IBMT to launch secondary schools teaching project

Teaching materials will help school pupils learn about the International Brigades and Spanish Civil War.

This autumn will see the launch of a major new education initiative by the IBMT in a partnership with the history department of Leeds University. The plan is for second-year history students at the university to draw up secondary school teaching materials on the Spanish Civil War and International Brigades.

The IBMT has secured a £2,000 grant from the Lipman-Miliband Trust to fund the project. Most of the money will be spent on digitising and designing the teaching packages for school teachers and pupils. These will be posted in a new ‘Schools’ section on the IBMT website.

In addition, there will be a drive to alert teachers to the availability of the new teaching tools and to advise them on how the war in Spain and its impact on Britain can be taught in schools within the national curriculum. Led by Associate Professor Peter Anderson, the history undergraduates at Leeds University will create the teaching and learning aids for Key Stage 3 (ages 11 to 14).

The project consultant is Alex Clifford, a secondary school history teacher in Newcastle and the author of two military histories of the Spanish Civil War. 

IBMT Chair Jim Jump said the Schools Project was an exciting new development for the IBMT. ‘We’ve been aware for a while that the Spanish Civil War and the International Brigades aren’t being taught widely enough in schools. Hopefully our new teaching and learning packages will help put this right.’ He continued: ‘The war against fascism in Spain was a major event in modern European history. Yet few people know about it, let alone the response of British people.’

A local history element will be part of the teaching packages, he added, enabling pupils to study the impact of the war in their town or region, for example its International Brigade volunteers or homes for Basque refugee children.

The Leeds history students will be offered the option of working on the IBMT Schools Project as part of their 2021/22 course options, with a maximum group of five students undertaking the work from October 2021 to June 2022.

Last month an IBMT member made a generous donation of £500 to the education project, with a dedication to Manchester volunteer Bert Maskey who died at the Battle of Jarama in 1937.

The IBMT always welcomes financial contributions which help fund our vital educational and commemorative work. Members can make donations to this education project, with a dedication if they wish, either through PayPal here (with a note if making a dedication) or by sending a cheque or cash to the IBMT office at 37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DU.

Posted on 2 June 2021.