Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has issued guidance to schools on teaching school children about the (a) history, (b) purpose and (c) value of (i) the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings and (ii) this year's meeting in Samoa.

The National Curriculum for citizenship, which is compulsory at key stages 3 and 4, covers the Commonwealth in the context of teaching about local, regional and international governance and the United Kingdom’s relations with the rest of Europe, the United Nations and the wider world including the Commonwealth. The National Curriculum does not mandate specific content about the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings, but schools are free to include content about Heads of Government meetings in this context, including this year’s meeting in Samoa.

There are also a number of opportunities in the National Curriculum for history for pupils to be taught about the history of the Commonwealth. For example, pupils are taught about British history from 1745 to 1901, including the development of its Empire, and they are taught the end of Empire and Britain’s place in the world since 1945. The latter could include teaching about the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings, including the first meeting in 1971.

The National Curriculum for citizenship can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-citizenship-programmes-of-study and the National Curriculum for history can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-history-programmes-of-study.