ABSTRACT
Some history teachers confidently conceive of their students as ‘mini-historians’ capable of engaging directly in the processes of constructing historical knowledge. Indeed they regard such engagement as essential if their students are to develop a secure understanding of the nature of historical knowledge. Others reject the idea of basing school history on the academic discipline, generally arguing either that such an approach is far too difficult for school-children (a claim famously advanced by the Tudor historian Geoffrey Elton) or that it is too time-consuming when what young people really need is sufficient substantive knowledge to give them a mental map of the past. This chapter examines the position that history teachers occupy between the academy and their students, and the kinds of relationship that they can forge between the two communities. It explores the arguments that have been advanced for modelling school history closely on academic practice and illustrates the variety of ways in which teachers have brought historians’ work into the classroom and the impact that this can have on students’ motivation and historical writing.
