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its possibly a philosophical thing… at Key Stage 3 …[it is] simplified for their needs but at A level [you need to consider] historiographic debate which can come up in the exam. This suggests that pragmatic considerations rather than underlying values drove the interviewee’s approach to the curriculum. The sixth interviewee had been Head of History for two years in an 11-18 co-educational comprehensive school serving a white working class community in a town. In their response to the questionnaire they said that an Irish dimension had some importance in their planning at Key Stage 3 but during their interview said that it was of limited importance. It was taught as part of the topic ‘The Making of the United Kingdom’. Ireland had been taught as the Modern World Study within the School History Project prior to the arrival of the interviewee at the school. However, the department moved towards the Edexcel Examination Board syllabus, which provided the opportunity to avoid teaching a Modern World Study which staff regarded as too difficult for most of their pupils. Although the interviewee had not been at the school when this decision was made they had not considered re-introducing the Modern World Study. They taught the Civil War at AS/A2 but the following extract suggests that they approached it from an Anglo-centric perspective: Interviewee Six: We are looking at the causes of the Civil War, the Civil War itself and immediate after effects, and of the Civil War and execution…. and the Irish, obviously Irish rebellion and Stafford come in there as well as Cromwell and Drogheda. Interviewer: Is it an analysis of Cromwell or do you get an Irish perspective? Interviewee Six: No… it’s very much the concept of the rebellion and how the English rulers, leaders are controlling Ireland.
The impression given was that at both Key Stage 3 and at AS/A2 this interviewee’s approach towards Ireland reflects an Anglo-centric approach to the history curriculum. Was this reflected in their approach to other aspects of the curriculum? with their approach towards other dimensions? The interviewee said that they prioritised skills over content. They rated English history as important and considered that it was a major requirement of the National Curriculum. Scottish and Welsh history were said to have limited importance. The following comment suggests a distinct Anglo-centric perspective: ‘Irish, Scottish, Welsh [history] … I would not rate as important in this school, that is not to dismiss the part of English History where they come in.’ This interviewee said that they hoped to develop black, multicultural and anti-racist dimensions. They taught Mughal India, which they did not like but hoped to purchase textbooks related to Empire in the future. The overall impression given was that this interviewee’s perceptions were distinctly Anglo-centric. The seventh interviewee taught in an 11-16 co-educational comprehensive school located in a conurbation serving mainly white pupils with children from ethnic minority communities. They had been Head of History for a year but had taught in the school for nine years. They considered that an Irish dimension had low importance at Key Stage 3 and it was not included in their GCSE course at Key Stage 4. Nevertheless, when Irish history was taught they ensured that it was related to contemporary issues: … we don’t spend a huge amount of time looking at anything particularly to do with Ireland … basically [we consider] Cromwell the man: Was he a hero or villain? Why are there different opinions of him? People then had different opinions of him as we have different opinions of people today. Why are there issues in Northern Ireland? Why are there issues between Britain and Northern Ireland? Why are these issues here today? Let’s turn the clock back and ask why.
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PERCEPTIONS OF AN IRISH DIMENSION A
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ABSTRACT This thesis asserts that a
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CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ABB
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CHAPTER 7 206 Movers’ and shakers
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CIDE DEC DfES
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and global history and that this in
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experiences of Huguenot refugees in
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intention for the current research
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a series of ‘fuzzy generalisation
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CHAPTER 1 AN IRISH DIMENSION WITHIN
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never again to be regarded as the p
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claimed that the experiences of the
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The report made some reference to d
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Irish dimension has featured in thi
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together. The relationship between
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Although, the third volume certainl
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esonance. Secondly, within the peri
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Before exploring links between an I
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Historical Association and former H
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narrative histories based on the ex
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This did not make explicit referenc
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ead’. Anti-racism was concerned w
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working party’s recommendations h
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and alienated by a diet of history
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history for equality and diversity
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CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY: APPROACHES U
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investigated Art teachers’ percep
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… a group of children in a class
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esearch participants must be honour
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Case Study I: Pilot study of 25 Sec
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276 primary schools, 197 are LEA sc
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comparing the primary and secondary
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Development Education or the Irelan
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esponse. A common format for the pr
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eferences to their life histories.
