Which brings us to the next item, which is the Member debate under Standing Order 11.21 on teaching the history of Wales, and I call on Siân Gwenllian to move the motion. 

Motion NDM7068 Sian Gwenllian, Suzy Davies

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales calls on the Welsh Government to ensure that the history of Wales is taught to every school pupil in Wales without exception.

Motion moved.

Thank you, and I'd like to move the motion formally.

Before starting, I’d like to thank, at the beginning of this debate, a few people. Thank you to Suzy Davies for promoting and co-sponsoring this debate, and I look forward to hearing your closing comments. And thank you to those who came to and contributed to a recent seminar that I held here in the Senedd on the history of Wales in the new curriculum. We had an interesting and productive discussion from experts in the field, and we heard presentations from Eryl Owain, from the Welsh history campaign, Euryn Roberts, a historian from Bangor University, Martin Johnes, a historian from Swansea University, as well as other teachers and professors. I’d like to also thank those who’ve shown an interest—a great deal of interest—in this debate today. It’s clear that we have fire in our stomachs to discuss this subject, and I know that the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee has held a ballot to see what issues should be focused upon by them, and Welsh history was a clear winner in that ballot, and I look forward to seeing that committee pursuing its inquiry.

Now, it’s timely to hold this debate today, because the Welsh curriculum is being redrawn. The curriculum circulates around skills, rather than content. There is strength in doing that, but it can lead to problems and we have to be aware of that. Now, history, rather than the history of Wales, is named in a list of subjects that are to be taught under the title ‘humanities’, which is one of the areas of learning and experience. Now, humanities includes geography, history, religious education, sociology, and so on. They are intertwined, and so the Donaldson curriculum doesn’t set out any basis for teaching the history of Wales. And so what concerns me about this—not including the history of Wales specifically within the framework—is there is no certainty that the history of Wales and historical events within the history of Wales will be included in lessons in studying the new curriculum. We need to overturn that, and the new curriculum can be a particular opportunity to ensure that not one pupil loses the opportunity to learn about Welsh history.

I suggest a simple amendment: I suggest that 'history', in that list of subjects, should be changed to 'the history of Wales and the world', so that our assessment and our studies of global history come from the lens of our Welsh perspective. Learning about the history of Wales is vital for our next generations to make them informed and engaged citizens, which is one of the purposes of the new curriculum. At present, there is a requirement in the draft curriculum for a Welsh dimension, and that runs through the whole thing, but that isn’t at the heart of the curriculum and it’s one thread amongst many.

The principle behind the new curriculum is to give freedom to teachers to be creative in teaching their subjects, and that is laudable and shows an acknowledgement and recognition of the ability of our teachers, but there is a danger that the Government’s recommendations will lead to inconsistency and that good practice that is implemented in parts at the moment won’t be shared. So, we need detail with regard to how the new curriculum will be implemented, particularly remembering the cuts that are happening to school budgets.

The important point to bear in mind is that teaching the history of Wales is part of the current curriculum—or it’s meant to be. But we know that thousands upon thousands of pupils have been leaving school with a detailed knowledge of the history of Nazi Germany and the names of the six wives of Henry VIII, but not of the history of their own nation. So, it’s not necessarily legislation, the content or wording of the curriculum that will make the difference in that regard, but it is important that the history of Wales is rooted in the new legislation. But, as I said, legislation alone isn’t going to create the change that we want to see. It’s just as important to develop expertise within the workforce, to provide appropriate training and, importantly, to develop new, exciting resources, building on what is already available. And part of the problem is a lack of knowledge, confidence and awareness within our workforce. Perhaps the teachers themselves haven’t had an opportunity to study the history of Wales at school, and we need to break that cycle.

Talking about the resources, a number of the resources are ones that are England-centric, and there are many resources that aren’t relevant, truth be told. And what is difficult is for teachers to have the time to create appropriate materials and to develop ideas with other teachers. The cuts to school budgets and the lack of staff are making that increasingly difficult, and there is room for universities as well to assist in the work of creating the resources jointly with teachers, but that needs to be supported with funding and we need to provide enough time for that to happen, and we need a training programme on a wide range of issues in developing the new curriculum.

The First Minister said on Tuesday to my colleague, Llyr Gruffydd, that the history of Wales will be a central part of the new curriculum, with sufficient resources to support that work. Excellent. But how can we ensure that? We need a plan, we need work streams and criteria that are going to turn that statement into a reality.

The Welsh identity is alive and well. Increasing numbers of people are proud of their Welshness. People are proud of their roots and want to find out more about who we are as a nation. There is a duty to respond to that; the ambition is clear. We’ve seen the interest amongst our young people, as the murals to remember the drowning of Tryweryn have been raised the length and breadth of the nation, and there’s a great deal of interest in the Twitter feed @1919raceriots, which tweets as if the events of the race riots of Barry and Newport in June 1919 were happening today. And there was excitement around the Tiger Bay musical, which was developed by the Wales Millennium Centre, about the history of the multicultural docks here in Cardiff. Just three examples of bringing our history alive in a creative way and in a real way that fires the imagination and fires young people’s interest in learning more. Every nation needs to learn its own story—what has formed it and what its past is.

Every pupil should receive the same opportunities to learn about the history of Wales in its many forms and many interpretations in a way that challenges them and inspires them. There is a genuine opportunity here with the new curriculum and with the work that is happening around that to redress that, and it’s time for the next generation to learn about our story and our place in the world.

