The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has implemented changes to its curriculum language, replacing terms such as ‘slavery’ and ‘slaves’ with more specific phrases that critics argue oversimplify history by focusing exclusively on white people enslaving black individuals. This decision by the country’s national accreditation and awarding body has prompted criticism that the alterations, seemingly inspired by critical-race-theory (CRT), may present contested ideas as established facts, potentially limiting open discussion and debate within educational settings.
The SQA, which oversees the development, accreditation, and delivery of exams for schools, colleges, and workplaces across Scotland, replaced the terms with ‘enslaved people’ and ‘the trade in enslaved African people’ as part of changes to history, geography, and classical studies content last summer According to the body, the changes reflect a modern understanding of enslavement, colonialism, and race.
The decision reflects broader debates over educational materials, such as recent calls to ban the TV series Roots from history lessons in England, and the SQA’s recent sidelining of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns from secondary school curricula.
Supporters of the SQA’s terminology shift argue it emphasises the human dignity of those subjected to slavery. Critics, however, claim it represents a distortion of history.
Historian Chris McGovern, who has advised on three iterations of the English curriculum, criticized the change: “This is a distortion of the past. Of course children need to know the great evil of the slave trade, but this suggests it was only white people enslaving black people. It is immensely damaging.”
Fraser Hudghton, Director of the Free Speech Union in Scotland, echoed these concerns: “We have a country bursting at the seams with quangos obsessed with ‘white privilege’ and ‘unconscious bias’, which are diversions from the clear problems in our classrooms that need to be addressed as a priority.”
Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs also weighed in: “The SQA has been embroiled in a series of high-profile failures. It ought to be concentrating on getting its own house in order, rather than spending resources on issues like this.”
According to documents released under freedom of information requests, the SQA’s History Qualifications Working Group has been tasked with helping to ‘decolonise’ the curriculum. Minutes from the group, obtained by the Mail, also reveal its broader effort to promote “anti-racism” within exam content.
The SQA’s terminology shift reflects ideas influenced by critical race theory (CRT), which views society as structured around power and privilege, with ‘whiteness’ as a central source of systemic advantage. It interprets inequalities through a binary lens of oppressors and oppressed, divided along racial lines, and promotes policies like anti-racism and decolonisation as solutions to these perceived injustices.
But as critics point out, these terms are not merely descriptive; they advocate for systemic change. Anti-racism, for example, goes beyond opposing racism as individual prejudice, demanding proactive measures to dismantle systemic privilege, which CRT views as inherently tied to white – or oppressor – people. Similarly, decolonisation involves rejecting established historical narratives about ‘nation-states,’ ‘tradition,’ and ‘heritage’ that are viewed as legacies of colonial oppression.
Embedding such ideas into the practices of regulatory agencies risks elevating contested theories to the status of fact, limiting the scope for open debate and alternative perspectives. In an educational context, this could constrain free speech by privileging one ideological framework over others.
The SQA is due to be replaced this year by a new body, Qualifications Scotland, following a series of controversies, including a high-profile incident last summer when Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth apologized for the “undue stress” caused after blank emails were sent to pupils on results day.
An SQA spokesperson defended the changes, stating: “The SQA has updated language in our course specifications to reflect modern understanding of enslavement, colonialism, and race.”
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