MP, Chris Skidmore, has called for history to be made compulsory to age 16 because he feels too few pupils are taking it at GCSE. His Parliamentary question revealed that a 159 schools did not enter any pupils for GCSE History last year. There are indications that Gove intending to make History and Geography compulsory to 16. I spoke with the historian Kate Williams on BBC Breakfast about this, trying to argue the case that History shouldn’t be compulsory because it means that creative subjects in the curriculum get squeezed out. I had a tough time because one of the presenters was a historian and Kate Williams did a good job of defending History as a subject. Perhaps a little flippantly I said that many pupils were fed up of studying “dusty facts”, arguing that too often History can become bogged down in details that pupils find unappealing. Subjects like Art, Drama, Music, Design and Technology and Media Studies — all in my view just as worthwhile in their own way as History — would get squeezed out of the curriculum if History was made compulsory; we’re already seeing this happen with schools scrambling to fulfil the criteria of the E-Bacc. History is compulsory already to 14, I just think we need to give pupils more of a choice at this age and allow them to pursue other subjects if they so wish.

The chart showing the numbers of pupils doing History is interesting.

Table 1: Number and percentage of pupils (1, 2) entering GCSE history by ethnicity and free school meal (FSM) eligibility(3) in 2009/10
	Pupils entering GCSE history
	All pupils		Pupils eligible for FSM
Ethnicity	Number of pupils	Percentage of pupils	Number of pupils	Percentage of pupils
White	147,436	30.9	9,072	17.3
Mixed	5,173	28.7	642	17.9
Asian	11,053	26.0	2,333	21.4
Black	6,006	24.9	1,506	20.4
Chinese	659	29.5	52	24.2
Other(4)	3,800	27.4	626	19.9
Total	174,127	30.1	14,131	18.3

Table 2: Number and percentage of pupils (1, 2) achieving an A*-C grade in GCSE history by ethnicity and FSM eligibility in 2009/10
	Pupils achieving an A*-C grade in GCSE history
	All pupils		Pupils eligible for FSM
Ethnicity	Number of pupils	Percentage of pupils	Number of pupils	Percentage of pupils
White	99,301	20.8	3,661	7.0
Mixed	3,497	19.4	313	8.7
Asian	7,653	18.0	1,305	12.5
Black	3,617	15.0	789	10.7

19 July 2011 : Column 910W

Chinese	571	25.5	33	15.3
Other(4)	2,579	18.6	344	10.9
Total	117,218	20.3	6,445	8.3
(1) Pupils attending maintained schools (including Academies and CTCs). (2) Number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. (3)FSM eligibility taken from the 2010 Spring School Census (January 2010). (4) Includes pupils of any other ethnic group and for whom ethnicity was not obtained, refused or could not be determined. Source: National Pupil Database (final data)

Table 3: Number and percentage of students (1, 2 ) entering A-level history by ethnicity and FSM eligibility (3) in 2009/10
	Students entering A-level history
	All students		Students eligible for FSM
Ethnicity	Number of students	Percentage of students	Number of students	Percentage of students
White	30,984	11.6	728	5.8
Mixed	946	9.7	62	5.0
Asian	1,615	5.9	221	4.1
Black	907	6.5	140	4.8
Chinese	123	5.6	10	5.3
Other(4)	1,210	5.6	84	4.1
Total	35,785	10.5	1,245	5.1

Table 4: Number and percentage of pupils (1, 2) achieving an A*-C grade in A-level history by ethnicity and FSM eligibility(3) 2009/10
	Students achieving an A*-C grade in A-level History
	All students		Students eligible for FSM
Ethnicity	Number of students	Percentage of students	Number of students	Percentage of students
White	24,023	9.0	486	3.9
Mixed	757	7.8	46	3.7
Asian	1,225	4.4	153	2.8
Black	661	4.7	102	3.5
Chinese	98	4.4	7	3.7
Other’	992	4.6	61	3.0
Total	27,756	8.1	855	3.5
(1) Maintained schools and FE sector colleges only. Students taking A levels in independent schools are not included. (2)Students entered for a GCE or Applied GCE A level or other Level 3 qualification equivalent in size to an A level and aged 16-18 at the start of the 2009/10 academic year i.e. 31 August 2009. (3) Students eligible for free school meals at the end of year 11. (4) Includes students of any other ethnic group and for whom ethnicity or first language was not obtained, refused or could not be determined. Source: National Pupil Database (final data)