Teachers in the UK have reportedly been told to present the history of the British Empire similarly to the horrors of Nazi Germany.
So-called “anti-racist” guidance said to be offered to teachers in the UK has argued that both Nazi Germany and the British Empire should be presented as powers that “committed atrocities” and that teachers should refrain from offering students information about the historical goods done by the Empire.
According to The Telegraph, the guidance produced by “The Key” school support organisation stated that schools should “teach colonialism as ‘invading and exploiting’ other countries, and present the British Empire as you would other global powers that committed atrocities, e.g. Nazi Germany”.
The document reportedly continued to advise educators to “avoid presenting the British Empire as an equal balance of good and bad… The problem with the ‘balance sheet’ model is that the beneficiaries of Empire were one group of people (i.e. the colonisers) and the losers were those who were colonised.”
Additionally, it is said to have instructed teachers: “Don’t ignore the racism of historical figures such as Winston Churchill or the prejudices against black people expressed by Mahatma Gandhi – be upfront about their problematic views and the historical context that allowed them to go unchallenged.”
Meanwhile, despite classifying the British Empire as akin to Nazi Germany, the guidance reportedly says that teachers should honour the contributions of “Caribbean, African and Indian soldiers who fought for Britain in both World Wars” when the Empire still existed.
Conversely, the curriculum advice is said to argue that teachers should avoid presenting “white saviour narratives” such as the “focus on white abolitionists such as William Wilberforce” who was a leading voice in the international Christian movement to abolish slavery.
The Telegraph reported that the “anti-racist” guidance was first introduced under the Conservative government in 2022 and has since been used as an example of best practices for schools to follow by local councils in West Sussex and East Renfrewshire.
‘The Key’ was originally founded in 2007 as a government pilot programme and currently claims to be “the leading provider of support for schools and trusts” and states that it is “trusted by over half of all schools in England”.
Criticising the leftist guidance, Professor Emeritus at Cambridge University Robert Tombs said that the document was nothing more than “blatant propaganda”.
“To assert that the British Empire benefited only the British and only did damage to the colonised is absurd,” the historian said.
“Nothing is said about economic development; nothing about how the Empire suppressed slavery; nothing about peacekeeping and the ending of chronic violence.
“It is a glaring self-contradiction that the document compares the Empire to Nazi Germany and yet wishes to celebrate the many colonial soldiers who voluntarily fought for the Empire.”
The guidance is just the latest example of the push from leftist groups and academics towards “decolonising the curriculum”, a movement similar to Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the United States which focuses on the negative aspects of British colonialism such as slavery while downplaying the Empire’s role in abolishing the practice in the Western world.
Other targets of the leftist ideological movement in Britain have included Isaac Newton, Medieval English literature, the theory of evolution, and even tropical viruses.