Question reference: S5W-21243
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 24 January 2019
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Current status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 5 February 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to improving the general level of education and cultural liaison concerning slavery.
Answer
History is an area of the curriculum which provides opportunities to study a wide range of people and historical events, and diversity is important within that, ensuring that pupils develop a nuanced, balanced, informed understanding of past people and events and their impact on how our society has developed.
The “People, past events and societies” element of the history curriculum provide flexibility to teachers to choose the topics to meet the needs of children and young people. While it is the responsibility of individual local authorities and schools to decide how to deliver the curriculum, based on local needs and circumstances, teachers will use their professional judgement to carefully select which historical periods and topics to study.
Within both the history and modern studies areas of the curriculum pupils learn about the similarities and differences between current and past values and attitudes, as well as historical reasons behind inequality in our society.