To teach Y6 about the Slave Trade?

[manicinsomniac]

I work in a school which has always followed the Y7 and 8 History syllabus for our Y5s and 6s. Due to some restructuring I have ended up with one year group who have already covered what I would ideally want them to do this year. The suggestion is that I follow the Y9 curriculum with them. They are capable of it skills wise but I am not convinced about the content. A large part of one term will be spent on the slave trade.

My daughter is going into Y5 and I'm not sure she would cope emotionally with learning about the slave trade. I'm not sure that being just one year older makes it ok.

There are substitutions I could make.

Would you want your 10/11 year old to be taught at school about the slave trade? Please answer yes or not and why/why not? If there are enough nos I'll start rewriting!

What do these children study when they get to KS3 if they've done it all at primary school?

I think it's ok if you are honest but handle it sensitively. I remember learning about Egyptian slaves in primary school. I remember understanding it wasn't nice to force people to work in this way, and feeling sorry for the slaves, but I don't remember feeling traumatised.

Are we sugar coating history now? I wouldn't mind them learning about the slave trade as hopefully it will make them think how hugely unfair it all was

I clearly remember doing about the slave trade around that age (tracing pictures of brutal shackles and collars into my workbook etc). DD1 is 10 and I would have no problems with her doing it at school- in fact it's something I think she should be learning about by now.

You know your child as an individual in a home / family environment. Do you know what she's like in a crowd? She might be a different person in class and would be able to discuss 'emotive' matters with her classmates. They'd all have a good old yak about it. Don't be so squeamish.

There is no such thing as a Year 7, 8 or 9 syllabus. There are suggested topics for KS3, which you can teach when you want. If you don't want to do Black Peoples of the Americas, you could do Native Americans instead as your World Study before 1900.

They teach about slavery from Kindergarten on here. Age appropriately, obviously. They get in more detail as they get older, they do it as a school each year in February, (black history month)

My dc knew about the slave trade from age 4 or 5. DD2 is 6 and knows all about it. Obviously she may not be able to give you all the details but theres nothing we've hidden from her.

I never realised it was a taboo subject for children. I don't know if DH being black has any relevance. They also knew about the holocaust from very early on but I'm Jewish so I don't know if our personal awareness of these issues is the influencer and this isn't normal.

I don't see why you wouldn't teach them, mine all did the Egyptians in early primary and if I remember correctly weren't they big on slaves, I thought slaves built the pyramids?

Yes, would have no problem with it.

I wouldn't have any objections, I can't really see why anyone would tbh.
It's nice that you appear to be sensitive to people's feelings about it though.

Okay cool, sounds like it's a go-er. And yes, I guess there are ways and ways of doing it.

Foureyesgood - ours don't go on to their secondaries until Y9, it's a Prep School. So our syllabi are totally different in that they're geared to CE. We use the KS3 topics lower down because there are already loads of textbooks and resources so it saves us work basically!

whathasthecatdonenow - thanks for that, I didn't realise. I'm not a trained history teacher at all, I just did Primary! Most textbooks I have seem to assume Medieval for Y7, Tudors and Stuarts for Y8 and Industrial Revolution etc for Y9 though. Makes chronological sense anyway!

You can do it in any order. The only topics that are compulsory are the Holocaust and the Cold War! We do Roman, Medieval, Islamic Civilisations in Y7, Tudors, Civil War and Ind Rev in Year 8, Year 9 is Twentieth Century and Black Peoples of the Americas along with Rights and Freedoms.

We learnt about the slave trade in year 5 and visited Liverpool Maritime Musuem which has a section devoted to the subject.

Well you can just pitch it at the right level and make sure the content is age appropriate.

I think they'll be really interested, and the right age too.

I'm sure ds did it in lower school, but he knew about it anyway from us.

My children are 5 and 6 and know about the slave trade the slaves the sugar the rum and tabacco. England Africa West indies and America. They are mixed race and I felt they should know more of their dads side of family.

My friend's 6 year-old in the US has learned about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parkes, and by association looked at the slave trade. I think we can be a bit overly sensitive in this country - as long as it's dealt with in an age-appropriate way there's no reason at all why children of 10 and 11 can't cope with learning about emotive topics.

I've taught years 5 and 6 about Anne Frank and the suffragettes in the past, and discussed Stephen Lawrence with them not that long after the event. You could work it into citizenship as well.

teachers and schools sometimes make unfortunate choices - well done for thinking it through. (daughter's year 4 teacher emphasised the bloodthirsty side of aztec culture - cue sleepless nights, tears..)
slavery though is still a fact of life today, and handled carefully you could give a meaningful introduction in year six without causing too much upset.

if you chance to do rosa parks, for any reason, check whether or not she was a known political activist before the bus boycott, and not just a nice old lady with sore feet!

I am not sure it's any more horrific than many other things that go on throughoyt history and still continue today. I think you can be over-sensitive regarding the nasty stuff. THe children in school are growing up to live in a world where such things happen all the time - best that they learn about it now and can have a more enlightened view as adults.

I think it's quite important to do it, actually. DD1 wrote some rather good poems on the topic.

And how on earth are you going to explain the history of the US? (Ignoring, as many do, the huge amounts of wealth amassed in the UK on the back of the slave trade.)

If you DON'T cover it, I mean.

I am in Liverpool and children have learned the basics about the slave trade and usually been to the exhibition in the Maritime museum in primary school.

The slave trade cannot be ignored because our local history is so linked to it.

Any event or time period can be as brutal or age appropriate as you need it to be.

Yes I think it's very important to learn about the slave trade. It won't be done in a graphic way.