Rejected petition Update the national curriculum to teach children about our colonial history.

Rejected on 11 June 2020

We would like the national curriculum updated to teach children about Britain’s colonial past. We believe this part of the curriculum should be driven primarily by BAME educators to ensure that children are exposed to a wide range of perspectives which they would not otherwise encounter.

Britain's colonial past has shaped the world we live in today yet many Brits grow up unaware of their country’s colonial past. We want to see the national curriculum revised to include: the transatlantic slave trade, Britain's role in colonising the world and creating national borders and the role of people from commonwealth nations in building Britain back up after WWII.

This history forms the backdrop of the many racial inequalities that are present today.

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign some of these petitions:

Add education on diversity and racism to all school curriculums: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/323808

Making the UK education curriculum more inclusive of BAME history: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/323961

Teach Britain's colonial past as part of the UK's compulsory curriculum: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/324092

We have also published several petitions about race and equality more widely, which you can view here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions?state=open&topic=race-and-equality

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.