Whose history is it anyway? Class, culture, ethnicity, gender and religion 

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.

The main goals of educating children are meeting their educational and achievement needs. Herein is the challenge. Our classrooms are a cornucopia of diversity. The most prominent or acknowledged being gender, class, religion and ethnicity. Some of these differences are highly visible and some are not. The reality of diversity brings with it issues of ‘Ownership,' ‘Belonging,' ‘Britishness,' ‘Citizenship,' and ‘Culturally Responsive Pedagogy,' as some of its challenges. So when it comes to reaching all of our pupils the task can seem daunting. How do we create a sense of ownership and belonging in school history when we encounter mothers like Paige, like her daughter Eve, and how do we answer the implied wants from history of pupils like Ebony and Malchus? This article is an attempt to offer a smidgeon of advice for both novices and masters of history, from below.