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Hi Kwaku and Martin

 

Thanks for signing the petition and for your comments which are all important. The question we need to ask ourselves is how we have this debate with the mainstream so that we are taken seriously? or how do we build up a grass roots movement for change to happen!!


Cheers


Patrick

From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of BBM/BMC [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 03 January 2013 22:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The new school History curriculum - depressing news but not surprising

Dear Patrick
Thanks for your post
Whilst I've signed the petition, I've also copied below my comments to the preamble on the OBV site: http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/michael-gove-dumps-mary-seacole#comment-113166
Kwaku
BBM/BMC

Akoben Awards Free Half-Day Music Industry Courses. Friday January 25 2013: www.bizmusic.eventbrite.com

I came by this excellent article because I heard OBV has a campaign to pressure Education Minister Michael Gove from going ahead with his plans to remove Mary Seacole from the new History curriculum.
 
Whilst I am not against such a campaign, I would like to highlight the fact that the African abolitionist Olaudah Equiano has also been moved out, or should I say, expunged, from the new curriculum. So my question is that would a joint petition for the two African British historic personalities be better than two separate petitions?
 
As it is, we are responding to a leaked draft, so there may a small window for the likes of Seacole and Equiano to be "re-instated" in the new history curriculum.
 
Abolition of chattel enslavement and immigration are said to be left in the new curriculum - not sure what's happened to American civil rights. The old curriculum allows for topics such as resistance against enslavement, but how many teachers would know, let alone teach about about Nzinga, Sharpe, Bussa, Kofi, L’Ouverture, Nana (Nanny) etc?
 
Immigration, for example, should not just be about "new" or "different" peoples coming to Britain, or the change of the cultural landscape. What about the impact on the social and political landscape, as a consequence of activism which brought in race relations laws, which begat the other equality laws.
 
The way forward? I don't think the school history curriculum can satisfy everyone. So I've suggested to BASA (Black And Asian Studies Association) historians and history teachers that politicians will always play yo-yo with the history curriculum, and that the way forward ought to include producing a complementary curriculum which those who are interested in African British history can refer to.
 
If people are interested in African British history, then as much as they should fight for maintaining or re-instating Seacole and Equiano, they should also look at the complementary curriculum from which they can improve theirs and their children's knowledge of African history whether through self-study, Saturday schools, community projects, or other informal learning routes.
 
Some of us are not waiting on the schools to do it all for us. I run African history projects through TAOBQ (The African Or Black Questions), Akoben Awards and BTWSC. Other community organisations doing the same include the likes of Black History Walks, Nu Beyond, Ligali, etc.




On 3 Jan 2013, at 17:42, Patrick Vernon wrote:


Hi Every One

I hope you had a good break. It  would be great to sign the petition below and fwd this to your networks.


Please see article in the Voice

http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/mary-seacole-be-removed-national-curriculum



PETITIONING
Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education

STARTED BY
Operation Black Vote

Overview +
The Government is proposing to remove Mary Seacole from the National Curriculum. We are opposed to this and wish to see Mary Seacole retained so that current and future generations can appreciate this...

Letter +
Keep Mary Seacole on the National Curriculum

Sign

View full site


https://www.change.org/petitions/michael-gove-secretary-of-state-for-education-keep-mary-seacole-on-the-national-curriculum


Cheers

Patrick
From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of BBM/BMC [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 02 January 2013 12:46
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The new school History curriculum - depressing news but not surprising

Whilst I applaud the work Arthur has done and continues to do, bearing in mind Governments can play yo-yo with the History curriculum, what about the creation of a BASA History curriculum, which aims to complement and fill in the gaps?

Kwaku
BBM/BMC

Akoben Awards Free Half-Day Music Industry Courses. Friday January 25 2013: www.bizmusic.eventbrite.com

 



On 2 Jan 2013, at 10:38, arthur torrington wrote:


I too am not surprised about the situation.

 

Equiano may be coming off the curriculum, but the coalition  government will keep William Wilberforce there.  The Equiano Society has been lobbying this new government over the past two and a half years for support on how the heritage of African people is presented in schools, and I know that ministers are not giving way. I have met and am still corresponding with officials.


Nevertheless, lobbying  must continue just as strong as before, until change comes. I do 'not believe in giving up'.


arthur


 
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 08:22:27 +0000
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The new school History curriculum - depressing news but not surprising
To: [log in to unmask]

What is our best concerted strategy to deal with this idiot?!
I'm planning to enlist William Cuffay and meet my MP Frank Dobson to discuss the campaign.
Obviously writing to the newspapers too.
Martin Hoyles

From: Martin Spafford <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Monday, 31 December 2012, 11:22
Subject: The new school History curriculum - depressing news but not surprising

News that I expect will be very unwelcome for BASA list members
 
 
 
If, like me, you don’t want to subscribe to a Murdoch newspaper website, here’s the gist:
 
BRITISH history will take centre stage in classrooms again under a revamp of the school curriculum.
A leaked draft of the syllabus, overseen Michael Gove, the education secretary, reveals a heavier focus on kings and conflicts including the Norman conquest in 1066, the Hundred Years' War, the birth of parliament and the trial and execution of Charles I.
But figures due to lose out as part of the shake-up include Mary Seacole, the Jamaican-born nurse, who treated wounded soldiers during the Crimean war in the 1850s, Florence Nightingale, Robert Owen, founder of the co-operative movement and Olaudah Equiano, a former African slave who became an anti-slavery campaigner.
Worth pointing out:
The new curriculum was devised by a group handpicked by Gove under conditions of secrecy with no outside consultation.
Academies (about 50% of secondaries) and free schools do not have to follow the National Curriculum.
The curriculum this will replace (which did have consultation and into which BASA members fed) was already predominantly AngloCentric but did have requirements to teach the continued diversity of Britain, precolonial civilisations, resistance to slavery and decolonisation. I doubt these will survive in the new imposed curriculum, due to be announced in January. It looks like the small steps forward achieved in 2008 are to be followed by a huge leap backwards.