Well, the past informs the future. Many of the myths and legends that have shaped the heritage and culture of Wales refer back to the common past of the Ancient Britons who lived across Britain, named 'Wælisc', or 'Welsh' or 'foreigner' by the invader, but who instead referred to each other as fellow countrymen and women, as 'Cymry'. We sometimes hear about the Roman era, the conquest of Isle of Druids, Caernarfon's Segontium Roman fort, and, more recently, the Roman villas discovered in a settlement on the western shores of modern-day Wales. We hear about the Norman conquest of Wales and the castles they refurbished or built. We need to hear more about that dark bit of history in between, to which so much wonderful heritage relates and where the true origins of the Arthurian legends lie.

It is said that, for a brief moment in time, the Romano-Britons of the west, from Strathclyde to Cornwall and Brittany, stood united against the invader who dared to refer to them as 'foreigners' in their own lands. To reclaim the lost lands and reunite the tribes of Britain was their legacy. The Norman Conquest of Ireland and Britain was driven by the legends of Brutus and Arthur, as rewritten by Geoffrey of Monmouth for his Norman masters. In the winter of 1069-70, 100,000 Britons died in the attempted genocide in northern England by the Normans—the harrying of the north—either from the immediate slaughter and carnage or from the starvation that followed. And yet no memorial stands to mark this terrible loss of life. The rebellions in 1070 by Hereward the Wake in England, in 1294 by Madog ap Llywelyn in Wales, and in 1297 by William Wallace in Scotland were all rebellions by Britons against Norman rule.

Robert the Bruce's father and uncle fought for Norman King Edward I, the 'hammer of the Scots' in the 1282-84 conquest of Wales, owing military service for their English lands. Robert himself is thought to have spent some time at Edward's court during this period and may himself have been involved. In the service of a knight from Flintshire, Sir Gregory Sais, Owain Glyndŵr and his brother Tudur spent a period guarding Berwick-upon-Tweed on the Anglo-Scottish border, and in 1385, Owain and three other family members joined the army that the last Norman king, Richard II, led against Scotland. Having dutifully served this last Plantagenet king, he then plotted with the Percys and the Mortimers to divide the kingdom into three.

Henry VII came from an old established Anglesey family, which claimed descent from Cadwaladr, who was, in legend, the last ancient British king. He was descended through the paternal line from Ednyfed Fychan, the seneschal or steward of Gwynedd, and through the seneschal's wife from Rhys ap Tewdwr, the king of Deheubarth in south Wales. To the bards of Wales, Henry was a candidate for y mab darogan—the son of prophecy—who would free the Welsh from oppression. As such, when he ascended to the throne, he reunited the Romano-Britons in the west with their fellow countrymen and countrywomen—y Cymry in the lost lands to the east.

Henry VII's daughter Margaret married into the Scottish royal family. Her direct descendant was James VI of Scotland, who succeeded Elizabeth I on the throne of England in 1603 and therefore became King James I of a United Kingdom, uniting Scotland with the rest of the UK through inheritance not conquest, the political and economic union passed by the Parliaments of England and Scotland 104 years later. Elizabeth II is a direct descendant of Henry VII via his daughter Margaret, the older sister of Henry VIII.

Flooding of the north Wales village of Capel Celyn in 1965 to create a reservoir to provide water to Liverpool echoed events in Lancashire a century earlier when the chain of Rivington reservoirs were constructed to supply water to Liverpool, with the flooding of many dwellings in local communities and mill and farm land, and, yes, protests in Liverpool.

The economic causes and social impact of modern industrial history are also border blind. After 1970, coal mining practically disappeared in north and south Wales, as well as Northumberland and Durham, Yorkshire, the Scottish central belt, Lancashire, Cumbria, the east and west midlands and Kent. Steelwork closures in 1980 involved Shotton, Consett and Corby. Past myths and present truths such as these combine to provide the foundational legends of our land. The history of Wales and the history of the Britons are therefore intertwined and inseparable, and should be taught to every school pupil in Wales on this basis.

I'm grateful to have the opportunity to speak in this debate, because I hope that history is more to us than simply a list of dates and understanding of the gentry and aristocracy. For me, history is far more than that. It's a history of our people, it's a history of our language, our culture, our geography, our economy. We can't have an economic history without Robert Owen and the impact that he is still having today, and I speak as a Co-operative Member of this Parliament. The culture that was created as a consequence of industrialisation is the culture that I grew up in, and we have to understand certainly the structural, if you like, history of our country.

The Minister will know the history of Cilmeri and its importance to us, and it's important that my son knows that history as well. But the Minister, of course, also, last week, visited the Brinore tramroad in her constituency in Talybont. Now, had the Minister walked along it, then she would've ended up in my constituency in Tredegar, and having walked across the hills and walked through Trefil, she would have passed Chartist cave. Now, I spent 30 years looking for it, I hope she would have more luck. She would have known there the history of Chartist cave where weapons were held before Zephaniah Williams spoke to the people in Tredegar in Twyn Star—he probably spoke in Welsh—and led them on that wet November weekend to the Westgate Hotel in Newport. Those are the things that connect us. They connect Breconshire and Blaenau Gwent and the Heads of the Valleys.

When I was in school, I learnt not only about the industrial revolution—the coincidence of coal, iron ore, timber and water at the Heads of the Valleys that drove an industrial revolution—but I also learned about the history of a people who were created as a consequence of that industrial revolution and a culture that was created by that people. I learnt about the red flag being held aloft by the workers of Merthyr, and I learnt about why they were doing that. I also learnt about the 'black domain' of the Scotch Cattle that enforced the strikes in Tredegar.

