ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author aims to suggest to history teachers the kind of question which should be asked about actual or proposed history syllabuses and from that to arrive at some tentative conclusions as to the principles of syllabus construction which might be followed. Any syllabus in any subject is a statement of the content of study the amount of knowledge and the selection of knowledge which it is proposed that a pupil should acquire. Any syllabus is an attempt to abridge and simplify a subject for school purposes, and it is proper to inquire whether it is a successful abridgement in that it simplifies the subject without distorting it and without losing its value in education. There are good reasons for supposing that history is a unique subject for instance, the social sciences, and at the centre of its nature as a subject lies the nature of historical explanation-of how the historian explains causes and effects.
