A new resource to aid in teaching the history of the Israel and Palestine conflict could boost the numbers of schools willing to take on the topic, teachers have said.
Earlier this year, Pearson Edexcel said it would replace a textbook on the subject - which it has been forced to pull twice because of bias accusations - with a set of “digital learning resources”.
The resources, which were put together in partnership with a charity that specialises in the teaching of contentious history topics, have launched this week.
The topic can be studied as part of GCSE and IGCSE history courses but, currently, less than 30 centres opt to do so, with experts suggesting that some teachers were “scared” to do so because of its nature as a “political hot potato”.
Subject leaders that do teach the topic say they think the new resource, which takes a “dual narrative” approach to the subject, should make teachers “more comfortable” leading lessons, and could boost take-up.
The textbook for the module was first taken off shelves in 2019 after accusations of a pro-Palestinian bias, but then a re-issued version was also removed last year after complaints that it favoured an Israeli perspective.
The approach of the new digital resource, which contains videos, text and source materials, means that instead of trying to balance two points of view and come up with a middle ground, two entirely separate narratives are written, each from opposing perspectives, allowing students to see both arguments independently.
Michael Davies, former history teacher and founder of the Parallel Histories charity, which worked on the resources with Pearson, said that the reason that so few centres taught the module was that, currently, many teachers were “scared” to teach it because of how politically contentious the topic is, rather than because children did not want to learn it.
He said he believed this dual narrative approach would help teachers.
“They no longer need to be the umpire of the truth - and if the professional historians can’t agree, why should we expect them to?”
“Plus, from a pedagogical point of view, asking students to explore both sides’ narratives and form their own view from examination of the evidence is great practice”, he said.
“When teachers are brave enough to grasp the nettle, it’s a fantastic topic to teach. Students love it and come into class buzzing with ideas.”
Teachers’ confidence ‘damaged’ by controversy
Teachers of the topic also hope that the new resource can boost the numbers who run the course.
Caroline Newell, head of middle school at the independent Farlington School in West Sussex, said the topic was a “political hot potato”, and that teachers’ confidence had been “damaged” by some of the controversy.
“When you’re teaching something that is very political and very current, navigating the material and which material to use can be quite challenging.
“I think what’s really good about the dual narrative is the idea that there are these different perspectives. The dual narrative approach can help show you how people come to these different conclusions.
“I do think that it’s a really important subject and we shouldn’t shy away from them, and this resource should absolutely make teachers more comfortable to teach the topic.”
Matthew Conneely, head of history at Cardinal Newman Catholic School, a comprehensive school in East Sussex, said that some teachers may be inclined to move to teach the subject if they felt “safer” doing so.
“I think people are worried about making sure they are balanced and making sure they are really bulletproofed in terms of any criticism”, he said.
“I think, with this approach, there is less need for that desperate attempt to keep some sort of balance, because from the start you can say: this is one side, this is the other.”
Mr Conneely said that students definitely wanted to study the topic, which was why his school had chosen to do so.
“Kids will say in GCSE, that they often study geography instead because geography is more relevant to the world that they live in. You can clearly heal that by doing a really modern history topic that is really relevant. So that’s why we chose it.”
Parallel Histories believes that the resource is the first dual narrative history GCSE textbook or resource.
But Mr Davies thinks the approach could be applied to other areas of history, with the charity currently running programmes in France on the Algerian War of Independence and in the US on relations between the country and Iran.
“Our experience is that teachers increasingly want to use it”, he said.
A Pearson spokesperson said: “As the only exam board who offer this topic at GCSE level, our aim is to build strong, innovative digital resources that support a dual narrative approach.
“We hope these new materials will encourage more schools and students to study this period of history.”
