Wales’ history is being erased – we need to teach it at school

Not going to happen though. The very very last thing the Labour in Wales government wants to do is create citizens with a strong sense of national identity. The same goes for creating a million Welsh speakers. If you believe in Wales rather than Britain, chances are you'll vote Plaid. If you speak Welsh, chances are you'll vote Plaid. Labour in Wales exists for one reason, and that is to hold on to power. They think the only way they'll do that is by rigidly maintaining the status quo. 1066 isnt even Wales' history, but we are stuck with it.

Yes I welcome this. But I would argue many aspects of history are well covered. The crucial missing bits for me at school werethe age of the Princes and the fall of Llywelyn and what happened to Gwenllian. This is now being taught albeit at a year 7 level. The Act of Union was bypassed too. However, I was drowning in industrial revolution history, Rebecca Riots, Newport Chartists, Dic Penderyn, Bethesda strike etc by the end. It's about being taught from a Welsh perspective which is different from being taught about Welsh history.

Absolutely true. Plaid Cymru needs to get the education ministry. Simple as that.

I completely agree that our history needs to be taught... it needs a lot of work to make it coherent and dump the nonsense churned out by Geoffrey of Monmouth and understanding the need of Kings to relate themselves with some pretty barmy origins. Anyway... I'm now going to say something controversial: Where is Plaid Cymru in all this? They say they defend our identity - but that is all they're doing - saying and claiming. Getting Welsh History into schools should have been first thing on the agenda in 99'. I've never seen any mention of it ever. If people were taught about the Blue Books rather than not understanding why they learn Welsh then teach them why they do not already speak Welsh - show them how it was taken from them. There is value in the teaching of history - so why are Plaid not fighting for it? Why is this not central to their cause? What damage do we do to ourselves by supporting a party that clearly is not "defending Welsh identity" but rather taking it for granted like the Westminster parties.

I agree, though as JD points out, it's history from a Welsh perspective rather than Welsh history that we need. I was fortunate to have been able to have studied some aspects of Welsh history whilst a student at Coleg Harlech in the mid 80s, which emphasised that it's the perspective that is important, and that teaching it in isolation, i.e. teaching Welsh history, is pretty worthless, especially as us Welsh have always defined ourselves in the reflection of others - we didn't start to define ourselves as Cymry until that other lot started to define us as Welsh! So in a way it's been the events outside of Wales that have defined us as much as those within the country. Even people like Saunders Lewis rejected the insular approach, and he certainly looked to the wider horizons of Europe, whilst we have historians such as Gwyn Alf Williams who took it global. I'm not personally convinced that anyone really needs to learn much about the overlords, such as Llywelyn, as though he might have been Welsh, he was no better, from the standpoint of an ordinary Welsh person of the time, than his Anglo-Norman equivalent. Both were complete bastards, out to carve a feudal fiefdom that was based on screwing the peasantry. It's the peasantry who are more interesting, and more representative of ordinary people's lives. About the only utitlity of Llywelyn is as a comparison and contrast to a study of Owain Glyndwr, who is a far more interesting historical figure, and in terms of modern Wales, a far more important character, as it we he, and those around him who sought to establish a recognisable Welsh state in the modern sense. He is also an historical figure who's status persevered, remaining unforgotten, if continually re-interpreted over the ages, whereas Llywelyn was largely forgotten about. Glyndwr is also a figure that has an appeal right across the political spectrum, wheras Llywelyn only really has an appeal to those saddos on the extreme right. People get somewhat enraged when certain Labour politicians describe Welsh medieval leaders as 'robber barons' but in the case of Llywelyn ein Llwy Olaf, he was right, (and no, that's not a typo, I always refer to him as 'Llywelyn our Last Spoon' as it really winds up the Welsh ultra-right!)... Whislt a study of history from the earliest days is important, for the sake of perspective, if nothing else, it is the study of the period from perhaps the misnamed Acts of Union, (they were acts of annexation, union would suggest at least a level of negotiation and voluntarism from the Welsh side, which just wasn't the case), Wales was annexed, and we should perhaps destroy the cosy illusion by calling them Acts of Annexation. It's a bit like referring to the American Revolution as the War of Independence. It might have gotten them their independence, but it was also a revolution that had far wider consequences, and in no small measure due to some Welsh people! We do have a very rich history, and it needs to be studied by all in the Welsh education system. It will be a hard slog getting it into the curriculum, but it needs to be done, but in the meantime we can also pressure BBC Cymru to produce more programmes of historical interest, without avoiding the potentially contentious and uncomfortable aspects. There is also a great need to have an easily accessible reading list so that interested individuals can do follow their own scheme of study.

The importance of teaching pupils in Wales about their history and culture has been outlined by Dr Elin Jones in 2013 in a report on 'Welsh history, the story(ies) of Wales and the Cwricwlwm Cymreig' which was accepted in its entirety by the then Minister for Education. Unfortunately everything has now been placed on hold with the new curriculum. The only body which has responded to the report (and they should be applauded) is the examination board WJEC who have changed GCSE History to include a considerable amount of Welsh history. Pupils in Wales should now about who they are and where their from in order to look out at the world. To quote Dr Elin Jones - 'Mae angen i blant Cymru cael gwreiddiau ac adenydd'. Dr Huw Griffiths

It's frankly insulting to the 55000 Welsh men and women killed in the First and Second World Wars to suggest those conflicts aren't part of Wales' history. Teaching more Welsh history would be a good thing but that also means recognising that there is a British dimension to Wales too and one that was not imposed against the will of the majority of the Welsh.

I was watching Heno last night (confused?), and I was enjoying one of the many local history pieces that they do, and it dawned on me that english speakers in Wales have nothing similar that is told from a Welsh perspective. I know they have the one show, but that's almost always about eng. I know there's under-representation of welsh english speakers, that's obvious & acknowledged in reports, but they seem content with this. I suppose it's the same as always voting labour, and expecting representation in London. Keeps the status quo.

Far more work needs to be done on teacher training courses which appear to be woefully inadequate at the moment. Prospective teachers - not only history teachers - need to be introduced to aspects of Welsh History which can be implemented in their lessons. Many history teachers in Wales have no real idea about Welsh history [particularly those who have emigrated from England] and continue to teach British History i.e English History with the occasional Welsh add on. This might be an area that ESTYN could try and improve, Unfortunately many primary schools still tend to focus on the second world war and ignore all the wonderfull local and national history that exists. Probably beacause teaching the Second World War is easy!

The welsh contribution to Brit history and beyond from refotmation through to enlightenment is totally ignored in welsh history in schools and colleges/ radical, internationalist and inventive and probably far more important than a bunchnof blokes in tights decapitating each other