ABSTRACT
The relative freedom from regulation in English secondary schools precludes generalizations on either the quantity or quality of instruction in history. There are no official require ments, national or local, such as those found in every American state. An English secondary school could, in theory, teach no history at all, although custom requires that all emphasize the subject. Normally, however, in Grammar schools all pupils study history throughout the first three years of the five-year course leading to the O Level General Certificate of Education examination; for the remaining two years history is often an ‘optional’ subject that is still widely elected. During these three years when history is required, from two to three weekly periods of approximately forty-five minutes are devoted to the subject; after the O Level examination when history becomes a specialist subject for the minority who elect it the instructional time is increased to six or eight periods weekly. In the Secondary Modern schools most pupils study history throughout their course, and the time allotted to it per week is slightly greater.
