Teaching in Sri Lanka

Secondary School Education

My secondary school teaching began in August 2019 specializing in the Cambridge curriculum at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. In August 2020, I was promoted to KS3 History Coordinator in charge of designing an innovative new curriculum that follows the UK National Curriculum as well as incorporates elements of local history in Sri Lanka. This KS3 curriculum boldly follows both a thematic approach and a roughly chronological timeline reaching back from our earliest ancestors of the Stone Age to the modern age. Since May 2022, I have been the Head of History expanding the reach of the curriculum across the department and continuing to innovate and expand student learning and engagement in the study of History.

At KS3, the new curriculum series is divided into three parts for each year of the program: Origins, Ideas, Conquests.

Origins began as an idea to introduce History to pre-teens from the perspective of the marginalized. Consciously avoiding outdated and problematic terms like "prehistory" and "primitive," Origins explores and celebrates the diversity of the stories of our collective past by introducing students to a range of historical sources. Such historical sources are introduced to students without hierarchical connotations of legitimacy or value. These sources help challenge commonly-held misconceptions about our ancestors and raise important questions about our future as people inhabiting this planet. What can we learn from forager (hunter-gatherer) societies about our relationships with each other and with our environment? What does "civilization" look like from the perspective of nonstate peoples? When and how did hierarchical societies begin? How can we understand the unprecedented levels of violence and environmental destruction brought on by the Bronze Age? How might we be able to return to free, environmentally-sustainable communities caring for each other, our animal friends, and our environment?

Click here to learn more about the curriculum and see sample student work.