ABSTRACT
Part 2 explores ways in which the strands of historical thinking discussed in Part 1, which teachers have said they would like to understand better, can be put into practice as an integral part of planning and assessment. The three reports that underpin this book all found that teachers and children enjoy history and it seems important to consider first the kinds of things they enjoy, in order to embed them in the planning process. The Cambridge Review (Alexander 2010) found that teachers and children enjoy history because it involves activities and ‘hands-on’ experiences. This was endorsed by the Primary History Survey in which teachers said that they enjoyed site visits and museum visits, that they liked using a variety of teaching methods and drawing on the local expertise of their local communities. They said that history provides a rich and multi-faceted dimension of learning. They said that this rich diversity in pupil learning, particularly in contrasting and comparing narratives, which reflect all members of society, the role of women and ethnic diversity within our communities, is a sea change from the single British narrative. They stressed the importance of modifying the curriculum to provide a British, European and worldwide view, in order to respond to ethnic perspectives. Similarly History for All (Ofsted 2011) stresses the importance of local experiences and local provision in bringing history to life. This report also emphasised the value of crosscurricular approaches and of adding additional topics that respond to pupils’ interests and locate the National Curriculum study units within an over-arching narrative. The Cambridge Review states that the dimensions of flexibility, thinking, talking and problemsolving, which require time and reflection, have been missing from the curriculum in recent years and that music, art, history, geography and the local dimension have become marginalised.
