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“It’s not a risk, but a responsibility” – teaching the British Empire honestly means teaching it in parallel

• Parallel Histories, an educational charity working with over 3,000 schools, launches new series today (Monday 31 August) on the British Empire, next in a range of popular resources on contested histories such as Israel-Palestine conflict.
• Shying away from tackling this controversial topic head-on is not an option for the next generation – “teaching the contested history of the British Empire from contrasting perspectives is not a risk. It is a responsibility.”
• In a world of populism and algorithms, the award-winning charity and winners of the Guardian and Observer 2024 Charity Appeal – empowers teachers, and gives students the tools to debate contested issues.

Parallel Histories, the award-winning educational charity that resources schools to teach, study and debate contested history, is today (Monday 31 August) launching its latest eBook series: On British Empire.

Launched as students return this week, the resource, increasingly requested by schools across the country, lets students study, teach and debate the question dividing modern British education: was the Empire a force for progress, or a system of exploitation and oppression? Some point to parliamentary institutions, the rule of law, global trade and technological modernity; others to violence, extraction and the inequalities it left behind.

At a moment when public discourse rewards outrage over understanding, Parallel Histories believes teaching contested history through parallel perspectives is a democratic necessity, not an academic exercise. By separating scrutiny from allegiance, argue one side, then the other, then judge for yourself, it gives young people tools that outlast any single verdict on the past.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Bill Rammell, Chief Executive of Parallel Histories, said:

“If students cannot grapple with the contradictions of the past, how will they grapple with the contradictions of the present? If they cannot understand why people disagree about history, how will they understand why people disagree about politics, identity, or justice today?”

“The question we are asking is not whether the British Empire was good or bad. The question is whether we trust students enough to let them decide for themselves.

“Parallel Histories stands for an education that is rigorous, evidence-led, and intellectually brave. An education that embraces complexity rather than avoiding it. An education that prepares young people not just to pass exams, but to participate thoughtfully in a diverse and democratic society.

“Teaching the contested history of the British Empire from contrasting perspectives is not a risk. It is a responsibility.

“Schools up and down the country have been asking us for this resource. I urge more to take it up, and for those interested to join the Parallel Histories journey.”

Teachers that have previewed the resources during their development noted:

“Typical Empire resources can be too reductive, losing the rigour or taking debates to a simplistic level of good vs bad balance sheet activities OR they can become lost in narratives that fail to zoom out enough, thus losing a sense of time, scale, patterns of behaviour and crucially differences both over time and place.”

— Jamie Reynolds, LRGS Lancaster – using the Parallel Histories Empire resources with Year 8

“One of the biggest strengths of the resources is that they move pupils away from simply being told a historical narrative and instead encourage them to think like historians. Pupils are using evidence, analysing sources, considering different perspectives and beginning to understand that the same evidence can sometimes be interpreted in different ways. I have seen some genuine ‘lightbulb moments’ in the classroom.”

— Harry Reynolds, Braidhurst Academy – reflecting on his wider classroom use of Parallel Histories resources, including Empire

“Whilst students had a good prior knowledge of various aspects of empire what was clear in the plenary was a genuine sense that empire was not ‘this OR that’ but more ‘and also’.”

— Jamie Reynolds, LRGS Lancaster – using the Parallel Histories Empire resources with Year 8

“For pupils working at the highest levels, the resources have really helped sharpen their ability to construct arguments and select evidence to support a particular point of view. At the same time, they have also worked extremely well with pupils who may find traditional history tasks more challenging. The activities are not overly dependent on extended writing and instead involve discussion, source analysis, problem solving and working collaboratively.”

— Harry Reynolds, Braidhurst Academy – reflecting on his wider classroom use of Parallel Histories resources, including Empire

Parallel Histories believes contested history should be taught as contested. The Empire isn’t a morality tale with one lesson, it’s a vast, contradictory, human story, and this series resources teaches it from both perspectives: its architects and its subjects, its beneficiaries and its resisters, its triumphs and its traumas.

Without the dual-narrative approach, we risk putting the next generation in the hands of populist forces and algorithm-driven outrage. Avoiding Britain’s most contested history is not an option.

Why the Empire demands a dual perspective

From the imperial British perspective, the Empire was often justified as a civilising mission, a commercial enterprise, or a strategic necessity — a source of national pride and global influence. From the perspective of the colonised, often marginalised in historical accounts, it could mean dispossession, racial hierarchy and cultural suppression – but also collaboration, adaptation, resistance, and the forging of new identities under pressure.

Both perspectives are historically real. Both shaped the world we live in. Parallel Histories argues both must be taught if young people are to navigate modern Britain.

The cost of teaching only one story

The debate about Empire often collapses into a tug-of-war between nostalgia and condemnation. The real problem isn’t which side wins – it’s that students are rarely shown there are sides at all, in a country whose multicultural fabric, global relationships and politics are all still shaped by imperial history. A single story creates fragility. Parallel stories create intellectual resilience.

What Parallel Histories offers

The eBook toolkit presents students with competing, source-grounded narratives and asks them to interrogate both – arguing one position, then switching to argue the other, before reaching their own judgement. Sources include British politicians defending imperial expansion as a moral duty, Indian nationalists describing colonial economic devastation, African leaders negotiating collaboration and resistance, Caribbean voices on slavery and identity, and anti-colonial thinkers articulating visions of self-determination. Students learn that history is constructed, contested and alive — not to endorse any one view, but to understand it.

The new Parallel Histories eBook is free to schools and the public, released 1 September.

ENDS.

Press@ParallelHistories.org.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS 

About Parallel Histories

Parallel Histories is a UK-registered educational charity founded in 2017 by the late Michael Davies and Julian Richer. It develops “dual narrative” teaching resources and debating programmes for secondary schools on contested and controversial history, most prominently the Israel-Palestine conflict, alongside Northern Ireland’s Troubles, the British Empire, and other disputed episodes across more than 30 topics.

The charity now works with over 3,000 secondary schools across the UK, as well as international partners including Virginia Tech in the US and schools across the Erasmus+ network in France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark.

Michael Davies led the charity until his untimely death in 2024. Bill Rammell, former Minister of State for Higher Education, ex-MP for Harlow, and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, has served as CEO since 2024.

Parallel Histories’ work has cross-party support: Lord David Blunkett is a Patron of the charity, and Lord Michael Gove has publicly endorsed its work.