Misinformation, Riots and Racism; Our best defence lies in education.
As I start work as the new Chief Executive of Parallel Histories, I am forcibly struck by the fact that our work in resourcing schools to teach about contested history has never been more necessary and essential.
The riots in the UK after the tragic murders in Southport have been a body blow to our community cohesion.
Tens of thousands mobilised by the far right engaging in violence, thuggery and attempted murder on a scale I cannot recall. Throwing bricks at police, firebombing hotels housing asylum seekers, storming mosques. It has been horrifying. The predictable wave of misinformation fanned the flames of violence, in an age where bad information spreads at such speed that countering it with fact becomes impossible. By the time the truth of events did emerge, it was drowned out by the cries of the misinformed.
And the ages of some of those involved-12,13,14,15-has been deeply shocking. Many teachers preparing for the start of the school year will be thinking long and hard about how their teaching of adolescents is shaping and equipping them to navigate this challenging world and forming them as decent civic citizens who discuss and debate with those they disagree with rather than resorting to violence and riots.
Nothing justifies the mindless violence and riots we have seen. But immigration is the context within which people get sucked into violence, and drawn into a minefield of conflicting ‘facts’ in the media. We need a much more reasoned debate for young people about immigration. The Parallel Histories teaching series on Empire is a really useful way to enter and navigate the debate on immigration.
More broadly our work with teachers, schools and young people-through teaching materials, teacher training, debates and conferences, and ebooks-equips young people to be strong community citizens. We are equipping students with the skill to scrutinise media sources, and to apply critical thinking when considering how narratives are formed. In doing so, we hope to bring through a generation that navigate the digital world with rational judgements and understanding. Had these skills been embedded decades ago, we may not have seen the scale of violence that ensued on the back of social media myths.
In terms of studying disputed history we don’t shy away from competing narratives-we seek them out, lay them side by side, and challenge students to immerse themselves in both and form their own judgement. We aren’t telling pupils what they should think, but how they should think. Teaching them the importance of investigation, enquiry and listening in their judgements.
Parallel Histories offers a new way to study the history of conflict-history which is still contested, controversial and relevant. Our teaching methodology challenges students to examine the source evidence and debate alternative interpretations before coming to their own view. These are skills which not only help young people with the study of history, but also prepare them to become active citizens.
And our teaching and debates we organise with schools give young people the oracy kills (key for the new Government’s curriculum review), the critical thinking skills, above all the confidence to succeed in work and in life.
Our work started with teaching about historical conflict in Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland, but has expanded into Great Leaders, America-race, identity and freedom, the impact of the British Empire, Putin and Ukraine, the Union and much more.
And the feedback from students and young people about what they have gained from Parallel Histories has been incredibly positive.
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If you would like to join or support our journey to building social cohesion in the classroom please get in touch here: https://parallelhistories.org.uk/
Bill Rammell
Bill Rammell is a former Labour Minister and University Vice Chancellor and now Chief Executive of Parallel Histories.
