Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to ensure that (a) history, (b) English literature and (c) other core curriculum subjects reflect diverse viewpoints and minority groups including (i) BAME groups, (ii) members of the Commonwealth, (iii) women and (iv) LGBT+ people.

Following reform of the national curriculum in 2014, schools have greater flexibility to ensure their school curriculum suits the individual needs of pupils. Within this framework, schools are free to choose texts that will stimulate and challenge their pupils, reflecting diverse viewpoints and minority groups, including reflecting their diverse viewpoints. More specifically:

The history programme of study explains that the purpose of the subject is to help “pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time”. It aims to ensure that pupils know and understand “how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world”.

The English programme of study for secondary schools sets out that pupils should read a wide range of high-quality, challenging, classic literature and extended literary non-fiction, such as essays, reviews and journalism.

The citizenship programme of study requires pupils to be taught about human rights and the “diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding”.

Although the content of the school curriculum is excluded from the Equality Act 2010, the way in which a school provides education, the delivery of the curriculum, is explicitly included. Thus, as set out in departmental advice to schools, they are free to include a full range of issues, ideas and materials in their syllabus, and to introduce pupils to thoughts and ideas of all kinds, however challenging or controversial. Schools are still required, however, to ensure that the way in which issues are taught does not subject individual pupils to discrimination.