Last month illustrated perfectly how the size and scale of UoM can lead to great opportunities to access expertise that enriches the PGCE History experience for students. It’s easy to forget that on a campus over a mile long and half a mile wide that there are interesting things going on at all times of the year.
On Thursday the PGCE Historians saw the University’s renowned Professor of Public History, David Olusoga, deliver two equally fascinating keynote speeches to two different audiences at UoM. Olusoga’s recent contribution to the landmark television series ‘Civilisations’ was one of the highlights of television History in 2018. In the morning were able to join an audience comprised mainly of school pupils from across Greater Manchester and listened as Olusoga spoke eloquently about the need for better representation of Black History in both school curricula and the wider media. Reflecting on Christopher Nolan’s recent epic ‘Dunkirk’, Olusoga reminded the audience how the film’s meticulous attention to detail stopped short of the inclusion of the many black troops who were present – just one example of the film industry getting in wrong when dealing with historical events. Olusoga drew on a number of anecdotes to illustrate how all too frequently, black history is overlooked in the ‘grand narrative’. For me, the great importance in attending the event was that the 15 beginning teachers in attendance would now go on to consider Olusoga’s words when devising their own curricula in the coming years and make their own schemes of work more inclusive.
The afternoon’s session, part of UoM’s ‘Brilliant and Black’ series of events, was equally fascinating, as trainees travelled half a mile further down the road to hear David Olusoga address a predominantly adult audience and deliver an entirely different address. The focus here was the legacy of Enoch Powell and the links between his rhetoric and many contemporary views on what it means to be ‘English’. There were powerful reminders of the gross injustices of the Windrush scandal and one of the best examples of a question and answer session I have seen in recent years, with Olusoga fielding a variety of questions ranging from views on the causes of Brexit to his own Black hero. Utterly riveting and without cost.
Importantly, there was a heated discussion about the day’s lectures back at University to finish off – and there is very much the sense that we have unfinished business in ensuring that our curricula are inclusive and representative of the populace as a whole.
A key question generated from end of day discussions: do we need to move away from packaging the History of different groups into specific months, or should we be aiming for an inclusive reading of History that represents voices from all groups?
University of Manchester History PGCE 
Yes Tom it was a brilliant day and David’s talks were both really interesting. The level of thought and discussion the day provoked was quite profound, and made me think about how I intend to be as inclusive as possible in my teaching. A great day!
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This is really interesting. Black History month should be celebrated in schools in order to allow student’s to understand the diversity of history.
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Both David’s talks were inspiring and allowed me to reflect on creating an inclusive curriculum whilst showing actually what currently is omitted. As a result of these talks, and Toms proactive nature in organising the visit, allowed me to make suggestions to my current schools scheme of work, examples being: when studying the industrial revolution – where did the cotton come from and the inclusivity of Black Tudor’s.
All in all, a really insightful day that opened my eyes on effective strategies to including Black history in my lessons in a effective way.
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Both of the talks that we attended were fantastic and made me really think about the importance in making the curriculum more inclusive and representative of the students I teach. It has encouraged me to be as inclusive as possible in my lesson planning. A fantastic day organised by Tom and the course has been fantastic right from the beginning!
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At our school there was a real push during Black History month for all teachers to create a poster about a black person they are inspired by and put it on their classroom door. We had PSHE sessions and assemblies about unsung black people and the history department worked closely with these sessions to ensure black historical figures were included. Parents of back students were invited in to do some ethnic cooking classes and a Nigerian based clothing company donated some clothes to the school so some of the students could take part in a Black History Month fashion show.
While all these events were great to be a part of, once the month was over and the posters came down it was almost as if it had never happened. I would love to see a much more inclusive curriculum, particularly regarding British Black History. Our school curriculum covers the transatlantic slave trade and the civil rights movmement in America in the 1950s but apart from that there is very little representation of a large proportion of our student body in the History we study.
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The talks were fantastic. An excellent opportunity and very encouraging to see so many local schools in attendance.
There is clearly a significant amount of work to do with regards to diversifying curriculums but this can only be achieved by diversifying our understanding of history and historical narratives. Opening up our discourse around inclusive history is a positive step, the benefits of which will hopefully be seen in the long term.
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The talks were a fantastic opportunity provided by the course, which is one of the many things I have found extremely beneficial during my time as a PGCE student. However, whilst I think the talks were fantastic – I need we are still struggling to bring visibility to those inter-sectional narratives. As practitioners of History (or those in training), we 100% have a responsibility to exploit any opportunity to present students with a myriad of narratives. We should be teaching for the Britain we are becoming. I think the inclusion of such intersections can be achieved through small adjustments in the classroom; talking about Seacole when you talk about Nightingale, discussing LGBT rights during discussions of Post-war Britain – the list goes on. In terms of whether or not we should have delegated months for such History, I believe such emphasis to be necessary. It’s a matter of equity. That focused representation is necessary until inter-sectional history and mainstream narrative can share the same podium.
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Thanks for this interesting response Kate – thoughtful and well informed
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