Birmingham City captain Troy Deeney is calling for the mandatory teaching of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic history in the school curriculum. The former Watford player launched a petition and also released an open letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, which highlighted the results of his YouGov survey.

He said that it shows that the majority of British teachers who took part in the study believe the school system has a racial bias. 12% feel empowered to teach diverse topics.

 

A leading figure in the anti-racism campaigner and a key organiser of Premier League players taking the knee for the first time during the summer of 2020 in support of racial equality and the Black Lives Matter campaign, with players wearing shirts bearing that message after the top flight's resumption, said that the change is needed to inform, identify and combat discriminatory stereotypes from an early age.

In the open letter he told Zahawi "I believe the current system is failing children from ethnic minorities. I urge you to review this topic again."

He went on: "Twenty months ago, I was kneeling alongside my colleagues in the centre of a football pitch.

"Now, nearly two years on from the death of George Floyd and the tidal wave of outrage that followed, an eerie quiet seems to have descended on national cultural debate and the issues raised have receded from the news agenda.

"Yet in that time both myself and my family have continued to experience vile racist abuse on social media and, at times, in public, emboldening me even further to use my platform to keep the conversation at the forefront of people's minds, campaign for change and not to let this movement and its momentum just fade away."

In a tweet Nadhim responded saying: "Troy, thank you for raising this important issue. It would be good to discuss this with you and I will ask my team to reach out."

A department for education spokesperson said that the curriculum offers pupils the opportunity to study significant Black figures and the contributions they have made to the nation.

"I always find it quite disheartening that the only representation we have from a Black perspective is always one I consider negative,” Deeney says. “We always learn about the slave trade and things like that - and there's a lot more, like the prominent Kings and Queens who ruled the world from the years dot, and the prominent inventers whose creations are very much part of our everyday life today and the significant contributions made to the history of the world.”

"Why not, at a more youthful level, try to open everyone's eyes a little bit more and open their minds a bit more?"

In commissioning his YouGov survey Deeney found that 54% of all respondents believed the national curriculum does have a racial bias, with 72% thinking that the government should do more to support the teaching of cultural diversity.

"We've done research, we've commissioned surveys, teachers are not feeling empowered" he said. "I think that's very dangerous because the people we're putting in charge to teach our kids don't feel confident enough within their role to talk about subjects that are happening in the world.

"When you talk about history, it comes under this taboo like, 'let's not talk about it, let's not disrespect what's gone on before' - and nobody wants to do that. I've never asked for anything to be removed, maybe just add a bit more. You see what's happening in Wales now.

“It's mandatory that diversity is taught across the whole school curriculum, from every subject. It's more diverse, more engaging with the times that we currently live in."

Under Wales' new curriculum, set to be rolled out in primary schools in 2022 and the following year in secondary schools, all children will be taught about racism and the contributions of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities. In England currently, it is for schools and teachers themselves to determine the examples, topics and resources used to stimulate and challenge pupils and reflect key points in history.

In response to Deeney's open letter, a Department for Education spokesperson said: "The curriculum in our schools offers pupils the opportunity to study significant figures from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds and the contributions they have made to the nation, as well as helping them understand our shared history with countries from across the world.

"Schools play a crucial role in helping young people understand the world around them and their place within it. We continue to be informed by the work of committed individuals and groups when it comes to supporting the teaching of Black and Minority Ethnic history."