History in schools: learning from the past, preparing for the future

1. History in schools:learning from the past, preparing for the future Michael Maddison HMI National Lead for History, England SHP HA BM Primary History Conference 29 March 2014

2. Outline History in schools: learning from the past, preparing for the future • What do we know about the effectiveness of history in schools? • What does inspection tell us are the components and characteristics of highly effective history? • What do we need to think about as we plan for the future?

3. National scene: What do we know about the effectiveness of history in primary schools? Overview: a mixed picture – a successful subject in school but under pressure and some significant aspects in need of improvement

4. Early Years – in the best settings .. • children made good progress in understanding thepassage of timeand how things change over time • children listened to stories that introduced people from the past • teachers provided numerous opportunities for the children to use the correct language, such as ‘yesterday’ and ‘past’, and look at the differences between ‘long ago’ and ‘now’. • As a result, children became more confident in: • asking questions about artefacts • suggesting what they might be used for • making accurate comparisonsbetween modern and old objects.

5. By the end of Key Stage 1 –in the best lessons .. • pupils were able to recount stories accuratelyand to suggest why people and events were important. • they had a good understanding of the importance of basing their ideas on evidence. • they were provided with opportunities to handleartefacts, ask questions about them and consider how they might also find out the answers. • in effect, they were developing those vital historical skills of: • investigating • hypothesising • questioning. • As a result, they could reflect on the significance of what they had learnt and could be thoughtful and perceptive in their thinking.

6. By the end of Key Stage 2 – in the best lessons pupils .. • could evaluate a range of historical sources • make perceptive deductions about the reliability of sources • had gained an understanding of change and continuity • understood the significance of peoplein a wider historical context • could identify anachronism • were aware of different viewsabout the events they had studied • used historical terms accurately • could make pertinent and valid comparisons between periods. ‘Well, it depends if you were rich or poor’ (Year 4)

7. Primary successes • Pupils’ attitudes to history were good or better – they • enjoyed their lessons • regarded history as fun • were well motivated • were determined to learn something new and to succeed. • Where history was thriving, pupils were • developing a good knowledge of historical topics • acquiring a detailed understanding of the past • developing their historical thinking by learning to and refining the way they: • research evidence and ask questions • draw conclusions and communicate findings.

8. Primary Concerns • Pupils’ knowledge is episodic • The KS2 curriculum is episodic • Pupils’ chronological understanding is increasingly variable • Pupils’ ability to make links across the knowledge they have gained is weak • Teaching has become increasingly variable • Pupils appear to be studying less history • In some schools the growth of a cross-curricular framework is diluting the subject’s identity Actions for you: Focus on developing pupils’ chronological understanding develop closer links with your neighbouring primary and secondary schools

9. The lessons of inspection • Historical knowledge is important • In the last three years, teaching in history has become more variable • Too many pupils’ chronological understanding is not good • Pupils have better knowledge and make better progress when history is taught as a discrete subject, with links made to other subjects as appropriate • The most effective subject pedagogy, ensuring high achievement in history, was shown by teachers whose approach focused on well-structured enquiry, which helped pupils think for themselves • The best learning in history took place when the teaching developed pupils’ historical knowledge and historical thinking and, as a result, enabled them to show their historical understanding

10. How can we improve history in primary schools?

11. Improving pupils’ chronological understanding On a recent inspection, an inspector observed the following: • Above the whiteboard in the Year 4 classroom was a timeline. It consisted of a series of coloured pictures showing various events, about ten in all, from the ‘age of the dinosaurs’ to the forthcoming ‘World Cup’. Each event sheet was of the same size and each had a single date on it. The events were evenly spread. As a result, the pictures showing the ‘age of the dinosaurs’, ‘the birth of Christ’, ‘the arrival of the Romans’ and ‘Henry VIII’ were placed next to each other. Q. What points might you make to the teacher?

12. Pupils and chronology – a way forward • Use timelines regularly and accurately throughout the school • Ensure each timeline develops an understanding of the key features of chronological understanding, namely: • Sequence – events in the right order • Interval – the distance between events • Duration – how long each event lasted

13. Examples of good practice included … • creating a timeline in reverse in the EYFS • constructing a cumulative timeline from Y1 to Y6 • displaying a ‘school timeline’ in the main hall or on corridors • painting a timeline in the school playground • using a pre-assembled ‘chronology kit’ – the washing line • ensuring each topic links with previous topics • making comparisons between topics as a matter of course – change and continuity, similarity and difference

14. Improving teaching • Subject expertise • knowledge • dynamic subject • why history matters • why topics are worth studying • Learning • rigorous historical enquiry • Historical thinking & understanding • Historical thinking = ability to investigate, consider, reflect and review the events of the past • Assessment • enabling teachers to refine their practice and pupils to build securely on prior learning