Page 71 and 72: Research into action The issues and
Page 73 and 74: organiser and I discussed the prosp
Page 75 and 76: schools replied. Only 6 telephone r
Page 77 and 78: who volunteered were interviewed. T
Page 79 and 80: without evident inhibitions. A more
Page 81 and 82: Ireland in Schools (a) Secondary Te
Page 83 and 84: CHAPTER 3 THE IRISH DIMENSION WITHI
Page 85 and 86: one said that they served the Irish
Page 87 and 88: What does a comparison between the
Page 89 and 90: Can perceptions of an Irish dimensi
Page 91 and 92: Number of respondents 25 38 52 115
Page 93 and 94: out of 38 responses and in Case Stu
Page 95 and 96: The teaching of an Irish dimension
Page 97 and 98: The last question provided responde
Page 99 and 100: obtained from at least one school i
Page 101 and 102: felt that Irish history and immigra
Page 103 and 104: RC responses 0 17 4 1 22 LEA respon
Page 105 and 106: Table 9: An examination of the rela
Page 107 and 108: y some secondary respondents. A num
Page 109 and 110: secondary schools there are respond
Page 111 and 112: and Primary Historical Association
Page 113 and 114: 1 Some Low No - less 2 Some Low/som
Page 115 and 116: Birmingham had an Irish community.
Page 117 and 118: concentrate on … literacy and num
Page 119 and 120: more traditional topics which could
Page 121: The fifth interviewee had been Head
Page 125 and 126: which they constructed the past. Fo
Page 127 and 128: Birmingham, and the remaining three
Page 129 and 130: The interviewee said that at a rece
Page 131 and 132: decision to focus on teaching Irish
Page 133 and 134: The interviewee taught Ireland as t
Page 135 and 136: Examples of topics where an Irish d
Page 137 and 138: emphasised pragmatic motives for de
Page 139 and 140: Two interviewees indicated that the
Page 141 and 142: It is possible that the interviewee
Page 143 and 144: commented, ‘We obviously do Engli
Page 145 and 146: What did this interviewee have to s
Page 147 and 148: When asked about other aspects of t
Page 149 and 150: dimension and multicultural and ant
Page 151 and 152: the other case studies did not repl
Page 153 and 154: The Project Facilitator was intervi
Page 155 and 156: The Director worked closely with co
Page 157 and 158: In practical terms 80:20 is about w
Page 159 and 160: at what was happening in Belfast an
Page 161 and 162: of pictures related to current deve
Page 163 and 164: elated to an Irish dimension, the P
Page 165 and 166: We didn’t feel that they needed t
Page 167 and 168: The fact that the interviewee did n
Page 169 and 170: We can draw out influences of the w
Page 171 and 172: esponsibility for the history curri
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curriculum. The analysis of the thr
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• Contributes towards the teachin
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studying Ireland is a chore, but th
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article concluded by noting that hi
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elated to a multicultural or anti-r
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The interviewee also felt that thei
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Beyond individual schools they felt
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Clearly, the co-ordinator’s inter
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Stage 4. They also considered that
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For example they had already used m
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The interviewee developed materials
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community because they feared that
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will be considered before consideri
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een delayed by personal or school d
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The interviewee indicated more abou
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Work related to Black History at Ke
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growing up in an ever smaller world
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within British history. It is inter
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through a workshop. They provided t
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The second teacher was interviewed
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interviewee had undertaken fund rai
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interpret the story. Clearly, the s
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History Project GCSE courses or as
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The intention is to explore the spe
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Romans, Tudors, World War 2 in a va
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interviewee noted that a significan
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egin to do that. That’s the key,
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interviewee had also contributed to
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argue with that really because ther
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People have come and gone through E
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leader for the GCSE History pilot.
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Towards the end of the interview th
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in their cluster group still had di
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months before the time of the inter
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the interests of particular mentors
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… the further that you get from t
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Clearly, the issues of the relation
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‘schools quite often find that th
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examination results and league tabl
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in Britain’s multicultural societ
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priorities. For some interviewees i
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Curriculum 2000 and primary intervi
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implications for both pupils’ und
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focus for looking at events such as
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Different interpretations and versi
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… if comparing the IRA to al-Qaid
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teach about Ireland at Key Stage 3
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current study. An exploration of th
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APPENDICES Appendix I: Appendix II:
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. Why do you teach it? Rate each of
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APPENDIX II: Secondary Head of Hist
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Question 2. How important is multic
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Question 4. How important is immigr
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8. DO YOU TEACH IRISH HISTORY/OR IR
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12. History textbooks at KS4 Please
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APPENDIX III: Primary History Co-or
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5. Tick the comment which shows the
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7. HISTORY TEXTBOOKS AT KS2 Please
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I really appreciate you help in com
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APPENDIX V: Perceptions of historic
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APPENDIX VII: Perceptions of histor
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APPENDIX IX: Perceptions of histori
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APPENDIX XI: Perceptions of histori
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Bookseller (2003 b) The Bookseller,
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Charlesworth, S. (2000) A Phenomeno
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Gain, C.and George, R. (1999) Gende
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Jenkins, K. (1991) Re-thinking the
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Morrison, V. (1989) ‘Coney Island
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Riverdance - A Journey (1996) Produ
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Weight R. (2002) Patriots: National
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