Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has rejected calls for changes to the history curriculum that would include more teaching about Britain’s colonial past and involvement in slavery.

Moves to “decolonise” the teaching of history have emerged as a key demand of Black Lives Matter campaigners in the UK, who have called on the Government to ensure that pupils are fully informed about both the impact of colonialism and Britain’s role in the slave trade.

However, on Friday Mr Williamson rejected calls to change the curriculum.

Answering a question at Downing Street’s press briefing, he said: “Our national curriculum covers the issue of the British Empire, and the incredibly rich history that this nation has, and it’s absolutely vitally important, incredibly important, that when children are learning about our nation’s history, they learn all aspects of it, both the good and the bad.

“But we mustn’t forget that in this nation, we have an incredibly rich history, and we should be incredibly proud of our history because time and time and time again, this country has made a difference and changed things for the better, right around the world.

“We should, as a nation, be proud of that history and teach our children about it.”

Young people not given ‘accurate version of British history’

His comments follow a letter from campaigners calling for the inclusion of black history in the national curriculum.

The letter from social advocacy group The Black Curriculum says: “As you are aware, the national curriculum excludes Black histories throughout, and omits the vast contributions Black people have made to the UK.

“As a result, young people who learn from the national curriculum are not given a full or accurate version of British history, which limits their opportunities and futures in an increasingly diverse landscape.

“Despite numerous calls over the years to reform the national curriculum to incorporate Black histories, these requests have been denied.

“Learning Black history should not be a choice but should be mandatory. Our curriculum should not be reinforcing the message that a sizeable part of the British population are not valued.”

Calls to drop Empire honours

Earlier this year, Labour’s Lisa Nandy called for the word “Empire” to be dropped from the British honours system, with Order of the British Empire renamed as Order of British Excellence.

She cited the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who famously rejected an Order of the British Empire (OBE) medal, saying: “It reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of the thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.”

Ms Nandy, whose father was born during British colonial control of India, said: “The honours system, which should recognise the contribution of our people, shuts people out, rather than bringing them in.”