The events of 1982 are noticeably absent from the National Curriculum in the UK. How might young people learn more about the Falklands War and in what ways could that be beneficial? 

Michael Betts: The Falkland Islands are a part of the UK family and Falkland Islanders are as British as people in the UK. Given the significance of the Falklands War to the UK it is unfortunate that it is not a part of the National Curriculum, perhaps following the 40th anniversary this may change. With a tightly controlled National Curriculum, which can be difficult to amend, key anniversaries such as the 40th in 2022 will provide prominence to raise awareness and incorporate the Falkland Islands’ story into case studies and projects in the pre-existing curriculum, in areas such as history, geography, natural environment and geopolitics. By having the Falklands on the National Curriculum, young people in the UK would learn of the significant progress and development the Islands has made since 1982, which has been built on the sacrifices made by those who fought and died to liberate the Falkland Islands. This progress, along with the warm welcome given by Falkland Islands, helps veterans suffering from PTSD. As such, the Falklands War has a valuable place in the National Curriculum as an example of the positive outcomes that arise from military intervention. 

The War however is just one aspect of our history and much has changed in the Islands since 1982. I would therefore like to see the National Curriculum cover the Falkland Islands in a broader sense, such as learning about the Falkland Islanders and their right to self-determination, as well as the Islands’ culture, democracy and economy. In addition, I would like the National Curriculum to cover the other UK Overseas Territories as well, specifically how different and unique they all are and how they all contribute to the UK family in areas such as protecting the environment, fighting climate change and enabling the UK to protect British people around the world. Young people should be open to an education that covers the whole of the UK family. 

Nikki Wilks: I agree with Michael where he says that the Falklands should be covered in a broader sense across the UK's school curriculum. While it would potentially be useful to have more education in the UK about the Falklands War, I believe that perhaps our culture and environment should be prioritised. Many people (even of my generation) have pre-existing knowledge of the war: it is the first thing that the vast majority of people mention when I bring up the fact that I am from the Falklands. And while I wholeheartedly believe that the war is a crucial part of our history and heritage, it would be nice for general knowledge about our islands to spread outwards and to develop from the war. Our little islands have so much to offer! It would be so refreshing to see our islands being taught about in the present tense: showcasing our growth since 1982. 

Alasdair Pinkerton: As Michael Betts has already observed (and as this question suggests) the Falklands War is notably absent from the curricula that guide school-age learning within the United Kingdom. This isn’t because of any general avoidance of wars and conflicts within the British educational system. Quite the contrary. The First and Second World Wars form an important and unchanging component in the teaching and learning of history in schools – as do, variously, The Crusades (1071-1204), the English Civil War (1642-46), the War of Spanish Succession (1702-14) and other conflicts besides, including, in the Scottish educational system, ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland (1968-to 1985). 

There has, however, been an observable aversion to the subject of the British Empire in UK school classrooms over recent decades – something that can be traced back to the process of creating the first ‘National Curriculum’ in the mid-late 1980s. Historians of the day, concerned to resist the Thatcher government’s imposition of a simplistic ‘island nation’ narrative onto the history curriculum, largely omitted the subject of ‘the Empire’ altogether. It wasn’t until about 2007, following the MacPherson (1999) and Ajegbo (2007) reports that the curriculum was reshaped just enough to bring the British Empire in as a major topic, albeit specifically in the context of the Slave Trade.2 The post-war histories of the Empire, decolonisation, and the Commonwealth – including, of course, any reference to the Falklands War in 1982 – remain, for now, conspicuously absent from history classrooms.

This may very well begin to change as contemporary interests shift focus towards the ‘end of empire’, the social and political histories of immigration, and multidisciplinary opportunities to explore the lived connections between a diverse UK population, the former Empire, the Commonwealth and contemporary appeals to ‘Global Britain’. 

Negotiating this kind of transition may not be entirely plain sailing, especially so if historians feel there is any risk of the history curriculum being used a mouthpiece for government narratives. It is, perhaps, worth noting that the battle between government and educationalists during the late 1980s became so ferocious and entrenched that Margaret Thatcher later recalled in her memoirs that the Falklands War had been easy by comparison to the fight she’d endured with British history teachers. 

There is exciting potential here, though. The Falkland Islands clearly provide an opening for teachers and pupils to look back (to the events of 1982 and beyond), but also an opportunity to look out and to think about the connections that exist between the contemporary Falklands and, for example, the continent of Antarctica and the environmental work of the British Antarctic Survey, as well as relationships with the other British Overseas Territories with which the Falklands are legally and politically connected. As the UK seeks to redefine its role and ‘place’ in the world, with new appeals to themes such as ‘sovereignty’, narratives such as ‘Global Britain’, and new invocations of concepts such as the ‘British family’ or even the ‘British realm’ (terms designed to tie the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies more closely to the UK), we need the next generation to be armed with the knowledge and tools to understand, challenge and critique claims that are made about places and people who can, at times, seem very far away – and about whom we should know a great deal more.  

