Ofsted has published its latest research review looking
at history education in schools.
Today we have published a research review into history education,
continuing our series looking at different subjects across the
curriculum.
The review draws on evidence from the education inspection
framework (EIF) and other literature to examine what makes a
high-quality history curriculum – including pedagogy, assessment
and the impact of school leaders’ decisions on history provision.
It shares a range of published work from history teachers who
have wrestled with complex questions of history curriculum
design, and the approaches they have taken to secure pupils’
disciplinary knowledge of history.
The review explores how pupils get better at history. It
emphasises how essential it is for pupils to develop ‘layers’ of
knowledge, which they can draw on to make sense of more complex
ideas, and to construct their own historical arguments and
accounts.
The review finds that some forms of knowledge can be particularly
useful for pupils to secure, such as knowledge of important
historical terms. And it reflects on the importance of teaching
pupils so that they retain what they have learned in the long
term.
The review considers how teachers might avoid generic or
formulaic approaches to teaching disciplinary knowledge, as these
can leave pupils with misconceptions.
There are various ways that schools can construct and teach
high-quality history curriculums. Our report identifies some
common features that schools may want to consider in developing
their history education, including:
- regular opportunities for teachers to discuss content
selection and its purposes, supporting decisions about content
and emphasis in teaching
- reflecting the relationship between ‘substantive’ and
‘disciplinary’ knowledge in teaching and curriculum design
- teaching that develops pupils’ historical knowledge and their
historical analysis simultaneously
- giving pupils specific opportunities to develop their
knowledge of some particularly important substantive concepts
- providing pupils with opportunities to read or hear
appropriately challenging texts
- ensuring that teaching and curriculum design secure pupils’
chronological knowledge
- giving pupils opportunities to study aspects of the past in
overview and in depth
- teaching that helps pupils to develop coherent historical
narratives and organising frameworks for their knowledge of the
past
- supporting pupils to learn new content through meaningful
examples and historical context that makes ideas and concepts
more familiar
- making sure pupils have repeated encounters with a wide range
of important concepts in a number of different contexts
- providing rich stories and contextual details about the past
to make abstract ideas more meaningful
Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, said:
A good history education is so important to children’s
education. Studying history helps children to understand their
place in the world, and in the long story of human development.
And it challenges them to make sense of the similarities and
differences in human experiences across time and place.
I hope our review helps schools as they design and develop
their own history curriculums. It will also feed into our own
assessment of the quality of subject education in schools.
We plan to publish our findings from research into history
education practice as a subject report in 2022.
