Pupils to study Churchill in overhaul of history curriculum Sources said it was intended to address concerns over "dumbing down" by the last Labour government which controversially stripped names from the curriculum in 2007, including Churchill and Hitler, to avoid over-prescription. The reforms will be unveiled next week by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, as part of a wholesale shake-up of lessons in all subjects including English, maths, science, geography, foreign languages, art and physical education. Ministers insist the back-to-basics curriculum - to be taught from September 2014 - will equip children with the core knowledge they need to proceed on to further study and the workplace. An earlier draft of the history curriculum was attacked by teachers" leaders and academics for being too focused on Britain and presenting pupils with an "endless list of facts." But the new version is deliberately less prescriptive, merely recommending the study of certain topics within broad historical periods. It also makes more specific requirements relating to the study of world history. At primary school, this includes compulsory study of Ancient Greece and lessons on one non-European society to contrast with Britain from a list that includes early Islamic society and the Mayan civilisation in Central America. A senior Whitehall source said: "This new curriculum combined with GCSE reform reverses the devaluation of the history curriculum and exams. Children will learn a coherent chronological story of British history instead of Labour's dumbed down curriculum that leaves pupils with big gaps in basic knowledge. The new curriculum involves a series of compulsory "in-depth studies" of specific periods to give children the chance to complete major projects. It also asks children aged five to seven to compare two significant individuals from different periods, such as William Caxton and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Rosa Parks and Emily Davison or Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell. Jeremy Black, professor of history at Exeter University, who sat on the curriculum advisory panel, said: "The real thrust of the new curriculum is a determination to provide a chronological narrative of national history which every child requires to understand their own country. People need a national sense of identity. He said it "avoids the woolly empathy" introduced under the last government and stops short of being "over-prescriptive while making clear what should taught." David Abulafia, professor of Mediterranean history at Cambridge University, said: "While keeping the British Isles at the centre of attention, it places Britain in its wider context. I am enthusiastic about the spread of the curriculum over many centuries, indeed several millennia. Age 5 to 7 Introduction to key events, eg. Great Fire of London, the first aeroplane flight and historical festivals; Study of famous individuals to compare life in different periods, eg. Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, William Caxton and Tim Berners-Lee, Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell. Age 7 to 11 Changes in Britain from Stone Age to Iron Age, including Stonehenge; The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain, including building of Hadrian's Wall and resistance from Boudica; Settlement by the Anglo-Saxons and fall of the Roman Empire; The Viking raids and England up to the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066; One local history study; Study of one theme beyond 1066 such as legacy of Roman culture up to present day; The earliest civilisations, including one in-depth study of either Ancient Sumer, the Indus Valley, Ancient Egypt or the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China; Ancient Greece and its influence on the Western World; A non-European society, for example early Islamic civilisation. Age 11 to 14 Medieval Britain from 1066 to 1509, which may include Norman Conquest, Magna Carta, Peasants" Revolt, Hundred Years War, Wars of the Roses and Henry VII; Development of Church and state from 1509 to 1745, covering the Renaissance, English Reformation, settlement in America, the Restoration, Act of Union 1707 and Jacobite rebellions; Britain from 1745 to 1901, including abolition of slave trade, Industrial Revolution, development of Empire, Ireland and Home Rule, Darwinism; Britain, Europe and wider world from 1901, including women's suffrage, First World War, Great Depression, Second World War and Churchill's leadership, creation of welfare state and end of Empire; One study of significant issue in world history, eg. Mughal India 1526-1857, China's Qing dynasty 1644-1911, changing Russian empires 1800-1989 or USA in the 20th Century.