| ISSN 1357-4442 | Editor: Simon Denison |
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| CBA UPDATE |
A draft of the new National Curriculum for history, published earlier this year, was broadly welcomed by the CBA.
Last year the content of history teaching in primary schools was made discretionary, as the Government urged teachers to concentrate on the `core' subjects of English, maths, science and information technology. In the draft curriculum, which comes into effect in 2000, history content is once again made compulsory, with a relatively small number of fixed subjects and a wide range of options.
In its response to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, however, the CBA urged that local history should be bolstered. At present local history is only compulsory at Key Stage 2. The local historic environment is one that pupils see every day, the CBA wrote, and using local examples is a good way to enthuse pupils about the past by making connections that are relevant to their own lives. Local history also allows teachers to move beyond textbooks and use the wealth of local resources that exist.
An awareness of local history is also important in instilling values of good citizenship - a stated Government aim. Teaching people about the importance of their own local history provides a sense of identity through a shared inheritance, and it can lead to beneficial action. Campaigns against unsympathetic local building plans, for instance, often centre on the damage they will do to the local historic environment.
The CBA also suggested that a feature of the Scottish history curriculum - in which pupils are encouraged to play an active role in caring for their community heritage - should be adopted in England.
The CBA has long been concerned about the limited periods of study set by the history curriculum in England, noting that - unlike in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - prehistory is not a mandatory subject. Areas of study, however, were outside the remit of the present curriculum review.
Guidance notes for teachers on the draft curriculum are expected to be published this month.
A major conference on archaeology and education is being organised by the CBA, and will take place in York on 17-19 September. The conference will include presentations and workshops, and will cover aspects of good practice as well as themes such as electronic media and experimental archaeology in archaeological education.
The Government has issued draft revised planning policy guidance notes on two issues germane to the historic environment - development plans, and regional planning. The CBA is considering its formal response to both proposals.
Development plans are published by local authorities as the basis of their planning strategies for the coming 10 to 20 years. The Government's draft guidance proposes a strengthening of the plans, to ensure a greater compliance between individual planning decisions and the development plans. The proposals greatly increase the need to ensure that archaeology and the historic environment are properly recognised in development plans. Current plans vary widely in the importance they give to historic conservation.
On regional planning, guidance issued through the Government's regional offices at present usually mirrors national policy. Under the new draft proposals, regional planning guidance is to become more regional in emphasis. In the CBA's view, the proposals are potentially beneficial but also fraught with danger, with the possibility of individual regions choosing to scale down their conservation expectations. Consultation on regional proposals may also become more regionally focused, with the risk that national conservation bodies may be bypassed and heavier burdens of responsibility laid on local conservation groups.
The Government is also consulting on a Rural White Paper. In its response, the CBA will emphasise the importance of conserving historic aspects of the countryside as a whole, rather than merely conserving points on a map such as scheduled ancient monuments. In the draft proposals, no explicit mention of archaeology is made - a state of affairs that the CBA will hope to reverse.
A decision on the redevelopment of Grade I-listed Shrewsbury Flax Mill was expected at the end of last month, after British Archaeology went to press (see Update, October). Shrewsbury Council was thought to be keen to press ahead with redevelopment, to ensure the survival of the 18th century mill - the world's first iron-framed building - which is presently in a state of serious disrepair.
The CBA was concerned, however, that redevelopment was being pushed though without adequate regard to the conservation of evidence for all phases of the building's history. For example, the building was a flax mill for 100 years, and then became a maltings for a further 100 years. When its useage changed, so did its windows. In the new proposals, the maltings windows were to be entirely replaced by windows in the style of the original mill, thereby abolishing a century of the building's archaeology.
English Heritage has published a draft policy document on `enabling development' - the custom by which developers sometimes agree to restore a historic building if, in return, they receive permission to develop the building's grounds, usually with residential housing. English Heritage has called on the custom to be used only as a last resort, as it can irreparably damage the historic building's setting. The CBA will support that view.
UPDATE is compiled by Simon Denison
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