Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history in the school curriculum to combat bullying in schools.

The history curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to use specific examples to teach pupils about the history of Britain and the wider world.

Gypsy, Roma and Travellers’ history can already be taught as part of schools offering a broad and balanced curriculum. Resources are available from experts in the communities themselves and bodies such as the Historical Association.

In recognition of its importance, the Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the national curriculum for history at key stage 3. The curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to decide how to teach the subject and what resources to use to support an understanding of the Holocaust, and the experiences of non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.

The department is providing over £1.1 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2022, to five anti-bullying organisations, to support schools to tackle bullying. We are working with all five organisations to ensure any training and resources produced as part of these projects are in line with our requirements.

Our preventing and tackling bullying guidance sets out that schools should develop a consistent approach to monitoring bullying incidents and evaluating the effectiveness of their approaches.

Alongside guidance, the department’s Educate Against Hate website provides teachers, school leaders and parents with advice and trusted resources to safeguard young people from radicalisation, build resilience to all types of extremism and promote shared values. We have also published the Respectful School Communities: Self-review and Signposting Tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline. This can help education settings combat bullying, harassment, and prejudice of any kind, including hate-based bullying.