ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the requirements of the statutory orders, explores some of the issues concerned with relevance and access for pupils with learning difficulties, and gives examples of activities in history with reference to the relevant programmes of study (PoS). The introduction of the original statutory orders for National Curriculum history were marked with controversy, including what focus should be placed on British history and whether the subject should be more concerned with the processes involved with learning history or the acquisition of historical facts. The UK's Education Reform Act 1988 gave all pupils of compulsory school age, including those with a wide range of special educational needs, a legal entitlement to the National Curriculum programmes of study for history. The subject-specific guidelines refer to the possibility of using sensory modes to support the teaching of history – advice that may further help to include pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) in history activities.
