Parallel Histories is an educational charity, registered with the

Charity Commission for England and Wales The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Government that regulates Charitable organization, registered charities in En ...

. It promotes the teaching of controversial history in

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s through the use of a dual-narrative methodology. In 2024, it was chosen by

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

and

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

, along with War Child and

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), known in some English-speaking settings as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zo ...

, for the Guardian and Observer Charity Appeal.

History

Michael Davies and

Julian Richer Julian Richer (born 1959) is an English retail entrepreneur, philanthropist and author, best known as the founder of Richer Sounds, the UK's largest hi-fi retailer. Richer has gained a reputation for his motivational style of management and hi ...

founded Parallel Histories in 2017. The genesis came from a school trip, led by Michael Davies, to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. With the support of a

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

, Michael Davies developed the dual-narrative methodology for teaching controversial historical topics, drawing inspiration from ''Side by Side: Parallel Histories of Israel-Palestine'', a book edited by Dan Bar-On, Sami Adwan and Eyal Naveh. Michael Davies and Julian Richer founded Parallel Histories to promote the use of the dual-narrative methodology in schools. Michael Davies led Parallel Histories until his death in 2024.

Bill Rammell William Ernest Rammell (born 10 October 1959) is a former British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harlow from 1997 until 2010, and served as a Minister of State in several departments from 2002. From August 2 ...

, previously Minister of State for Higher Education and

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

for the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a Public university, public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The university has roots in further and higher education from 1882: it gained university status in 19 ...

, succeeded as CEO. In addition to its work in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Parallel Histories began partnering with

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in 2022 to bring its methodology to schools in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

Activities

Parallel Histories publishes educational resources for teachers and students on controversial historical topics including the Israel-Palestine conflict, conflict in Northern Ireland, and controversial historical individuals. Parallel Histories also runs debating workshops bringing together young people from different backgrounds to debate different perspectives on controversial history. It marks Good Relations Week in Northern Ireland through running debating workshops on the history of Northern Ireland in Parliament Buildings, Stormont.

Partnerships

Pearson Pearson may refer to: Organizations Education * Lester B. Pearson College, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada * Pearson College (UK), London, owned by Pearson PLC *Lester B. Pearson High School (disambiguation) Companies * Pearson plc, a UK-based ...

partnered with Parallel Histories to encourage more schools to teach

Middle East history The Middle East, or the Near East, was one of the cradles of civilization: after the Neolithic Revolution and the Origins of agriculture in West Asia, adoption of agriculture, many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations were created the ...

. Together, they produced resources, using the dual-narrative methodology, for the

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

and

iGCSE The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based secondary qualification similar to the GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising ...

qualifications. Parallel Histories' partnerships to run programmes with schools include with:

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a Multinational corporation, multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Fo ...

; the Prince's Teaching Institute (PTI); Christ Church, the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

; the veterans' charity, Forward Assist; and the Naval Children's Charity. It also participated in the

Erasmus+ Erasmus+ is the European Commission's programme for education, training, youth, and sport for the 2021–2027 period, succeeding the previous programme (2014–2020). As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for the mobi ...

programme with schools in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark. Parallel Histories is a member of the Good Business Charter.

References

{{Reflist Organizations established in 2017 2017 establishments in the United Kingdom History organisations based in the United Kingdom