Andrew Rosindell MP: Teaching British history

Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell outlines the case for his Teaching of British History in Schools Bill, which is being considered in the Commons today.


This bill seeks to ensure that British history is made a core subject in all schools, at all stages of learning, so that every young person will grow up with an appreciation and understanding about all that has made our nation great throughout the centuries and an ability to demonstrate this to future generations.

The study of history helps children to better grasp their own identity. It enables our younger generations to analyse and question the present by engaging and examining what has come before.

Knowledge of the history of one's country is key, because it allows people to make informed decisions about the future of their nation.

However, this form of study should be diverse and different. Change is needed to ensure that young people's knowledge does not remain patchy and overly specific, tied to only one or two moments in our nation's history, and ignorant of the others.

They need to be able to comprehend a longer narrative of our history. This needs to be addressed and we must focus on expanding the breadth of what our children are taught.

This is necessary as, since 1997, the number of students taking history at GCSE has fallen, from 35 per cent of teenagers to 30 per cent in 2007, leading Ofsted to claim last year that history is increasingly becoming an 'endangered subject'.