War of words could kick off at World Cup

The government?s campaign to tackle football hooliganism ahead of this summer?s World Cup could be compromised by an unlikely source, our school textbooks, according to a leading academic.

Research by Dr Keith Crawford, of Edge Hill?s International Centre for Applied Research into School Textbooks, is suggesting that as a direct result of the history books used in UK schools concentrating so much attention on the two world wars, the knowledge gained from them, together with popular images in the media, produces a very narrow understanding of Germans and Germany.

Dr Crawford said, "In recent years Ofsted has pointed out that the study of Nazi Germany dominates the history curriculum and the examination system, to such an extent that that is all pupils know or understand about Germans or Germany. We are not suggesting that pupils in primary or secondary schools ought not to study world war, they certainly should, and clearly fighting two world wars with Germany will have coloured Britain's relationship with what is now a close European neighbour. Nor are we suggesting that we ignore the horrible and indefensible obscenities of war.

"However, what our research is showing is that pupil understanding of Germans and Germany is totally negative from quite a young age, despite the fact that few pupils have visited Germany or met a German, and that the only Germans they have ever heard of are individuals such as Adolf Hitler, other members of the Nazi Party and the occasional footballer. The result is a high degree of modern day negative stereotyping that is very difficult to challenge, where images of contemporary Germany are dominated by views of a Germany which are 60 years old. For many pupils, history ends in 1945 and few seem to study the development of post-war Germany and the development of the European Community in any real depth."

It seems also that football has replaced war as a cause of friction. "Currently international football has become a metaphor for Anglo-German relationships. For the British, defeating Germany on the battlefield and on the football pitch are comparable national triumphs. Raised on a constant diet of war comics and films you often find young people using wartime metaphor with football fans chanting the themes from 'The Great Escape? or 'The Dambusters? on the terraces when England are playing. In addition, certain elements of the popular media contribute to the development of the stereotype with references to 'Fritz?, 'Huns?, 'Krauts? and 'Jerries?."

Research concentrates upon the curriculum areas of history, geography, citizenship and related social science subjects, however work is already being carried out on mathematics textbooks.

Dr Keith Crawford, added, "From the selection of content and the physical act of writing, right through to choice of images and the use of textbooks in the classroom, TEXT is covering all bases and we shall be looking for key support from publishers, teachers and, perhaps most importantly, the pupils who have never been asked what they think of school textbooks. It?s a massive project and we hope, gradually, to encourage more and more enthusiastic minds to get involved along the way."