15. Context: a group of pupils in Years 2 and 3 were studying the diary of Samuel Pepys. Discussion: when asked how they would deal with another diary which told them something different, their response was unequivocal. Year 3 pupil: ‘That’s ok’, because we would be able to check what Samuel Pepys had written’. Another pupil added, ‘We would have another point of view. You know someone who perhaps lived in another part of London and so lived life differently’. Case Study: Developing historical thinking Fox Primary School, London

16. Context: Pupils in Year 5 were using different types of evidence when studying Victorian times. Discussion: focused on the reliability of the sources. They were acutely aware that a contemporary painting had to be treated with care because ‘the people who painted this got paid so they might have made it look better than it really was’. Case Study:Developing historical thinking – Fox Primary School

17. The constituents of highly effective teaching and learning • Ofsted, 2010; revised December 2013 Resources

18. Improving the curriculum • Acquisition of knowledge and development of chronological understanding • Understanding of key historical concepts • Development of historical thinking through enquiries • Clarity of rationale and thinking • Assessment which reveals whether aims are being achieved • Increasing level of expectation and challenge to ensure progression in historical knowledge, thinking and understanding • Distinctive and reflects pupils’ needs, interests and aspirations • A balance of appropriate topics across key stages and year groups • Wide range of enrichment activities

19. How do we know it is highly effective? Clarity of rationale and thinking • Whyare we teaching, whatwe are teaching, how we are teaching it, when we are teaching it? • What do we want pupils to know, do and understand at the end that they didn’t know, couldn’t do and didn't understand at the beginning?

20. Preparing for the new National Curriculum from September 2014:Long Term Planning

21. The new National Curriculum for history, 2014 Key Stages 1 and 2 From September 2014

22. Purpose of study • A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. • It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. • History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

23. Aims The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils: • know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world • know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic • gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’

24. Aims - continued • understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses • understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed • gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

25. Attainment targets • By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the programme of study.

26. Subject Content KS1 - preamble • Pupils should develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. • They should • know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. • use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. • ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events. • understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.

27. Subject Content KS1 • changes within living memory. Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life • events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally [for example, the Great Fire of London, the first aeroplane flight or events commemorated through festivals or anniversaries] • the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods [for example, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, William Caxton and Tim Berners-Lee, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and LS Lowry, Rosa Parks and Emily Davison, Mary Seacole and/or Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell] • significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.

28. Subject Content KS2 - preamble • Pupils should continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. • They should • note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. • regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. • construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. • understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

29. Subject content KS2 • British history from earliest times to 1066 • changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age • the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain • Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots • the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor • a local history study • a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066 • the achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of one • Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world • a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history

30. Subject content KS2 • a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066 Examples (non-statutory) • the changing power of monarchs using case studies such as John, Anne and Victoria • changes in an aspect of social history, such as crime and punishment from the Anglo-Saxons to the present or leisure and entertainment in the 20th Century • the legacy of Greek or Roman culture (art, architecture or literature) on later periods in British history, including the present day • a significant turning point in British history, for example, the first railways or the Battle of Britain

31. National Curriculum comparison maps http://www.suffolklearning.co.uk/3-11-learning-teaching/curriculum-leadership/nc-2014-update

32. Curriculum Planning: History • How are we going to structure our curriculum so that we strengthen teaching in history and improve pupils’ historical knowledge and understanding, including their chronological understanding?

33. What will your KS1 and 2 curriculumoverview look like?http://www.history.org.uk/resources/primary_news_2040.html

34. Some points for you to consider – part 1: • what to teach in history • when to teach this content • how best to teach this content to develop pupils’ historical knowledge, understanding (including chronological understanding) and thinking • how to access the most useful and age-appropriate resources • how best to fulfil the expectations of the local history study • how best to develop a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066

35. Some points for you to consider – part 2: • how to enrich the curriculum and make best use of the heritage opportunities which are available within the locality • how best to fulfil the breadth of the stated aims and the preamble summaries of what pupils should know, do and understand at each key stage • the most effective teaching and learning strategies to ensure that pupils have the opportunity to examine cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social aspects • how best to fulfil the requirements of the attainment target.

36. And never forget … • ‘We like history because we have to think for ourselves and give reasons for our opinions’ (Year 5 pupil) • ‘History stops people believing rubbish’ (Year 8 student) • ‘History has taught me to read between the lines’ (Year 11 student) make history … • accessible • meaningful • coherent • achievable

37. National Lead: michael.maddison@ofsted.gov.uk