Framing Partition in English teaching resources: empire, British values and the politics of curriculum

This article examines teaching resources addressing the Partition of India, exploring how Partition is framed through supplementary teaching resources developed by government and non-governmental organisations in England. Using critical discourse analysis, the study investigates the National Archives teaching resources on Partition and other educational initiatives led by non-governmental organisations called the Partition History Project and the White Line Project. Drawing on McQuaid and Gensburger’s concepts of the administration of memory and Bernstein’s regulative discourse, the analysis reveals how Partition is often presented within a framework of British values, transforming a complex episode of imperial violence and migration into a moral lesson on tolerance and social harmony. Despite growing calls for decolonisation, the Partition teaching materials in England reflect an institutional preference for national coherence over critical historical inquiry, aligning with a broader tendency to marginalise colonial histories or recast them as narratives of shared heritage. By examining how Partition is selectively remembered and pedagogically framed, this article argues for a more critical, inclusive and historically grounded approach to teaching materials addressing the British Empire in English schools.