Catriona Pennell: As Al Pinkerton rightly notes, there is no general avoidance of wars and conflicts within the educational systems across the United Kingdom. In fact, there are those that argue a fixation with conflict – especially the two world wars – has led to a distorted view of British history. Until very recently, the two world wars dominated the national curriculum – so much so that primary and secondary age children could be forgiven for thinking little else happened between the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 and the outbreak of war in August 1914. Although history is no longer taught as a long list of dates, battles (Hastings, 1066; Agincourt, 1415; the Spanish Armada, 1588; and Waterloo, 1815) still resonate among large swathes of the population. Tracey Borman describes these as ‘the punctuation marks of history’ but rightly, in my view, she advocates for our attention to shift to the longer sentences ‘in between’ that make for ‘far more enlightening reading’ (History Extra, June 2019).

Famous military encounters lead to dramatic shifts in national and international relations, amongst many other important ramifications, and these should not be overlooked. In addition, they make for good storytelling, steeped in literary conventions of heroes and villains, drama and pathos. There is also an immediacy to 20th century conflict; even though veterans marching past the Cenotaph in Whitehall are becoming fewer each year, their relatives are carrying their stories forward. 

But conflicts should not obscure the equally important – and sometimes banal – events that happened in between. In many ways, it is the ordinary and everyday that holds the key to understanding our past, more so than the extraordinary and tumultuous nature of wartime. So, I agree with Michael and Nikki when they encourage us to think about the Falkland Islands in a more holistic sense than simply 74 days in 1982. In many ways, I’d prefer to reword this question: ‘how might young people learn more about the Falklands?’ 

Perhaps one way of reflecting on how young people might learn about the Falklands is to engage with them directly. 5Too often children are treated as empty vessels to be ‘filled’ with knowledge; far more interesting discussions about what history to focus on, and how, can emerge from treating young people as agents in their own learning journeys. There are questions of violence, division, and injustice in Britain’s past (and present) that would benefit from young people’s perspectives on how these subjects are taught and learned. Could their input work to push the national curriculum beyond a type of ‘our nation’s story’, Whiggish approach to history education purported by certain members of the Conservative Party, like former Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove? 

Jan Cheek: I would hope the National Curriculum could cover the Falklands more broadly than ‘just that place where there was a war’. Like Nikki’s experience above, that is, almost verbatim, a quote I often heard when meeting new people while attending overseas events as an elected member of our Assembly. The Falklands could be an exemplar of a rugged territory with no indigenous population and a variety of short-lived settlements which, after years of struggle by sheep farming settlers seeking a better life for their families, became a thriving small country. Given the current debate on the downsides of Empire perhaps we can be an exception.

The Falkland Islands Government is funding the Falklands Forty Schools Competition to mark the 40th anniversary. This will see a national competition for young people (aged 16-18 years) in the UK that will encourage them to consider why the Falkland Islands matter.

The competition will be centred around creative digital storytelling where entrants will be invited to produce a piece of creative work that explores their understanding of and relationship with the Falkland Islands influenced by questions of history, politics, geography, and culture. Winners of the competition will have the opportunity to visit the Falklands and experience life on the Islands first-hand.

What role can the Falklands Forty Schools Competition play in changing young people’s understanding of the Falkland Islands, past, present and future? 

Michael Betts: The Falklands Forty Schools Competition is a great initiative that will hopefully draw a significant number of young people in the UK into learning more about the Falkland Islands. This is an important ambition of the Falkland Islands Government as we want more and more young people to have a strong understanding of the Islands, not only of our standing in UK history, but of our unique culture, identity, heritage, aspirations and, most importantly, what we want for our future when we exercise our self-determination. In addition, we want people to understand how the Falklands contributes in making the UK and the world a better place, specifically in terms of scientific research, protecting the environment, fighting climate change, and being a gateway to Antarctica. 

For the Falkland Islands Government Office in London, the headline prize opportunity of the Falklands Forty School Completion will raise awareness of the anniversary and relevance of the Falkland Islands to the environment, biodiversity, and our geographically strategic location, to those that take part and their families and friends. Media coverage of the winner’s experiences visiting the Islands will further spread awareness and understanding of the Islands to a wider audience. The prize, however, will provide the most immersive and educational experience when it comes to learning about the Falkland Islands. By visiting the Islands, the prize winners will see the Islands and its beauty with their own eyes and they will meet the Islanders, make friends and learn about the Islanders’ culture and heritage first hand. And hopefully they make strong and lasting connections, as well as friendships with the Islands and people that will last a lifetime. 

Catriona Pennell: I have written in more detail elsewhere on how young people themselves responded to the UK government’s unprecedented attempt to engage them in the history of the First World War via the vehicle of battlefield tourism. It is precisely this work that brought me into contact with my colleagues at Newcastle, Royal Holloway, and thus the Falkland Islands Government. I hope that my experience, working with various stakeholders to consider the ways in which young people can engage with the history of conflict in a manner that retains reflexivity and criticality, is able to percolate into the Falklands Forty Schools Competition.  

