Humanities - September 25

As teachers of Humanities here at the National Church of England Academy, we have some element of freedom as to what we teach. We as the Humanities Faculty take huge pride in the content that we deliver to our students, and in the last academic year we have made changes to ensure that our curriculum reflects the ever-changing social landscape we are living in. We want to ensure that our curriculum helps to broaden the horizons of our fantastic young people, reflect on our ARCH values, and support children to deal with the complex issues of the twenty first century.

We ask ourselves key questions when making such changes. Are our students equipped to understand the world they live in? Are we teaching students about the experiences of people around the world? Are students aware of the struggles and experiences of minority groups? Are we challenging misconceptions? Are students aware of the impact of our actions on the environment? Do we challenge the “white saviour” narrative of British history? These are all questions we thought of and have ensured that our curriculum reflects such pressing issues.

Yes, education is about equipping our students to have the best qualifications so that their life choices are broader. However we believe that living “life in all its fullness” does not come about solely as a result of having a better job and consequently higher earnings. Our values of respect and compassion are rooted in our belief that “life in all its fulness” comes about as a result of students being aware of their place in the world. How their world has been impacted by historical and geographical events and how in turn they can contribute culturally to a more respectful and empathetic world.

In Geography, our case studies have been updated to be within the lived experience of the students of the school. We have moved some of the case studies to be more local, for example our flooding topic now focuses on Hucknall to give students an understanding of their local environment. Furthermore, we now have a topic focused on China in Africa and the space race. This is in a bid to broaden horizons and challenge misconceptions around economic struggle in Africa to highlight the work that is being done to put satellites in space by African countries.

In History, we have made changes in Year 8 to include the history of the LGBTQ+ community. We have included a focus on how attitudes towards those within the community and their treatment have changed over time, along with the issues still faced today. Furthermore, in Year 9 History we have now included a topic looking at Terrorism. This is focusing on not only what terrorism is and examples we have seen, but also has an emphasis on challenging the misconceptions around who terrorists are. With the current world in which our students are growing up in, it is important that they are aware of such issues we face, but also are conscious of why people get involved in extremism.

Thus, by creating and delivering a broad curriculum for our pupils, it ensures our young people are prepared for the challenging and ever-changing world in which we live.