Compulsory Teaching About the British Empire in the Education Sector

Rejected 14 signatures

What the petition asks

Teach a fair account of the British Empire in the education sector. As well as slavery, this should include:
1) How Britain spent 150 years of its existence wiping out the slave trade
2) Role in defeating Nazi Germany in WWII
3) The spread of democracy, rule of law & education.

There are increasing reports about biased teaching in schools about the British Empire which focus only on the negative. It is important that students are provided with a fair and accurate account of the empire's history, which includes its role in ending slavery and its role in defeating the Nazis in WWII. We ask the government to make it compulsory to ensure that the positives, as well as negatives, are taught by teachers who choose to implement it in their teaching.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

The national curriculum already requires schools to teach about the empire in key stage 3: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239075/SECONDARY_national_curriculum_-_History.pdf

Examples of subjects schools might teach include Britain’s transatlantic slave trade: its effects and its eventual abolition, the Second World War and the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill, and Britain’s place in the world since 1945.

We could accept a petition calling for subjects such as the above to be made mandatory teaching.

Timeline

24 Jul 2021	Petition opened for signatures
29 Jul 2021	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 14

Status Rejected

Rejected 29 Jul 2021

Follow this petition