Interview with Gareth Elwyn Jones, 23 September 2009

Abstract

Professor Gareth Elwyn Jones was Professor of Education at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. He was the only person to sit on both the English National Curriculum's History Working Group (HWG)and its equivalent Welsh committee. He recalls joining Cardiff College of Education in 1965, where he was influenced by John Fines. In 1972, he moved to Swansea University where he promoted the teaching of Welsh history, setting up the Welsh History Resources Committee. He recalls his work on the two NC committees and compares the pressures the English HWG had to work under in comparison with the Welsh who received little attention from the media. He notes that the core of the debate amongst the Welsh was what constituted their national history, not, as for the English HWG, whether they actually had one. Interviewed by Nicola Sheldon