Nigel Evans, Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley, has today tabled the following Early Day Motion. Mr Evans tabled the motion in response to reports that a Government report, headed up by Sir Jim Rose, will next month advocate changes in the national curriculum including classes on blogging but significantly altering more traditional subjects.

 EDM – Children’s Education

 That this House is dismayed at proposals to include internet skills such as twitter and blogging in the national curriculum at the expense of traditional subjects including the study of the Second World War; recognises the significance and importance of ensuring that future generations understand the sacrifices that their grandparents and other relatives made during the War; believes that a vastly reduced history syllabus allowing schools to choose two periods of British history severely limits a child’s understanding of the past and therefore the present; and calls on the Government to ensure that children are not taught a piecemeal history of this country.

Speaking from Westminster, Mr Evans said,“Children will pick up twitter and facebook and other such things without them having to be on the national curriculum. Of course computer skills are important but I see absolutely no reason to broaden them to this extent, particularly at the expense of traditional subjects.

 “As I understand it, in history for example, children will currently study the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, Tudor history and either Victorian history or the Second World War. The changes advocated in the report by Sir Jim Rose which is due out next month will suggest that children are taught historical chronology and study two periods of British history at the schools’ discretion.

 “What concerns me is that future generations will not have a rounded idea about why we are where we are today. We are hugely privileged in Britain to have a rich tapestry of history that has formed the world that we live in. Every year at Remembrance Sunday, the number of veterans lessens and there are many children now who do not have relatives that fought in the Wars. It is this sort of history that must be kept alive and we must learn about the past – twitter and facebook are insignificant, to say the least, in comparison.”