Pupils to learn 'Britishness' in history

History teaching is to be radically overhauled to give teenagers a better understanding of "Britishness". Under the plans revealed yesterday, pupils will be expected to concentrate more on the social history of the UK - often neglected in the drive by traditionalists to focus on topics such as the Tudors and the Stuarts.

Youngsters would study the Suffragettes, to help them understand the importance of having the vote, and the history of slavery as a means of understanding the history of ethnic minority groups in the UK.

The plans, which include a new GCSE combining history and citizenship, are recommended in a major report that also calls for compulsory lessons for 11 to 16-year-olds on traditional British values. They would emphasise respect for other cultures and tolerance of religious and sexual differences - and would debate such concepts as freedom of speech and justice.

The Education Secretary Alan Johnson endorsed the package, saying: "The values our children learn at school will shape the kind of country Britain becomes.

"We are a nation built from and by people from other countries. We should celebrate our history and how it has created today's diversity - recognising the role played by immigrants in our success."

The report, by a former headteacher Sir Keith Ajegbo, was commissioned in the wake of the London bombings on 7 July and sets out to examine how well schools are coping with delivering the new compulsory citizenship lessons that were introduced just over two years ago.

Sir Keith describes the delivery as "patchy", adding: "It goes from schools that do it excellently to schools that have it barely on the radar."

He emphasises the need to promote an understanding of "Britishness" among white pupils - particularly in areas where they may not even have met anyone from an ethnic minority group. Teachers in those areas might be reluctant to broach the subject of diversity, the report argues.

It adds: "Many white pupils have negative perceptions of their own identity. We spoke to one white British pupil in year three (for seven and eight-year-olds) who - after hearing in a class discussion how the rest of the class came from countries such as the Congo, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and Poland, said that she 'came from nowhere'.

"In the case of white working-class boys, their sense of linkage with a tangible history is often as absent as - or even more absent than - for other groups."

The report recommends each school sets aside a week for a "Who do we think we are?" project - based on the successful BBC TV series tracing celebrities' family histories. It argues that, instead, pupils should be asked to study the history and social make-up of the area in which they live.

The proposals were given a cautious welcome by teachers' leaders. Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "British history is laced with struggles to replace prejudice and bigotry with tolerance and respect. There is every argument for teaching the core values behind these struggles as well as the historic facts."

But Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: "Schools will be wondering how the Government's ambition can be met in the context of a curriculum which is already overloaded."

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