app & The Black Curriculum join forces to champion black British history topics on the national curriculum
As part ofourshared commitment to ending racial inequality in the classroom,appand education social enterprise The Black Curriculum are working together to help increase Black British history being taught in schools.
The partnership will draw on The Black Curriculum’s extensive expertise in supporting schools to deliver accessible Black British history curricula. Itwill involve the creation of guidance,resourcesand training to empower teachers to teach new and existing topics confidently and effectively, as well as a review of app’s current history qualifications and materials.
The Black Curriculum and app will also continue collaborating on the, which will see inspiringBlack activists like Dr Harold Moody and Claudia Jones, and significant events like Notting Hill Carnival and the Bristol Bus Boycott being taught in history classrooms across the country from September2021.
Speaking aboutapp’sambitions for the partnership, Sharon Hague, Senior Vice-President for app School Qualifications, said: “We are committed to championing inclusion in education and creating learning environments and content that reflect the world and its people. Ensuring there is more Black British history in the qualifications and resources we offer is a key part of this, so, we are delighted to be partnering with The Black Curriculum as a step to help us make this a reality.
More culturally-diverse history is more accurate history and together we will be striving to make sure teachers have the support and the materials they need to bring overlooked British people and moments in history to life in classrooms across the country. We are excited to continue this journey and work with more teachers, learners and experts on steps to help build a more racially and culturally inclusive school system.”
While the partnership is initially focusing on being more inclusive around the history taught in schools, activity will also extend to other subject areas within app, helping to promote change across the wider curriculum and support the profession’s widespread desire for more inclusion and representation. Inapp researchreleased earlier this year, four in five UK teachers felt more could be done to celebrate diverse cultures, people and experiences in education and in another recent survey carried out by TeacherTapp, six in 10 teachers said that they reviewed their curriculum in terms of Black and ethnic minority representation in the past year.
Ensuring teachers and educators have the understanding,skillsand support to deliver Black British historyisfundamental to the partnership work between app and The Black Curriculum. This follows feedback from schools that many teachers lack confidence when it comes to teachinghistorythey may be unfamiliar with, or particularly sensitive topics.
Sharing her school’s experience, Samantha Slater, Subject Leader of History at a school in the South East, said: "We've been on a journey to transform the history we teach in our academy to better reflect our students and the world around them - from exploring African Kingdoms to Indian Independence and the Biafran Civil War. Sofarthe changes we've made have been loved by students, teachers and parents alike. However, a lot of the topics we explore are very emotional and wehave toreally think about the language and resources that we use. More training, resources and CPD for teachers to help us with what phrases and content to use, as well as to help increase our subject knowledge would be invaluable, so it's fantastic to hear that app and The Black Curriculum are working together to support this."
Free guidance and professional development - ranging from advice on teaching Black British history in schools, to CPD on racial literacy in action and a guide to understanding the new Notting Hill historic environment - will be made available to schools as part of the partnership over the new academic year.
As part of app’s company-wide commitment to championing greater inclusion in education,wehavealso set up a Global Task Force dedicated to identifying concrete actions to ensureourproducts, content and services build a more inclusive society.We arealso working with respected partners to undertake wide-scale reviews acrossourqualifications, supporting sector-wide campaigns promoting change and launching first-of-their-kind editorial guidelines to ensure equitable representation of race, ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+ and disability inourcontent.
Find out more aboutapp’s commitment to championing diversity and inclusion in education
For more information on The Black Curriculum, please visit:
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app: Jessica Bull atConsiliumCommunications viajbull@consiliumcommunications.co.uk/ 07496 727202 or Lisa Church vialchurch@consiliumcommunications.co.uk/ 07467 945661.