Conservatives want compulsory history education
The Conservative Party is calling on the Government to make history lessons compulsory up to the age of 16.
Many youngsters have little knowledge of the subject and lack a breadth of understanding of the issues involved, the party argues.
Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins told a conference of Catholic head teachers that this lack of knowledge was an “outright scandal”, and that an understanding of “our shared heritage” is the most important thing for “the survival of the British nation”.
He conceded that it was a Conservative government that reduced the age for compulsory history lessons from 16 to 14, but pointed out that Labour has stood by the move.
“The next Conservative government will admit the error and restore history to the heart of the curriculum, studied until 16,” he said.
According to Mr Collins, the UK is now the only developed country other than Iceland that allows its youngsters to drop history below the age of 16.
He told delegates: “When surveys show nearly a third of all 11 to 18-year-olds think that Oliver Cromwell fought at the Battle of Hastings and when fewer than half know that Nelson’s ship at Trafalgar was called HMS Victory we have to take action.”
Mr Collins also set out plans for an overhaul of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which he said has vigorously led the path downhill.
“The QCA, at least in its present form, is not part of the solution – instead it is the heart of the problem,” he said.
“We had hoped to protect standards by modelling an independent QCA on the Bank of England. Sadly, to make the present QCA independent would be to reward those who have debauched the currency of exams rather than those who have defended standards.”
