Feature
Welsh historian calls for urgent overhaul of GCSE history qualification
Emily Price
Welsh history is being sidelined in secondary schools and a complete overhaul of Wales' GCSE history qualification is urgently needed, a prominent historian has warned.
Dr Huw Griffiths is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and is an expert in Welsh history with a book on the Welsh and the American Civil War due to be published next year.
Around ten years ago, he was one of 200 teachers that had a hand in compiling the content of Wales' GCSE history qualification.
But Dr Griffiths says that despite his best efforts, the resulting qualification never had enough focus on Welsh history. He is now battling for this to change.
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'Battle'
With a new GCSE history qualification set to be introduced in Wales in September 2026, Dr Griffiths has called for a complete re-design of what 14 to 16-year-olds are taught about their own country's history.
The education academic has suggested that the people of Wales themselves should have a hand in what content should be include in the next GCSE history qualification.
Dr Griffiths said: "We are fighting a battle to get Welsh history in our schools.
"As a country we should look together and decide what are the 10 or 15 key facts, events, dates, or figures that every pupil in Wales ought to learn about.
"Every child in Wales should know about Aneurin Bevan and events like the Aberfan disaster. Dates like 1812, 1822 and 1847 are important too.
"Children in Wales should know these things -- about who we are as a people. It’s just bonkers that we don’t emphasise it in schools."
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American history
Dr Griffiths added: "Every school in Wales has to do one unit on Welsh history. The way that the curriculum has been written says children have to do three different periods in history. Modern history, the Middle Ages and early history.
"What will happen in every school in Wales is for the modern period they’ll either do Nazi Germany or they will do American history to draw students in.
"The middle period is quite a dry period for Wales -- there’s two units that can be chosen, children will either do the plague or the Civil War.
"But the plague affected almost every country in the same way and the Civil War is called the English Civil War for a reason. Because it predominantly happened in England.
"Apart from St Fagans, there was no other major incident in Wales -- the Welsh were predominantly supporting the Royalists -- there’s very little Welsh history in the Civil War period.
"For the early period one of the units is Lord Rhys. I'd argue that four months just looking at Lord Rhys is too much."
Key topics
Dr Griffiths says that Welsh language departments in both Welsh and English medium schools do a "far better job" of teaching Welsh history than school history departments do.
He has also compiled and studied the details of history curriculums taught in schools across the world and compared them with Wales.
Dr Griffiths said: "It’s an eye-opener. The amount of history being taught in other countries is vastly different to Wales.
"In Wales, children know far more about Nazi Germany and American history than they do about the Aberfan disaster. They know who Rosa Parks is, but they haven’t got a clue about important figures from their own country."
Dr Griffiths has suggested several key Welsh historic topics that should be taught to children in Wales.
These include the death of the last Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, and the 1847 Blue Books report -- a three-part government publication about the state of education in Wales that was branded a disparaging and prejudiced attack on the Welsh people.
Dr Griffiths said: "If you were to ask the majority of young people in Wales what happened in 1966 they are far more likely to say that England won the World Cup.
"That shouldn’t be the answer, the answer should be Aberfan. There are certain dates in Welsh history that are very important.
"1282 was when Llywelyn, the last Prince of Wales, was killed. 1847 was the Blue Books report which had a massive impact on the Welsh language. These are the dates people in Wales should know about.
"We should take pride in the fact that Lloyd George brought the pensions in and changed British society as a result.
"Aneurin Bevan brought the NHS in. These people changed our society and we should feel pride towards this and make our young people aware of it."
'Pride'
He added: "Our story and who we are is important. Look at Nobel Prize winners - Wales has created five or six - no other country of our size comes close to that.
"In drama and television, there’s no higher award than the Oscars. Wales have won seven Oscars for best supporting actors and actresses.
"Even if you look at the subject of maths. The equals symbol was created by Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde. William Jones created the Pi symbol - these are symbols that are used worldwide.
"People in Wales can lack confidence and by teaching children about Wales’s past we’re building that confidence and showing that we are an amazing people with amazing stories."
Politics
Dr Griffiths has believes that the quality of Wales' curriculum is down to politics.
He said: "We’ve had the Labour Party in the Senedd for over half a century and a national curriculum for 38 years.
"And yet we are still ensuring that young people in Wales have no awareness of the story of Wales and who we are.
"You’ve gotta start asking the question why? Why are we doing this?
"I feel like I’m banging my head against a brick wall - we don’t seem to be moving on with any of this in Wales."
The new GCSE History qualification will be introduced in September 2026, as part of the new National Qualifications for 14 to 16-year-olds in Wales.
The redesigned qualification has been updated to relate to and support Wales' new curriculum and Welsh history will be mandatory.
Mandatory
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "Welsh history has been mandatory as part of the Curriculum for Wales since 2022: including learning about children’s own locality.
"Learners are taught how history, language, diversity and culture have shaped Wales to become the proud and unique nation it is today.
"We are working with Adnodd to support teachers with resources, advice and information.
"Qualifications Wales, as the independent regulator has developed new Made-for-Wales qualifications to align with the Curriculum for Wales. They have engaged extensively with teachers, universities, colleges and professional bodies."
Plaid Cymru spokesperson for Education, Cefin Campbell MS said: “Understanding Wales begins with knowing our own history. Plaid Cymru has long championed putting Welsh history at the heart of our curriculum, so every young person grows up with a full understanding of our nation’s story.
"We’ve consistently pressed the Welsh Government to ensure it’s taught meaningfully and with pride in every school and forms part of our qualifications. In government, Plaid Cymru would make sure Welsh history is a core part of our curriculum and qualifications, supported, celebrated, and given the importance it deserves.”
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