Learning the lessons of history

I popped along to the History Channel debate ’50 Things You Need to Know About British History’ last night. ‘Twas an excellent event – more than capably chaired by Iain Dale, and with an engaging panel consisting of Diane Abbot, Douglas Murray, Dominic Sandbrook and Polly Toynbee.  The catalyst for discussion was the list I’ve included at the bottom of this post, and which will form the basis of a forthcoming TV series.  But things swiftly moved onto the topic of how history should be taught in schools – whether issues are more important than personalities, and whether pupils have a good enough all-round knowledge of British history.

The exchange on the last of these points struck me as particularly politically relevant.  The worry is that the current approach to history teaching – generally centred around grand themes rather than specifics, and full of empathetic comparisons of the “what it was like to be a charwoman in Victorian Britain” variety – does not give pupils a sufficient knowledge of British History as a whole.