I also learnt where the ironworks were in Tredegar. There's no sign there today, but there is a gate to the old NCB works, which tells us another story about our history. That is a history that wasn't necessarily on the curriculum, but it was given to me by inspiring teachers. I still call Mr Darkins 'Mr Darkins' and not 'Jeff'. He inspired me to learn about the Chartists and he inspired me to learn about who we were and where we come from. And PJ—Peter Morgan Jones—who taught us all about the history of what Wales happens to be; he spent time talking to us about Father Ignatius, of course, in Capel-y-ffin, as well. So, we have a cultural, historical and religious history, far more than simply something that happens in a classroom and revolves around dates.

I hope that the Minister, in replying to this debate, would talk to us about what she has called in her work 'cynefin', which I think is a wonderful, untranslatable word that talks to us about where we come from, where we live, where our family lives and where our people live. I hope that the cynefin concept, the idea that we are what we have been made, is something that won't be limited to a history lesson. I hope it'll be a part of our economic lessons, I hope it'll be a part of our geography lessons, I hope it'll be a part of our language lessons, I hope it'll be a part of creating a citizen who understands not only what happened and when, but how that has impacted us today.

Let me say this in closing. I think we need to find a way of doing this outside school as well. Because Mr Darkins and PJ taught me as much outside the classroom as they did within the classroom, by inspiring us to find out more. Everybody of my generation understands and remembers Gwyn Alf and Wynford Vaughan-Thomas arguing across the country and through the generations in The Dragon Has Two Tongues. One of the first protests I went on was to remember the Merthyr rising and to remember what happened there. He spoke then about his personal history as a son of Dowlais, but he also spoke about his experiences on the beaches of Normandy, fighting what he described as the people's war against fascism—again, that resounds down the ages.

History is not always comfortable and not always convenient and not always easy. We are remembering at the moment the race riots in Cardiff. I spoke to people at home in Tredegar about remembering a century after the anti-Jewish riots in 1911. They didn't want to remember that. They were ashamed of what happened in our town in our name and ashamed of what that had done to us, especially now that we are still fighting anti-Semitism in this country. So, our history is not simply what has happened in the past, it's who we are today, and it is our responsibility as parliamentarians and as leaders of this country to ensure that our history remains in the hearts and minds of our people when we seek to create the future for our people.

On 13 April this year, we awoke to the news that vandals had destroyed part of the 'Cofiwch Dryweryn' mural near Aberystwyth. It was, no doubt, a political act, and it's given rise to the creation of replica murals across Wales. But the most barbaric element for me was that they had smashed through the word 'cofiwch', meaning 'remember'—an attempt to erase and shatter our memory of our past.

Now, erecting monuments has its place. We are good at that in Wales. But in order for us to feel a sense of ownership of those central moments in our history, good and bad, we have to be taught about them. This is as true of recent history as it is for learning about the early Britons. In order to understand where we are, what we are, we have to know what shaped us. What is undeniable is that we are a nation of storytellers, right back to the sixth-century verses of Aneirin and Taliesin and through to the cyfarwyddion and Gogynfeirdd who relayed our myths, hearth histories and folk tales to crowds of people and their princes. Imaginative stories were, as Gwyn Alf Williams had it, the quickest way over the mountains. Stories have nourished us. They have bound us together. And that is no more true of our own stories, our own histories.

I use the word 'histories' in the plural, and I think it's vitally important that opportunities are found in the new curriculum to relay the histories we don't know as much about: the parts played by Welsh people in great historical events in other parts of the world, like the American revolution, and also to try to uncover new sources, new ways of telling the stories of people who didn't write the history books. I would associate myself too with calls for schools in Cardiff to teach pupils about the race riots that happened 100 years ago. Wales continues to be enriched by the many cultures that have contributed to our stories, and we shouldn't shy away from uglier episodes in our past in order to learn from them.

I've already referred to that poet from the sixth century, Aneirin. His masterpiece, 'Y Gododdin', is a literary record of the forces of the Gododdin who died in a battle in the Old North, an area near Catterick, or Catraeth, to give its Brythonic name. It's impossible to overemphasise the literary and historic significance of this extraordinary poem, because it’s among the oldest of its type in Europe—and, in many ways, it was only by accident that it survived. In one exceptional line, Aneirin says that there was silence after the battle—'tawelwch fu'. There is very little historical information about the people of Gododdin or the battle that destroyed them. History is silent about them. This only goes to prove how important it is that we tell those tales that have survived.

We cannot be too prescriptive and we must provide space for teachers and schools to decide on the best way to dovetail local history into their lessons. There are many ways of teaching history. It doesn't necessarily have to be chronological. One could argue that far too much history puts too much emphasis on the acts of kings and queens whilst neglecting the experiences of ordinary people, of local riots and uprisings and the change in the way that ordinary people saw themselves and their importance within society—such as the Chartists, the Rebecca rioters and Dic Penderyn. If the curriculum is too ambiguous about the importance of Welsh history, there's a danger that it will be peripheral or will be a footnote to global history.

In closing, Llywydd, I'd like to quote some more words from Gwyn Alf Williams, who pointed out that that the Welsh have made themselves by telling and retelling their story in generation after generation. He said that Wales is an artefact, which the Welsh produce if they want to. It requires an act of choice. Now, I've spoken about murals and artefacts in my contribution today, but I hope I've also made clear that Welsh history isn't just about stone and masonry; it's about uprisings, unexpected moments, lighting-flash changes. Welsh children all over Wales should learn about it in all its glory.

I must say I'm enjoying the speeches in this really quite enchanting and important debate. When Alun was talking about Gwyn Alf's experiences at Normandy—it's the seventy-fifth anniversary; very appropriate that we heard that—I did think perhaps you'd go on to Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and his wonderful autobiography where he, of course, describes that he landed with the allies in the south of France and then fought his way through Burgundy, under occasional threat from the Wehrmacht but constant threat from French hospitality. It's a most incredible account of his experiences, but what wonderful characters they were.

