View - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

curriculum and argued that children should be taught British history because he considered
that unfamiliar topics were too demanding for pupils. However, this view failed to address the
needs of pupils from different ethnic communities in some schools.
Multiculturalism focused on celebrating diversity. The principle aim of this was to encourage
respect and understanding by learning different cultures. This was based on the premise that
racism resulted from ignorance. Typically, this encouraged exploring cultural identifiers such
as traditional dances, clothes and food. Applied to the Irish community it could include an
exploration of Irish saints and music. As a means of addressing racism it has a number of
limitations. Firstly, it does not adequately reflect diversity within communities. Secondly,
Gaine and George (1999) argued that the impact of multicultural education was limited since
it was usually restricted to schools with a multicultural population. Thirdly, it does not
consider the structures and beliefs underpinning racism. Indeed, Troyna (1992) believed that
multiculturalism rested on the premise that racial hostility was an individual rather than a
structural problem.
Anti-racism is based on the premise that racism needs to be addressed at both an individual
and institutional level. Brandt (1986) argued that racism is:
… both overt and covert, hidden and blatant, and is practised at the individual and
institutional levels, within structure and within systems (Brandt, 1986, p.67)
An anti-racist approach problematised the history curriculum with respect to both what was
taught and how it was taught. For example, Gaine and George (1999, p.73) stated that history
‘can examine racism (and itself) by not taking ‘progress’ ‘superiority’ and ‘ perspective’ as