ABSTRACT
In response to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and the protests which took place in summer 2020, school History curricula across England have undergone significant and much needed improvement in terms of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) representation. Nevertheless, school learners of ethnic minority backgrounds can still feel excluded from much of the standard History curriculum, and histories relating to Islamic peoples or modern geographical regions with large Muslim populations are still under-represented at both Key Stage Three (KS3) and GCSE level. When Muslim students do find representation in the History curriculum, this can often be through a lens of the ‘subjugated’, and as one ethnic group of many vying for representation within a White-European dominated narrative. This chapter explores the impact of including the study of the Ancient Middle East in the KS3 curriculum on the learning experiences of Muslim students at one non-selective state-maintained secondary school in the West Midlands.