I also appreciate the fact that Alun referred to a teacher, and I want to pay tribute to Roy Adams, who was head of history at Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School when I was there in the late 1970s. Now, I realise what an excellent history department that was. At the time, you think it's just normal and everywhere. The teaching of Welsh history was just integrated throughout the curriculum, both in terms of the importance that it was given, but also the feeling and how it connected to British and European history—and that, of course, is what should happen. I must say that I'm sure that I tested his vocation, but he would be pleased to know, I think, that I did the BBC quiz—I hope you've all done that—and I did get them all right, amazingly. [Laughter.] I'm sorry; I've always been an exhibitionist to some extent and I shouldn't boast, but I did get them all right.

I think it's really important that we cherish what makes us. History is always in the making. Beyond bare facts and natural disasters and the brutal events, it is about the importance of what happened, how we understand more. Our view of the battle of Bosworth is very different from the Edwardians'. Our view of the reformation in Wales is very different from what was thought at the height of non-conformity in the nineteenth century. These things constantly have to be examined.

But, I go back to the Cwricwlwm Cymreig, published in 2012, which I think was quite seminal in saying that the importance of Welsh history needed to be examined. It was very balanced, that report, because it said that generally in the UK the teaching of the history of the home nations was poor. I think that this accounts also, perhaps, for the lack of teaching of English history, Scottish history and perhaps Irish history as well, though this goes beyond my own understanding in depth. But, I do think that, in Britain, we have underplayed the importance of the home nations in constituting a greater British experience. Now, some people will not agree with the political dimension of that, but the social, cultural and geographic dimension has always been there, and I think that that needs to come through in the teaching of Welsh history.

But, I do commend what that report said in 2012, because I think it is really quite challenging that Welsh history should be central to the experience of Welsh students, so that everyone has the experience that I had at Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School. It is certainly, I think, something that may require us to look at guidance. The materials—I think, again, that report said that heritage-funded organisations in Wales should really be part of developing not only curriculum materials, but also—. Where I was brought up, you could go to Neath Abbey and see the physical consequence of the reformation, and it's really important that young people get that experience.

I do want to finish, however, on the importance of the public understanding of Welsh history, which goes well beyond what happens in school and goes well beyond Wales. I think the public understanding of Welsh history in the rest of the UK is probably the most meagre experience in terms of those who are not Welsh and what they get. I think that they are missing out. How many English people don't realise the significance of their place names? How many people in and around central Scotland—Glasgow and the like—don't have any real understanding of the kingdom of Strathclyde? I went to the National Museum of Scotland once and asked, 'Do you have any collection or material on the kingdom of Strathclyde?' and I was told, 'No, this is the museum of Scotland.' Their concept of Scotland is post the kingdom of Strathclyde. I think that that is something that we should question because I don't think you can understand British history and Welsh history without understanding that the great works that were earlier referred to, the originals tended to be found in that part of what we now call Scotland.

Finally, the British Museum had quite a good exhibition on the Celtic civilization a few years ago. But, where it petered out into alarming nothingness was its treatment of Wales. There was a little bit, but it was almost as if the Celtic civilization had evaporated. You had no sense of, 'Oh, it did continue, actually, through the language, culture and literature of Wales—and, indeed, other parts of the UK, and Spain and France.' This is something that we do need to challenge. It's a really good subject for this backbench debate, and I do commend Siân for bringing it forward.

I don't think you'll find a Member in this Chamber today who is more passionate about Welsh history and the teaching of Welsh history than me, as someone with a degree in history and Welsh history from Cardiff University and a Master's in modern Welsh history from the same institution, and more importantly, someone who taught history in a secondary school at key stage 3, GCSE and A-level for 16 years to pupils of all abilities, including those in discrete ALN classes. Welsh history has always been a key part of my professional working life before I arrived at this place, and I'm very proud of the role that I've been able to personally play in helping to educate thousands of young people over those years in the passion, drama and identity of our nation's history.

And yet today I'm unsure whether or not I will actually be able to support this motion, because I do believe that it may ill-thought-through. I will listen intently to the comments of the Minister on this matter before making my decision, but I want to pick up on the most obvious point. It's a very delicate point, but a point that really does need to be made.

The motion states that the history of Wales should be taught to every school pupil in Wales without exception. This is clearly a blanket proposal that views young people as a homogenous mass, and I believe that that is actually unrealistic. It overlooks the fact that we have some pupils within our special school system, not all of them, but a number, with very complex learning disabilities. Take, for example, a pupil who may be both blind and deaf, learning disabilities that are so complex that the delivery of basic literacy and numeracy skills may be a significant challenge for them. For some, their education is quite rightly focused on basic life skills. Are we really, as a group of politicians, nearly all of us lacking in expertise in the delivery of education, going to say that we know how best to educate those pupils with the most complex learning needs? Have we consulted with experts as to whether this approach would be possible or indeed beneficial? I think the answer is that we have not, but I will listen intently to what the Minister says, and I hope that she'll be able to make a comment about that specific point.

That is, of course, not to say that the teaching of Welsh history should only be the preserve of a certain cohort, and I would strongly argue that this has never been the case. Welsh history has always been firmly embedded in the national curriculum throughout the key stages, and in all my years of teaching I have never met a teacher who failed to make full use of Welsh history topics and case studies in all of their lessons. These were very often the ones that were most popular amongst students, too. So I do object to the comments made by Siân Gwenllian when she said that thousands of pupils leave school every year without a full understanding of Welsh history, and I wonder what evidence she's used for those comments when we know that Estyn has never raised any systematic criticisms of the teaching of Welsh history in our schools.

