Mayor of London looks to integrate black history into London’s schools with help from The Black Curriculum

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced his intentions to ensure greater representation of black history within the school curriculum in London. The decision comes in an effort to broaden representation within the curriculum to more closely reflect the city’s present and historical diversity. The news was announced by the mayor through his social media channels on Friday in conjunction with an official press release from London.gov. The announcement also represents a significant achievement for ‘The Black Curriculum’, a social enterprise group focused on delivering black history through the arts to young people Nationwide.

The Black Curriculum possess an impressive track record of being able to produce strong content which both engages and educates pupils on the matters of black history. Having reached over 1500 young people and 1000 teachers with their work, they have now been entrusted to play a role in the latest attempts to revitalise the capitals curriculum.

In the official press release, the Mayor’s office announced that the inspiration behind the plans was to give young Londoners a “more complete perspective on the capital’s Black history”.

The timing of the announcement does not come as a coincidence either. Having coincided with the beginning of Black History Month, the official communication also confirmed that the Mayor had written to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, calling for changes to Curriculum at a National level, so as to ensure that it “accurately reflects the diverse history of our country.”

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan added: ‘Despite huge progress being made in my lifetime, Black Londoners continue to face significant barriers to success. Our pupils come from diverse backgrounds yet are too often presented with a curriculum offering one-dimensional perspectives on Black History, meaning the historic and institutional reasons for these inequalities – and their enduring impact – are still not widely understood.

‘The coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have thrown structural injustice and persistent inequality into stark relief, and affirmed the need for meaningful action across all of our society.’

If you want to know more about the work of the Black Curriculum, Click here.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Are there particular aspects of Black British history you feel should be included in the curriculum?

And should the increase in Black British history being taught also be matched by a drive in the recruitment of black teachers?

Mayowa Ayodele

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A call to action...

For 24 years OBV have fought to ensure black and minority ethnic participation and representation in civic society. Efforts in continuing to do so though, relies on your help. That way we can continue this fight for greater race equality. What would give us a tremendous boost is if today, you made that small donation yourselves, but even more importantly if you encouraged others to do likewise.

If you want to know more about the work of the Black Curriculum, Click here.