ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the purpose of history education in terms of developing values and promoting democratic citizenship. It looks at recent changes to the curriculum in England, which have seen the importance of history as a school subject reinforced, while the status of citizenship as a school subject has been questioned and changes have undermined some of the key principles that saw its introduction as a subject. The chapter focuses on the issue of values, fuelled by contemporary concerns over terrorism, including 'home-grown' terrorism, and the growth of extremism, which have seen the government introduce measures to promote 'fundamental British values' as an explicit part of the education system. In many ways these have superseded debates about citizenship; these values have been enshrined in legislation and are now part of the school inspection regime. The chapter also focuses on how history teachers could teach about values.