I do think it's important also to note the role of our teacher training institutions in this area. I spent many years working with Swansea University, with Cardiff Met and with Trinity St David's as a mentor for history PGCE students. What I saw was consistent good practice, with very many hours of university classroom time being devoted to ensuring that PGCE students, especially those from outside Wales, completed their course with a very thorough grounding in Welsh history, having been assessed rigorously in the classroom for their delivery of that too. There's absolutely no reason to suggest that any of that will change with the roll-out of the new curriculum, 'Successful Futures', even for the most cynical observer, and unfortunately we appear to have some of those in the Chamber today.

It is a long-held truth that teachers will teach the topics that their students will be assessed on. Welsh history has always been firmly embedded in history GCSE, and it is a relatively strong feature in A-level syllabuses too, although I do agree that more could be done to make it a more prominent feature here. The revised course content for GCSE, AS and A-level all still require the development of a Welsh perspective, at times through individual Welsh history modules and at other times by linking Welsh history to a national or international perspective. As long as Welsh history remains on the syllabus for exam-level classes you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be taught, and taught well—not just at key stage 4 and key stage 5, but also at earlier key stages as teachers prepare their pupils for the future.

However, I would also argue very strongly that the natural love and enthusiasm for Welsh history amongst those in the teaching profession is its greatest asset, and we do teachers a terrible disservice in implying that that enthusiasm or the skills to research and deliver lessons on perhaps unfamiliar topics are not there. Local history examples are the very best way to get students engaged in a topic. Teachers know this, they're inspired by this, and they work very hard to deliver lessons based around this too. So, let's trust our professionals, let's trust our exam system, and let's trust in our young people too.

There are some comforting non-threatening stereotypes available when people nowadays, in the UK generally, feel the need to give a nod towards the existence of Wales. It doesn't happen often—Wales is usually ignored. This has been pointed out. Its own unique, ancient history is merely the stuff of myths and legends, people say. Not any truth at all, is there? This week, we had Tom Watson MP announcing to fanfares a proposal to change Labour's policy to campaign for a second referendum and a remain vote. Mark Drakeford already said that two weeks ago. But that was in Wales; it doesn't count. It doesn't even register.

Anyway, those comforting stereotypes that people have when trying to talk about their Welsh friends: we all sing in choirs; we all play rugby, now football; we all eat Caerphilly cheese, cawl, leek. Non-threatening, even passionate, those stereotypes, in their place. But don't mistake that for expressions of political national freedom, though, will you?

I nearly choked on my laverbread, leek and Welsh cake combo this week, when I read in the South Wales Evening Post about the old dialect in Swansea—meaning Welsh, the Welsh language. No old dialect, but living Welsh, and one of Europe's oldest living languages, spoken on the banks of the Tawe for the last 2,000 years and still being spoken by 31,000 people in Swansea today.

There are over 1,000 Latin words in the Welsh language because these languages co-existed when the Romans were in power almost 2,000 years ago. Welsh written 1,500 years ago is to be seen in Aberystwyth today, Welsh written in Edinburgh, and old Welsh spoken across the British isles from Glasgow—as David Melding said, 'Glasgow' is an old Welsh word—down throughout the British isles.

But as with several other nations, we have a history of bloody oppression at the hands of the Saxons and others who arrived at the British isles from the sixth century onwards. And we battled for our independence across the centuries. Hywel Dda, Gwenllian, Owain Glyndŵr, Llywelyn—that’s our history. It’s not a myth or a legend. And our folk history as the base for non-conformity and Christianity, and people stopping drinking alcohol and playing rugby during the revival of 1904-05 and for years afterwards. That’s our history. It’s not a legend or a myth.

And the Welsh language mediated Merthyr riots, Chartist riots and Rebecca riots— riots in the received history of Britain; uprisings in folk, working people's memory. The Merthyr uprising and Dic Penderyn saying, 'Duw, dyma gamwedd', as he is led to the scaffold an innocent man. And these uprisings, as Alun Davies said, co-ordinated in Welsh, brought about, subsequently, the treachery of the blue books and the Welsh not, to beat the Welsh language out of us as children.

I was in Dubrovnik some years ago, and a Croatian boatman in the harbour said, 'Yes, the Welsh, the original indigenous inhabitants of the British isles. We are taught that in the schools of Croatia.' It would be good if it was taught in the schools of Wales.

And 'Cofiwch Dryweryn', the recent outbreak—. David.

I'm loath to point this out, but I think it's highly disputed that we were the indigenous people of the British isles. The British isles was settled just after the last ice age. Magnificent as our Celtic inheritance is, there were people here before that.

I was quoting the Croatian national linguistic experience.

Cofiwch Dryweryn—let me bring you forward a few millennia, David. The recent outbreak of murals to remember the forced removal of a Welsh-speaking village in 1965 to provide water for Liverpool—water that that city then subsequently did not use in the teeth of fierce opposition. That long-standing wall in Ceredigion, in the Llywydd's constituency, was recently vandalised, as we all know. And people say, 'But, people know about Tryweryn, surely—don't they?' Well, Bridgend council don't. They claim 'Cofiwch Dryweryn' is an advert and needs planning permission. People need to know the history of Wales. It shouldn't depend on individual teacher experiences. And let's not be afraid. People say the history of the majority of British culture is education—1066 and all that—whereas the history of Wales is ideology. Surely not. An inconvenient truth, perhaps. Welsh history is an inconvenient truth, but education nonetheless. Diolch yn fawr. 

Well, it's difficult to follow that, really, but I'll do my best. [Laughter.] I'll try and avoid repeating some of things that have been said, many of which I agree with. I very much welcome, Siân, that you brought this debate here. It's something I wrote about a while back after doing a number of talks in schools on historical issues and was surprised, actually, at the scale to which local historical events of incredible magnitude were not known, not only by the pupils but also by the teachers.

