Why We Need to Decolonise the Curriculum

Slavery is not ‘Black’ History. Black people have a rich and positive history before and after the Transatlantic Slave Trade period.

Wales has a new curriculum. It promises to deliver a sense ‘Cynefin’ and real belonging for our children. It promises to nurture ‘healthy’, ‘confident’ children. It promises to develop ‘ethical informed citizens’, who as adults will be ‘ready to be citizens of Wales and the world’. The question is, how can this be achieved when generation after generation of teachers in Wales have been immersed in the British Empire narrative? How can it be achieved when most teachers in Wales don’t even realise that they teach from a colonial perspective? Welsh Government has commissioned studies which have informed, not only the new education curriculum but also The Anti-Racist Wales Plan.

The summary of findings? "The facts of racial inequality in the Welsh education system are now well evidenced and documented. The attainment of children and young people from some Minority communities is being hampered by a curriculum that has failed to represent their histories, and the contributions of their communities, past and present. They are hampered by the lack of positive role models in an education workforce that does not adequately reflect the ethnically diverse profile of Wales; and they are hampered by experiences of racism in their everyday school life." Professor Charlotte Williams.

In a well-intended effort to include ‘Black History’ in lessons, it has become commonplace to talk about and show images of black men being lynched, detail the torture practices of slavery, and praise the sports prowess of successful Black athletes. Here are the problems for this for Black and Brown children: Black children are being confronted with traumatic imaging that portrays them as de-humanised victims. White children are not as deeply affected by it and can make matter-of-fact statements as they become de-sensitised to the suffering of other human beings that don’t look like them. Would the same teachers present images of white children who have been beaten up and murdered on the classroom screen?

"The facts of racial inequality in the Welsh education system are now well evidenced and documented. The attainment of children and young people from some Minority communities is being hampered by a curriculum that has failed to represent their histories, and the contributions of their communities, past and present. They are hampered by the lack of positive role models in an education workforce that does not adequately reflect the ethnically diverse profile of Wales; and they are hampered by experiences of racism in their everyday school life." - Prof. Charlotte Williams.

Black History and Welsh History are one and the same.

Slavery is not ‘Black’ History. Black people have a rich and positive history before and after the Transatlantic Slave Trade period. Also, this subject is taught without any mention of the rebellions that occurred, and how it was deemed illegal only when it was no longer financially viable for the British Government. Black people are capable and have excelled in Science, Literature, Business and Finance, Information Technology, and the Arts, but often these successes are rarely, if ever, mentioned in Welsh education. This means that we are actually teaching an inaccurate account, in many cases.

Students are told inside and outside of school that Robert Peel, Sir Winston Churchill and Napoleon Bonaparte, to name a few, are men with attributes to admire. All of them have been overtly racist and even responsible for the deaths of millions of Black and Brown people. Facts omitted from the narrative in Welsh education. Of course, these things should not be omitted from education either, the problem is how they are being delivered and that balance is missing. If we hope to develop children who will leave school with a healthy mind and confident attitude, how can we do this when some are being bombarded with both subliminal and overt messages that they are weak and inferior.

How we can we nurture children to become citizens of the world when they have been told their whole lives, that Black and Brown people are other, and that they are the ‘majority’ race? It is clear we need to change our mindset. Black History and Welsh History are one and the same. As Welsh people it is time to recognise the diverse and culturally rich nation that we are and that starts in education. If we don’t, the objectives of the new curriculum will not be met, and our children will be disadvantaged.

‘Wales is the first part of the UK to make the teaching and contribution of Black, Asian and minority ethnic curriculum mandatory. He said the most important part of DARPL is to support our education workforce to gain confidence, knowledge, skills and experiences and to be able to do that properly, and to also help us meet our objective of being an Anti-racist nation by 2030' 

-Education and Welsh Language Minister, Jeremy Miles.