impressions and engagements online and wide social media share and reach. Developed in partnership with the Institute of Historical Research (Library and Digital teams) and the Runnymede Trust, alongside '7 Actions to Change the History Curriculum' campaign, which received support and endorsement from 6 members of parliament, including then shadow education minister. The project team received feedback that the project was incredibly helpful and useful for both teachers and researchers. Plans are in place to now redevelop the resource for a larger audience on a bigger digital platform, pending funding support. Work on this project began after the grant application was submitted in the summer of 2020, but before a decision on grant funding was made. However, the process of developing the grant application was essential for this work to take place, and we continued to operate and update the resource during the period of holding the award.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020,2021,2022,2023
URL https://www.history.ac.uk/library/collections/teaching-british-histories-race-migration-and-empire