I do present, I think, a certain concern, carefulness, cautiousness about the teaching of history. Because when we talk about the history, we're talking about the history of people. We're talking about social history. We're talking also, very importantly in the Welsh context, about class. These are issues that don't just apply to Wales. They apply to England. You can very much criticize the teaching of history in England and in many other parts of the world, and the presentation of the teaching of the history of the British empire. And it's partly because history has tended to be selective, by those who were in control, and presenting a particular issue. So, the teaching of events during the British empire, the Amritsar massacre, the famine in Ireland, in England the Peterloo massacre—they're all matters that have only really now come to the fore as we begin to have a more accurate, I think, discussion around history. So, history is not about a particular version of history or even about a particular interpretation of history; it's about providing the information, the analysis, the local knowledge, the local facts, to allow people to develop the capacity to interpret history.

One of the issues that concerned me was, for example, the teaching in the Taff Ely area when I was in school. We talked about Dr William Price, and, of course, everybody knows that that's the bloke who cremated his son, wasn't it? But the importance was that it represented a challenge and a break between law based on church law as opposed to common law, because cremation was a direct attack on the belief in the reincarnation, the resurrection of the body—it was a fundamental change. And I've never heard that ever discussed or talked about or interpreted in any particular way. I've not heard any discussion within our schools about the importance of local people or the importance of people like Arthur Horner, people like Will Paynter who led the National Unemployed Workers' Movement—a very, very significant factor within Wales. 

I live in Tonyrefail in the Ely valley. In the Taff vale, of course, was one of the major legal cases arising out of an industrial dispute that led to one of the major issues around the freedom of people to organise, which led to the Trade Disputes Act of 1906. I've never heard it discussed. Yet, it is actually a very fundamental part of our understanding of the development of democratic processes. So, those are my comments on that, because, I agree, there is a lot of good teaching of Welsh history, I'm sure, but there are also enormous gaps in it and there is enormous weakness in terms of the localisation of the teaching, and particularly the teaching of class history, the history around the movements, around people and around class. That is what I would like to see resurrected.

The point I made during one of the committee sessions on this, which to me I think is very important, is actually the issue of the training of teachers and how that is adapted and how we actually take all these particular views in terms of a more effective teaching of local and Welsh history. That seems to me to be an issue. And also, the lack of availability of resources—the lack of specific materials that actually promote, that analyse, that talk about these social movements, that talk about mutualism and co-operativism. Co-operativism had one of its major developments in the Ynysybwl area, and led to the establishment of a major co-operative movement. So, all these things are there that are fundamentally important to us.

So, what I would hope is that, in the development of the new curriculum in terms of the teaching, we have a teaching of Wales. I've no problems with the wording of the motion, just that we do need to be cautious about our interpretation of precisely what we're talking about, what it means. But what it is, very importantly, is a recognition that there is a long way to go in Wales and in the rest of the UK, and in parts of Europe and the rest of the world, about, I think, a new, a modern and an honest and open approach to the teaching of history.      

I'd like to thank Siân for bringing this forward today. Understanding and learning the lessons from our history as a nation, as a community and as individuals is hugely valuable, and, as has been said, if we don't know where we've come from, how do we know where we're going? 

Wales is a country with a rich and diverse history, but that doesn't mean that we should just look inward on ourselves. World history is incredibly important and Wales has been a key influencer, whether that's our role in the industrial revolution or Welsh miners fighting in the Spanish civil war. We should utilise this as much as possible to study world events through local Welsh examples. A focus on local history, in particular, can really bring it to life.

Always a favourite with all ages is the exploits of the Roman Empire, and it's a topic that rightly receives a lot of attention in schools. Personally, having a great primary school teacher really brought it to life for me and started my love of history. However, we must take advantage of the historical events and influences that have happened here on our doorstep. A visit to the amphitheatre in Caerleon is an opportunity to walk around the only remaining Roman legion barracks on view anywhere in Europe. Dating back to the first century AD, Caerleon was one of only three permanent fortresses in Roman Britain. We have other roman sites, including Caerwent, Carmarthen and Caernarfon.

Tailoring history education to local areas provides huge scope for pupils to really engage with the curriculum. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, privateers were a key part of the UK, developing its status in the world. The infamous Henry Morgan, who was Captain Morgan, was a member of the Morgan family of Tredegar House. Many street names in the area surrounding the estate have connections to Jamaica and his exploits in the Caribbean, but I wonder how many people locally know the significance of these names?  

Newport also holds an important place in our democratic and parliamentary heritage, something we should capitalise on when pupils are studying these topics. Following in the footsteps of the Chartists to the Westgate Hotel enables children to imagine the exact journey taken by John Frost, Zephaniah Williams and the other petitioners in 1839. A trip to the post box on Risca Road, which the suffragette Lady Rhondda tried to blow up in protest, is another example of a tangible place to visit. While there are many people lost to history, these landmarks and routes can tie people to a place and make history far more than a subject in a textbook.

As an old dock town, Newport, after Cardiff, is the second most multicultural community in Wales. It has a proud history, but there are also difficult aspects that should equally be taught in our schools and 2019 marks the centenary of the Newport race riots. The George Street riots, it's said, involved 5,000 people, something that most Newportonians would be unaware of—riots that started in Newport and then spread to Cardiff and throughout other parts of the UK. This year, the historic dock project and the Bigger Picture, linked with Pillgwenlly Primary School, talked about what happened and the strong community bonds that we have today. 

