History for All

Judy Sebba

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134085491
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica generale

First Published in 1995. This book was written in response to the many teachers, assistants and advisers who have sought information and ideas about teaching history to pupils with learning difficulties since this subject became a curricular entitlement for all pupils. It draws on the practices of many teachers, advisers and lecturers, too numerous to list here by name but who have demonstrated creativity and commitment.

Chapter 1
What is History?

Introduction

Definitions of what constitutes history have been central to the controversies surrounding the development and review of National Curriculum history. Four issues in particular feature in this debate. The first concerns whether history is about a set of facts - dates, names and events - or skills - interpretation of evidence and use of sources. The second concerns when history begins and ends; should prehistoric content be included and when does recent history become current affairs? The third concerns the relative importance of British history and the balance that should be maintained with European and World history. Finally, there is the question of balance between the history of 'the good and the great' and the history of ordinary people.

History can be defined as 'the study of the past' and some would add 'in order to better understand the present'. In attempting to increase access to history for all pupils, these four issues can be seen from a different perspective. Historical skills cannot be taught to any pupils in isolation of content. For example, the interpretations that can be made or sources which might be used must focus on something. For pupils with learning difficulties, the volume of content that can be studied or interpreted may need to be limited in order to develop the skills. Furthermore, there are some pupils who could doubtless recite a series of dates or names but would be unable to use this information to 'better understand the present'. Historical skills will need to be taught using historical content. In parallel, pupils may benefit from other opportunities, for example, through work in English or science, to develop their skills in research and interpretation.

Identifying the starting and finishing points for teaching history has led to further controversy. Primary and special schools have been known to teach dinosaurs under the heading of history whereas many historians would label this prehistoric and most would argue that history is about people. Political interference in National Curriculum history has been more concerned with when recent history becomes current affairs than with when history began. Studying the immediate past is seen as leading to potential political indoctrination in directions not in keeping with the views of the Government. Hence, more recent history has been limited to the primary curriculum through studies of personal history and Britain since the 1930s.

For those concerned with increasing access to the curriculum, the perspective is rather different. Wilson (1985; 1992) has repeatedly argued that greater access can be achieved through teaching history backwards starting from the present day. Examples included in chapter 3 demonstrate the potential for using recent events for developing an understanding of the passage of time and for exploring different interpretations of an event. Study of the more distant past is important but must be carefully balanced with the pupils needs in terms of chronological understanding.

The concerns about the balance of British history to European and World history is similar to the debate about starting and finishing points. Many of the examples in this book are from teachers who consider the most appropriate and relevant history teaching to be that which relates to the pupils' own experiences, families and local area. While there is clearly a need to ensure pupils are not further disenfranchised by excluding studies of world history or those relating to different cultures, for those schools in the early stages of introducing history, relevance and appropriateness to meeting pupils' needs must be the first principle.

Traditionally, much emphasis in history has been on 'the good and the great. This is unfortunate because the history that can be learned from studying ordinary people is equally useful. Furthermore, remembering names and dates relating to monarchs, for example, may be more difficult for some pupils with learning difficulties than getting a general grasp about the lifestyle at another time in the past.

Why Teach History?

The definition of history given above provides a major justification for teaching history - that studying the past may help develop an understanding of the present. The HMI (DES, 1988) publication History from 5 to 16 provides a comprehensive list of aims and objectives for teaching history which are difficult to improve upon. The list of aims is reproduced here to set the context for the activities described in later chapters and for convenience.

The aims of teaching history in schools

• to develop an interest in the past and an appreciation of human achievements and aspirations;
• to understand the values of our society;
• to learn about the major issues and events in the history of their own country and the world and how those events may have influenced one another;
• to develop a knowledge of chronology within which they can organise their understanding of the past;
• to understand how the past was different from the present and that people of other times and places may have had different values and attitudes from ours;
• to understand the nature of evidence by emphasising history as a process of enquiry and by developing the range of skills required to interpret primary and secondary source material;
• to distinguish between historical facts and the interpretation of those facts;
• to look for explanations of change in terms of human intentions, beliefs and motives as well as of environmental factors;
• to understand that events have usually a multiplicity of causes and that historical explanation is provisional, always debatable and sometimes controversial;
• to encourage an understanding of the processes of change and continuity in human affairs and the recognition that change and progress are not necessarily the same;
• to develop insight, clearly based on historical evidence, in order to offer explanations of past events and to develop also an informed appreciation of the perspectives and motives of people in the past;
• to contribute to personal and social education by developing certain attitudes and values: for example a respect for evidence; and toleration of a range of opinions;
• to communicate clearly, employing a wide range of media.

(DES, 1988, p.3)

The four issues considered within the definition of history are reflected in these aims. Facts and skills, own country and world, personal and other cultures are all balanced. Furthermore, the HMI document reminds us that British history should not be limited to the history of England and Wales.

While these aims were published several years prior to the first National Curriculum requirements they are entirely consistent with the content of the current history Order and any likely future versions. Despite the apparent level of controversy there is marked agreement amongst most educationalists about the purposes of teaching history and the content and skills required to realise them.

Requirements of the History Curriculum

The requirements of the history curriculum include three areas of historical thinking:

• knowledge and understanding of history;
• interpretations of history;
• the use of historical sources.

