AN angry parent has slammed a school after her daughter was asked to weigh up the “pros and cons” of slavery as part of her GCSE history coursework.

A class of 15 and 16-year-olds were studying why the British Empire pursued a policy of setting up plantations using slave labour instead of piracy.

But the exercise was branded racist by Sabrina Aries, 38, who complained to the school.

She claims that despite receiving an apology, pupils have yet to be told why there was a problem.

“I do not expect my child to miseducated in this way,” she told the Huffington Post.

“I don’t feel that, individually, any of those teachers meant to cause offence.

“But I also think that, as a majority white staff, they do not consider history from any other perspective.”

Hazeley Academy principal, Tony Nelson, said a staff member has apologised and the wording of the exercise has been changed.

He said teachers were examining the history of the topic and considering why Britain elected to develop slavery, not whether it was was good or bad.

The school was in “no way are we trying to encourage, celebrate or praise slavery” which he said

“was one of Britain’s most shameful acts”.

The exercise was derived from the AQA teacher’s guide on “Britain: migration, empires and people” study topic.

A spokesman for the qualifications body said it was “sorry to hear that a school has misinterpreted one of our guidance documents, which was produced and checked by history experts”.

The transatlantic slave trade began in the mid -17th century and saw millions of Africans forcibly transported to work on plantations in the Americas and Caribbean.

The trading system began with ships sailing from Europe with a cargo of manufactured goods to the west coast of Africa where they were traded for slaves captured by African traders.

After taking slaves to their destination in appalling conditions, European ships returned home with cargoes of sugar, rum, tobacco and other luxury items.

Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807 and finally abolished slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833.