These are just some examples from my part of Wales, and there are plenty more the length and breadth of Wales, and we must learn and share our heritage. History gives us a sense of connection to place, time and community, and teachers need the support and freedom to explore ways of engaging every child with Welsh history. If we don't teach our history, how can we expect them to learn from it? 

The Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams.

Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I begin by thanking Siân and Suzy for bringing forward this debate today, and allowing us to engage in impressions—pale, I must admit—of those Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and Gwyn Alf Williams Welsh history discussions that many of us will remember from the 1980s and have been referenced so often this afternoon, and the fact that they have clearly demonstrates the impact that that programme especially and those two individuals have had on our own understanding of our history.

At the outset, I can confirm that the Government will support the motion today. However, I will use this opportunity to provide clarification on plans for the new curriculum and to examine the challenges of defining a singular history of Wales that is outlined in the motion. Firstly, Members will be aware that both a Welsh dimension and an international perspective are essential to each of the six areas of learning and experience in the new curriculum. The new curriculum—Vikki, I can give you an absolute assurance—has been designed by the teaching profession for the teaching profession and the children of Wales, and has included those working in our special schools with some of the children with the most profound needs—a curriculum that will be inclusive and accessible—and I'm pleased to say has received a great deal of support from those practitioners in special schools. They believe that this new curriculum gives them even greater opportunities for the children and young people that they work with.

Now, analysing, understanding and questioning one's identity and history as a citizen of Wales, and that relationship to the rest of these islands and, indeed, the world, should not be limited to a history lesson. The innovative theme and principle of 'cynefin' is one that runs throughout each of the draft areas of learning and experience. The 'cynefin' is the place where we feel we belong, where the people and the landscape around us are familiar, and the sights and sounds are reassuringly recognisable. 'Cynefin' is not just a place in a physical or a geographical sense. It is the historic, cultural and social place that has shaped and continues to shape the community in which it inhabits, and from those places, we will expect learners to know and to understand their communities, their nation and the world. So, for example, learners will learn about Robert Recorde in the maths AoLE, the linguistic and the literary history of Wales in both languages will be covered in the languages, literature and communication AoLE, and in science technology, learners will explore how Wales's geography, its resources, its workforce—those that were born here in Wales and those that chose to make their home here in Wales—shape the scientific activity and the technological industry of the country. But, of course, the principle of 'cynefin' means learners will have different starting points of appreciating the histories and the stories of Wales. And I want to—and she's left her seat—I want to emphasise to Delyth that it is indeed histories and stories. There is not one single narrative or national story.

Now, as we have heard, this year is the centenary of the race riots in Cardiff, Barry and Newport. It's a part of our history that has often been overlooked, and I congratulate the Cardiff University students who have recently been tweeting as live updates of those riots. It's an episode that challenges the self-identity that we sometimes have as a community, as a nation, and therefore it is important to any study of Welsh history.

Now, some in this Chamber may know that I have a personal interest in Welsh-American history. It reflects my own family's story, when my grandfather, named after Giraldus Cambrensis, decided to swap the mines of Carmarthenshire for the mines of West Virginia. So, I've noted with interest that S4C is currently reshowing Dr Jerry Hunter's programme on the links between Wales and the American slave trade. Too often, we can be guilty of only recognising the positive contribution of Wales and the Welsh people to North America, through those that signed the declaration of independence to those that founded the institutions of Yale and Brown, and we are rightly proud—we should be rightly proud of those achievements and they are worthy of study—however—

Will the Minister give way?

Of course.

You make a really important point, and it's really struck me, travelling around America, and particularly the south, how many Americans of African heritage have Welsh surnames—Williams, Evans, Jones, Davies. It really is quite chilling to think of the implications of that. 

Well, the Member has anticipated perfectly—

Oh, I'm sorry. [Laughter.]

—the next part of my contribution. We cannot—we cannot, David, ignore that many Welsh people were involved in owning and bringing slaves to America, and, as David has rightly said, we only have to look at the huge African-American populations with names such as Davies, Jones and Williams that reflect that history, whilst also recognising that the Welsh-American population also played a big part in the abolitionist movement and in the change of attitude and shift before the Civil War. Now, these examples, both on our doorstep here in the old docks area, and across the Atlantic, are as essential to a history of Wales as the Acts of Union, the Merthyr Rising, the drowning of Tryweryn, or the clearance of Epynt. And, of course, we mustn't forget that major UK or global events, such as those two world wars or the development of the welfare state and the national health service, are also part of the history of Wales.

Studying the history and histories of Wales is important to the fulfilment of the purposes of the new curriculum. To be an engaged, informed and ethical citizen, learners will make sense of their identity and how our history, cultures and geography shape it. However, I will make it clear that the addition of statutory requirements to the curriculum would be a direct contradiction to the structure and the framework that is being produced at a national level. However, each area of learning and experience is explicit in identifying a Welsh dimension as well as that important principle of cynefin. Therefore, in supporting this motion, I am recommitting to the fact that the histories and stories of Wales will be a core aspect of each and every area of learning and experience across our new curriculum. Diolch yn fawr.

Suzy Davies to reply to the debate.

Thank you, Llywydd, and thank you to everyone.

I'm really—. In six minutes, there's no way I'm going to be able to give everybody good justice in this one. But I'm really pleased that this was accepted for debate today. I can't think of the last time I enjoyed a debate as much, as well as actually learning from it. I suppose the question should be why we're having it at all, and, actually, it struck me, having followed some of the Twitter coverage of what we've been doing today, that one commentator said, 'It's unbelievable that we're debating whether Welsh history—or how it—should be taught in our schools. Without self-awareness, we are stateless and rootless and ignorant of our own country, how it has been shaped, the significance and the contributions the people from Wales have made, and we will be left with the impression of irrelevance and nothingness.'

