Setting us free? How should we assess progress in a post-levels world?

1. Setting us free?How should we assess progress in a post-levels world? Alex Ford & Barbara Hibbert – Northern History Forum, November 2013

2. Context So what next for progress and progression in History? • “As part of our reforms to the national curriculum , the current system of ‘levels’ used to report children’s attainment and progress will be removed. It will not be replaced.” (DfE, 2013)

3. A – Abolish levelling and adopt a traditional approach to progression

4. B – Continue using NC Levels / Attainment Targets

5. B – Continue using NC Levels / Attainment Targets • Level 4 “Describe” • Level 5 “Explain” • Level 6 “Analyse” • Level 7 “Evaluate” • Bloom’s Taxonomy • ‘…moving from National Curriculum Level 4 to Level 5 (or whatever) is not an adequate description of progress let alone a prescription for progress.’ (Counsell, 2000, p. 41)

6. C – Develop a meaningful progression model • ‘Historical thinking is neither a natural process nor something that springs automatically from psychological development . . . it actually goes against the grain of how we ordinarily think.’ (Wineburg, 1999, p. 491) • Mastery concept – a toolkit rather than a ladder?

7. C – develop a new model with meaning “Competent historical thinkers understand both the vast differences that separate us from our ancestors and the ties that bind us to them; they can analyse historical artefacts and documents, which can give them some of the best understandings of times gone by; they can assess the validity and relevance of historical accounts, when they are used to support entry into a war, voting for a candidate, or any of the myriad decisions knowledgeable citizens in a democracy must make. All this requires “knowing the facts,” but “knowing the facts” is not enough. Historical thinking does not replace historical knowledge: the two are related and interdependent.” (Seixas, 2008, p. 6)

8. The Big Six as a Model • Mastery concept – a toolkit rather than a ladder? • Seixas and Morton: • Historical Significance • Evidence • Continuity and Change • Cause and Consequence • Historical Perspectives • The Ethical Dimension • What should OUR Big Six be? • Inspiration • Expertise in Departments • Teaching History • Schools History Project • Historical Thinking Project (free chapters) • Various books and articles

9. One Possible Model for Causation What SIGNPOSTS would indicate a mastery of Causation? What misconceptions would need to be overcome? • Causation • Change and Continuity • Historical Evidence • Historical Interpretation • Historical Perspectives • Communication • Change happens because of MULTIPLE CAUSES and leads to many different results or consequences. These create a WEB of related causes and consequences. • Different causes have different LEVELS OF INFLUENCE. Some causes are more important than other causes. • Historical changes happen because of two main factors: The actions of HISTORICAL ACTORS and the CONDITIONS (social, economic etc.) which have influenced those actors.

10. Causation: Mastery Model (Scott, 1990; Morton & Seixas, 2012)

11. Student appropriate progression models • Student friendly models • How can these be worded? • If it is too complex to explain, is it appropriate for KS3? • Can these tie into assessments? How? • How can we give students a concrete sense of achievement as well as a model for mastery?

12. Different Concepts? • There are major differences between modern WORLD-VIEWS and those of people in the past, this means their beliefs, values and motivations. • The perspectives of HISTORICAL ACTORS are best understood by thinking about the CONTEXT in which people lived and the WORLD-VIEWS that influenced them. • Looking at the perspective of an HISTORICAL ACTOR means drawing INFERENCES about how people thought and felt in the past. It does not mean using modern WORLD-VIEWS to imagine the past. • What do we value in History? • How do we want them to think historically? • Any good history begins in strangeness. The past should not be comfortable. the past should not be a familiar echo of the present…The past should be so strange that you wonder how you and the people you know and love could come from such a time…When you have traced this trajectory, you have learnt something.” (White, 1998, p. 13)

13. Historical Perspectives • Application to the Black Death? • Unit of work looking at the impact of the Black Death and exploring reaction of people in Britain • Begin with a chapter of John Hatcher’s “Black Death” as the disease arrives in Alice’s village. • Students could continue the story looking at impact on how people reacted. • Could add to the story as the history develops… Understanding perspectives

14. Where Next? • Open up debate and discussion as a profession. Share models, assessments, student progression models and ideas • History Teachers Discussion Forum • Contacting the HA directly • Blog on andallthat.co.uk -> Teachers -> 2014 Gove KS3 Blog • Range of other concepts in the Appendix as well as examples of assessments, medium term planning sheets and other tools • Opportunity to lead other subjects and whole school practice – get the assessment that we want