For now, I just want to offer some reflections on my experience working with the First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme (FWWCBTP) that are of relevance to the Falklands Forty Schools Competition. The FWWCBTP was much narrower in scope because of its emphasis on the First World War in its centenary moment. As a result, there was more emphasis placed on war commemoration as an integral part of the programme. I have commented elsewhere in this discussion that, in this new project, we must remain alert to the tensions that emerge when conflating education and remembrance. I think that while the 40th anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas War is a useful jumping-off point for drawing attention to the Falklands, I am encouraged by the fact that the competition itself is about more than the 1982 conflict and is open to storytelling perspectives on culture, geography, and the environment, as well as history and politics. Making the competition ‘more than the war’ allows students the freedom to move away from a focus on military sacrifice and any attempt to use past wars to stir up national pride amongst British youth. I hope the Falklands Forty Schools Competition will invite storytelling entries that nuance and complicate state narratives about the 1982 war and place the Falkland Islands within a global context, outwardly facing and beyond national ‘navel gazing’. 

One thing is very clear from my experience during the centenary of the First World War: there is no ‘one size fits all’ way to engage young people in the history and memory of a place or seminal event at its anniversary moment. Whatever creative methods are used – even if to some they may seem questionable – they are a way to hold the attention of a new generation at a temporal distance from the event itself. In my mind, young people enhancing their understanding of history can only be a good thing. I hope the Falklands Forty Schools Competition, by its very basis in encouraging creative storytelling and with the opportunity to travel to the Falkland Islands themselves, will demonstrate the ‘added value’ of activities that take young people beyond the traditional classroom-based confines of learning about the past. The competition has the potential to enable participants to travel, build digital literacy, experiment with their creative flair, and develop interpersonal, communication, and research skills. Furthermore, I hope it will boost the confidence and self-esteem of those young people who participate by recognising and rewarding their creative efforts.  

Jan Cheek: As a former teacher of English I am looking forward to seeing what the students produce and what we and others can learn from them. One of the joys of teaching is the fresh angle at which young minds approach subjects. It is my hope that the Falklands Forty Schools competition spurs students to do some extensive research on the Islands as they are now, in addition to our history and culture. 

I hope those students who make the effort to do their research see what has been achieved by a small population managing a tight budget and one hopes getting the priorities right. I think of people learning about the real Falklands as like a pebble dropped into a still pond with the ripples spreading. They tell their friends, families and neighbours who may then remember that one of their acquaintance served in the forces or worked here, and so it ripples on. When they discover how different it is from the preconceived picture for example Ronald Regan’s infamous description of a ‘bunch of ice-cold rocks’, many want to learn more. 

For those who win, young fresh eyes should see what my grandchildren see; a wide-open country with a great deal of freedom and endless opportunities to observe wonderful wildlife in relatively unspoilt surroundings. They should see a successful, proudly varied community overcoming small hardships and relative isolation by appreciating what is most valuable. As climate change awareness increases the fact that we still make do and mend, sometimes out of necessity, might help others relearn those skills. I hope they have the experience of a lifetime.

Nikki Wilks: I am very excited indeed for the Falklands Forty Schools Competition! I believe that, as Michael mentioned in his response, it will provide an excellent educational opportunity for the children who engage with the competition. For those lucky enough to come and visit our islands, there will definitely be a lot to learn. Indeed, about the conflict itself, but more so about our culture, about our way of life and what it's like to live on our islands! There is only so much that one can learn from a distance, or through the lens of academia, which is why this competition will be so important for the collective knowledge (particularly for younger generations) of the Falklands. Hopefully, the competition will create a domino effect in generating discourse around the Falklands and bring our islands into the vernacular of British youth.

Matthew Benwell: I think the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) should be congratulated for their willingness to support the Falklands Forty Schools Competition. The ambition to openly engage a broad cohort of young people attending schools in the UK, who will undoubtedly bring varied readings and perspectives of why the Falklands matter, is laudable. As others have stated above, our hope is that the young entrants pick up on the many facets of life in the Falklands today, and not just those associated with the history and memory of events in 1982. There is, of course, the possibility that young people will be alive to the contested nature of the sovereignty dispute and may even present perspectives that don’t neatly accord with the diplomatic positions of the governments of the Falkland Islands and the UK. The Falklands Forty Schools Competition opens up the possibility of meaningful dialogue with people who might otherwise be out of reach of traditional diplomacy, providing the FIG with an opportunity to engage with new communities of interest, and in doing so, deepening and widening understandings of the Falklands – past, present and future.

Contributors

Matthew Benwell – Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Newcastle University. 

Michael Betts – Deputy Representative for the Falkland Islands Government in the UK.

Jan Cheek MBE – Former Member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly (1997-2005 and 2009-2017). 

Catriona Pennell – Professor of Modern History and Memory Studies, University of Exeter. 

Alasdair Pinkerton – Reader in Human Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London. 

Nikki Wilks – Falkland Islands Junior Ambassador and an undergraduate student in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick.