‘Black British History, Inclusive Teaching, and Curriculum Reform’

Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL, a member of the Techne consortium), Black Cultural Archives (BCA), and AQA are delighted to announce a call for applicants for a fully funded collaborative doctoral studentship from September 2025, under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Award scheme funded by Techne.

The studentship will contribute to the fields of Black British History and Public History and the successful applicant will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in these fields in academic, heritage, and educational contexts. The project will be supervised by Dr Ayshah Johnston (BCA), Dr Matthew Smith (RHUL), and Dr Alex Windscheffel (RHUL), and supported by Katie Hall (AQA).

Six years ago, the Royal Historical Society’s Race, Ethnicity and Equality in UK History (2018) report highlighted the damaging consequences of racial and ethnic inequalities in the teaching of history in the UK, and how the taught curriculum for secondary schools often fails to incorporate new, diverse histories, acting as a barrier to Black and Global Majority student engagement. It is imperative, the report argued, that the curriculum be widened “to reflect the full diversity of human histories”. This need, and the call for high-quality resources to support the more inclusive teaching of history, have also been noted in the AQA Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in AQA History (2021) report. While there has been a succession of academic and popular history books striving to mainstream Black British History (including but not limited to Fryer, 1984; Gerzina, 1995; Olusoga, 2016; Abraham and Woolf, 2022; and Adi, 2019, 2022, 2023), coverage of the experience, voice, and agency of Black citizens in all UK exam board specifications remains fragmentary and often siloed in sections looking at post-war migration and race relations.

This collaborative PhD-by-Practice in Public History project between Royal Holloway, Black Cultural Archives and AQA, aims to address this challenge by seeking answers to three timely research questions:

1. Where and how can the experience, voice and agency of Black British citizens be weaved into AQA’s and other awarding bodies’ existing GCSE and A Level specifications?
2. What new Thematic, Period or Depth Study specifications, drawing upon recent scholarship and the archival strengths of BCA, could be developed which foreground Black British History?
3. How can BCA’s archive be mobilised in the form of new digital, research-driven resources and CPD workshops for teachers to support the teaching of Black British History in existing or new specifications?

The student will examine these questions through a review of contemporary scholarship relating to Black British History and inclusive teaching practice in schools; by mapping BCA’s collection against existing exam specifications and identifying, with guidance from AQA and BCA, where interventions could be made to enhance the inclusivity of these specifications; and, based on archival research at BCA, examining what new model specifications could be developed to foreground Black British History. BCA holds one of the most comprehensive collections of twentieth century socio-political and community activism covering fields as diverse as legislation, the arts, education, and public health.

The practical outputs of this PhD by Practice will include a c.7,000-word report identifying opportunities to enhance the inclusive teaching of existing GCSE and A Level specifications, presenting new model specifications informed by the latest scholarship and archival research at BCA, and introducing research-driven resources teachers can employ in their teaching of these topics and specifications. This report will be accompanied by c.40 educational resources, including short videos, presentation slides, workbook exercises, podcasts and revision flashcards (accessible via BCA’s Learning webpages); 4 newly designed, resourced, tested and evaluated 2-hour workshops (including a delivery plan, slides, and worksheets) that BCA could deliver onsite or online; and a 40,000-word reflective and evaluative thesis.