SNP schools quango axes its history lessons ‘propaganda’
HISTORY lessons produced by the SNP’s schools quango have been ditched after being branded ‘propaganda’ over alleged bias towards Scottish independence.
SNP ministers faced calls last year to order the withdrawal of the 27-page document, called The Road to the Scottish Parliament, from use in classrooms over claims it presented a warped and antiEnglish view of the nation’s past.
Teachers were told that the document could be used ‘directly in the classroom’ and was part of a resource package designed by Education Scotland to ‘embed the key skills of political literacy in young people’.
But experts said the material was inaccurate and helped fuel myths about Scotland’s past.
The Mail has learned the material has been scrapped – in favour of guidTeachers ance for teachers advising them of the risk of teaching pupils misleading historical timelines.
When the teaching material came to light in December, Sir Tom Devine, Scotland’s preeminent historian, said: ‘The piece reads like a simplistic piece of arrant propaganda, implying that the development of Scottish history leads inevitably and inexorably to the climacteric establishment of the parliament in 1999.’
In the document, there were references to Scots being mistreated by the English, including a disputed claim Winston Churchill ‘dispatched English troops and tanks’ to Glasgow in 1919 to quell unrest while locking up Scottish troops.
And it asserted ‘a resentment of English domination’ in the 18th century, and said ‘hopes for an independent Scotland continued’ after the 1707 Act of Union, even though there was no mainstream political movement for independence until the 20th century.
The Road to the Scottish Parliament began, according to Education Scotland, in 1296 when ‘King Edward I of England invades Scotland’.
In November 1967, the SNP won a by-election in Hamilton pushing devolution and independence ‘to the top of Scotland’s political agenda’. But Labour retook the seat in 1970.
When the SNP came to power, in 2007, there were claims of ‘cultural engineering’ after plans emerged to teach children about Scottish achievements in every subject to encourage a ‘Scottish world view’.
Nationalist ministers at Holyrood feared pupils were growing up ignorant of their country’s past but the Tories said there was a ‘danger of parochialism’. criticised a move in 2012 for history lessons to be revamped in a bid to downplay the British Empire and promote Scottish Nationalism.
In an attack on the SNP’s Curriculum for Excellence, senior history teachers said Government ‘tinkering’ would lead to a further slide in standards.
They claimed pupils preparing to study for their Highers will be told Britain is an ‘arch-imperialist villain’ and the history of the Empire will be reduced to lessons about slavery.
Last night, Education Scotland said: ‘After questions were raised last year over some of its content, the publication... was removed from the Education Scotland website.’