Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure school children are made aware of current global conflicts.

The national curriculum does not mandate teaching about current global conflicts. It is important that pupils understand national and global events and schools are free to teach age-appropriate content on these topics within the context of their citizenship curriculum. The national curriculum for citizenship includes content on the need for mutual respect and tolerance for people of all backgrounds, human rights, the UK legal system, and international law. The citizenship curriculum also develops pupils’ skills to research and interrogate evidence, debate and evaluate viewpoints and present reasoned arguments. The national curriculum for citizenship is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study.

As with other areas of the curriculum, the government does not prescribe how citizenship should be taught. Schools are expected to develop a curriculum that meets the need of their pupils, drawing on the expertise and support of subject associations and other organisations that produce and quality assure resources. To support schools to deliver a high-quality curriculum, Oak National Academy, which became an independent Arm’s Length Body in September 2022, provides adaptable, optional and free curriculum resources. On 2 October 2023, Oak launched its second cycle of procurement for curriculum sequences and teaching resources, including for secondary citizenship. Cycle 2 is scheduled for completion by Autumn 2025.

The government has also published resources on the Educate against Hate website to help schools to speak about the news, ongoing conflicts and hold discussions on difficult topics with pupils. The resources are available at: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/blog/posts/how-to-speak-about-the-news-ongoing-conflicts-and-hold-discussions-on-difficult-topics-with-students/.