Teaching the past in the United Kingdom's schools

The curriculum in England is currently undergoing its second major revision since being introduced. Throughout the 1990s, there has been an increasing awareness of the link between education and employment, and the vocational role of the education system has become more important. Britain's standing as an economic power in the world arena has been examined and found wanting, and perceived failings in our educational system have received some of the blame for this. As the cry has gone up for an educated workforce, so the educational pendulum has swung back towards a back-to-basics approach in which core skills like literacy and numeracy receive greater attention. Unfortunately, this has the effect of confusing education with training, and there is concern that we are losing sight of the goal of educating the whole individual to realize their potential. This may be partially allayed by the fact that the new curriculum orders in England will lay more stress on equipping children with skills for adult life and on cross-curricular themes, e.g. citizenship and personal, social and health education. In Scotland, the growth of national sentiment in the political arena has prompted debate on the need to take into account the teaching of Scottish culture, and to provide greater guidance to teachers on what content should be taught in subjects like history.