Now, I think that might possibly be overstating it—yma o hyd and all the rest of it; we are still here—but there are some serious questions about why we are where we are, and I suppose it is worth just reminding the Chamber here that this actually goes back to—1952 we were talking about this, and the Ministry of Education then, way back in pre-devolved times, had already noted that the history of Wales is relegated to the background in what was being taught then. By the time it got to the Education Reform Act 1988—this is some time on—there was still an understanding that, in Wales, we needed a distinctly Welsh curriculum for schools. So, you can imagine, by the time we got to 1995, and we're just before devolution now—both the English and Welsh language cultures in the country need to be exhibited in the curriculum as it was taught then, and the feeling was that it wasn't being. And then, by 2013, which is well after devolution and well into the new curriculum then, we found ourselves in a position where—unfortunately, Vikki, you may be the paragon in this, because only 10 per cent to 15 per cent of history GCSEs had content in them about Wales, and I really wish that the rest of Wales, and the children in the rest of Wales, had the experience that your children have had. [Interruption.] If you give me extra time. Thank you.

[Inaudible.]—when every single history GCSE that's put out by the WJEC does have a Welsh history dimension to it. 

Okay. Well, the research for that has come from the work of Dr Elin Jones, who did the preliminary work for the Cwricwlwm Cymreig back in 2013 and 2015, and there's much more recent evidence that has come from Martin Johnes, I think, from Swansea University, which shows that, while that is available to teachers to teach, the huge majority of them don't pick up on those modules. And the huge majority—and it is a huge majority; I'm sorry, I don't have the details with me, but I'm sure we can get it to you—is that—. It's the Nazis and America that are taking up the majority of the curriculum time. And, as the Minister said, there are elements in that where, actually, the connection with Wales and how that helps us look at ourselves is really important, but I'm not convinced, based on the little survey I've done today, that that is coming through at all. Because despite all this—and this is in no way scientific, but I've been speaking to people younger than me today on the floor here in Tŷ Hywel, and of one, two, three, four, 10 people I spoke to who were younger than me, two of them didn't recall anything at all apart from learning about the Welsh not in primary school—a lot of them remembered that—some remembered being taught about the Rebecca Riots, some about Chartists—it depended where they were from in Wales—but, actually, the majority of them couldn't remember anything they'd learnt in school about Welsh history. And that's why we're having this debate, because while, as you know, I have some sympathy for—well, more than sympathy, some hope for—the new curriculum, and everything you've said today, Minister, is true, it's going to be open to teachers across Wales to incorporate Welsh history to a greater or lesser degree, as much as they want, the wording that's in there at the moment—and I've read the AOLE guidance, such as it is at the moment; I appreciate it could develop—there's nothing in there that this needs to happen for those reasons, so that we're not left with the impressions of irrelevance and nothingness.

I haven't got much—. I just want to finish with a point later on, but I want to deal with some contributions first. Siân, you kicked off saying that hanes, there's tân yn y bol over this—yes, there is at the moment, but, if we don't do something about this now, it's just going to go out, because, as Delyth was saying, you know, 'cofiwch', well, if we're not taught anything, what on earth are we going to cofio? And it does relate to the question of hunaniaeth—what's missing from people's knowledge we can't remember. I think it struck me that more people said they'd learnt more from the Huw Edwards programme about the history of Wales fairly recently than they had from their own school curricula.

But where I'm going to agree with the Minister, and actually other speakers here, is that we shouldn't overprescribe the content. When Mark Isherwood made his contribution, I thought that was just as important as having 'Cofiwch Dryweryn' as something we should consider doing. The response to this debate should be that we should have as much about Welsh history on the curriculum as possible. There is no one history in Wales—I think you might have been the person who said that, Minister. Who is to say whether the dissolution of the monasteries has had more of an impact or less of an impact than the drowning of Capel Celyn? I don't know. That's the point of, in this curriculum, having the opportunity to discuss it, but the content has to be there to discuss, and I think that's what is behind this debate—well, it certainly is for me.

The one question I did have about it is, when we're talking about Welsh history, for me, that must include British history—Welsh, British and international—because Wales and Britain is, again, another piece of fertile territory in this curriculum, that we can talk about what Welsh identity means. And, just to respond to something that Mick Antoniw said—yes, you're quite right about local heroes, but I actually don't have a problem with talking about Nelson and Wellington, even though they don't sound particularly Welsh. They lead to a discussion about why we still have a monarchy and why we still have a monarchy when we're surrounded by Republics. And the question then would be: why do so many people in Wales support the monarchy? You can see where I'm coming from.

There's no way I can cover all this, I'm really sorry. That whole idea of experiencing, touching history, which Alun Davies made, and was followed up by Jayne Bryant—absolutely. When I saw the Acts of Union—which must be poison to the people at the other end of this Chamber—they really made me excited, because they, for the first time, showed me that was the piece of paper that allowed the Welsh into Parliament, and that was something that was really important for me, from a historical point of view. So, again—[Interruption.] We didn't have Welsh people there—[Interruption.] There we are; see, we are doing precisely what the national curriculum should do, provided that the Minister accepts this motion, which you have done.

And, if you'll allow me this very final point, this is fantastic, this debate, but, unless teachers have the resources to teach this, all these ambitions for the cynefin to be transported throughout the curriculum will come to naught, and there is still a concern for me that the teachers we have in the system at the moment, if they don't have resources, if they don't know how to do what you want them to do, they will still be teaching the same stuff and crowbarring some of this ambition into it. And that'll be a failure, both of aspiration and the curriculum itself. If we're still talking about Nazis and America in 10 years' time, without proper context, then I think it'll be a disappointment for us all.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? No. Therefore, the motion is agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.