These three areas corresponded to the attainment targets in the 1991 history Order and are incorporated into the requirements in the programmes of study in the revision introduced in 1995. This partly reflects the changing structure of the National Curriculum in which the History level descriptions are used only as a basis for reporting to parents, not for planning, teaching or assessment. It also reflects the view that the overlaps between the three areas make their separation unhelpful. For the purposes of providing a basic introduction to the requirements, these distinctions will be maintained. Whatever future revisions of the National Curriculum take place, these aspects are seen as fundamental to the subject, they are reflected in the aims listed at the start of this chapter and will continue to be included in some form.

Knowledge and understanding of history

Within the knowledge and understanding of history there are three strands:

• change and continuity;
• causes and consequences;
• knowing about and understanding key features of past situations.

Change and continuity

This strand is concerned with the development of understanding of chronology. The appropriate use of terms such as, 'old', 'new', 'now', 'then, 'yesterday', 'today' and, at more advanced levels, 'BC', 'AD', 'Middle Ages', to describe the passage of time are relevant to this strand. Appropriate sequencing of generations in the pupil's family, days of the week, events in history and seasons also demonstrate chronology.

Developing an understanding of what has changed and what has remained the same when comparing a time in the past with the present is central to this strand. Examples might include the types of options listed in the local history unit of the 1995 programme of study for key stage 2, such as leisure or education. Many schools have explored this strand particularly effectively through the use of evidence about their own school or area in the past. Similarities between past and present, and possible reasons why some things have stayed the same, tend to be less well covered than change.

Causes and consequences

This strand is about identifying why things in the past happened, why particular individuals acted the way they did and what the consequences or results were of these events and actions. Local history may provide examples of why particular industries began and the consequences of their development for the local community. Some of the materials reviewed in chapters 3 and 4 provide opportunities to study the causes and consequences of events such as 'The Battle of Hastings' and the world wars and of people's actions.

Knowing and understanding key features of past situations

In this strand pupils are required to identify differences and similarities between a period in the past and the present or between two or more periods in the past. It also involves identifying different features within a period. There are overlaps between this strand and the one on change and continuity in the context of some activities. For example, if the activity involved comparing a Victorian kitchen with one in the present day, both strands might be covered.

The lives of various types of famous people are explored. This should include stories about people in the past perhaps through the use of drama. It is important to ensure that HIStory is also HERstory. Material about women in history is being increasingly developed.

Interpretations of history

This aspect includes distinctions between fantasy and reality, looking at the different ways in which the past has been represented and investigating the differences between versions of the past. Starting with the crudest of distinctions between fact and fiction this can develop into consideration of whether people in stories are real and how we can tell whether they are fictitious or not. Different versions of the same story or event can be explored and use made of a range of different sources (see below). Pupils may reflect back on events in their own school and note the differences in their own accounts of these.

The use of historical sources

Pupils will be working on the skills of research in history that have important uses in other subjects. They will be developing observation, listening, communicating, hypothesising, problem-solving, library skills and interpretation. These may be enhanced by the range of sources used including portraits, photographs, audio tapes, objects, buildings, music and eyewitness accounts. All these can be used to explore what we can find out about the past and the fact that one source may provide conflicting evidence with another source. It is important to consider that some pupils will be unable to access some sources because of visual, hearing or literacy problems.

Areas of the History Curriculum

The requirements of the 1995 National Curriculum include areas which should be covered in a balanced way across each key stage. These are:

• Stories e.g. fictional, eyewitness;
• Sources e.g. photographs, objects, buildings;
• Periods in history e.g. own life, beyond living memory;
• Events in history e.g. local, in other countries, festivals;
• Lives of famous men and women.

These areas run throughout the three areas of historical thinking described above. They are not additional content. For pupils working at more advanced levels, the study of history should be presented through a variety of perspectives including political, economic, technological and scientific, social, religious, cultural and aesthetic. Every perspective will not be given equal weight in each scheme of work, rather the intention is to ensure balance in these perspectives across the history content taught.

Historical Enquiry and Communication

The learning skills developed through history will be relevant throughout the content described above. Pupils will be 'asking questions' (not necessarily through speech). They should be given opportunities throughout their work to communicate awareness and understanding of history in as many different ways as possible including writing, describing verbally (or through other means), use of IT, drama, music and art work.

Cross-Curricular Themes

The links between history and the cross-curricular themes such as environmental education, citizenship and economic awareness are extensive. Staff working with pupils with learning difficulties welcomed the cross-curricular themes as a vehicle for relating work in the National Curriculum subjects to the well-established activities they were undertaking to promote life skills. They also provide excellent opportunities for promoting the skills of enquiry, interpretation and use of sources.

Economic and industrial understanding

This can be promoted within history in the context of topics on transport, farming, buildings, shopping, jobs of people in the locality and how they have changed, and money. Local studies may lend themselves particularly well to coverage of economic and industrial understanding and may encourage the more active interest and involvement of older members of the pupil's family

Health education

This can be promoted in the context of work on changing patterns of diet, hygiene and housing. The role of the family and community and how these have changed over time is also relevant.

Careers education

Looking at the changing roles of jobs in the community may provide one focus within a local history study.

Environment education

Many opportunities to address environmental issues may arise in the context of history activities. Local studies will offer some of these opportunities. Changes to the built environment, activities on the seasons and climate, how people in the past have influenced and been influenced by their environment, and the impact of technology on the environment, are all relevant contexts for history teaching.

Citizenship

The links between history and citizenship are extensive. Roles in the community and how these have changed, development of a multicultural society, rights and how these have changed, family life-cycles, changing roles in the home, and the development of universal suffrage, can all be a...