Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of educating young people from Black and Minority Ethnic groups about their ethic cultural heritage.

The Government believes that as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, pupils should be taught about different cultures, and about how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain. Schools have the flexibility to teach these topics in ways that are appropriate and sensitive to the needs of their pupils.

The national curriculum programme for the study of citizenship also supports this, while arts GCSE specifications require students to know and understand how sources inspire the development of ideas, by, for example, drawing on the work and approaches of artists, craftspeople or designers from contemporary and/or historical contexts, periods, societies and cultures.