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Children’s ideas about what it means ‘to get better’ at History: a view from the UK

Children’s ideas about what it means ‘to get better’ at History: a view from the UK
Children’s ideas about what it means ‘to get better’ at History: a view from the UK
The past three decades have seen radical changes in history educators’, policymakers’ and educationalists’ ideas about what it means ‘to get better’ in history as a school subject in the UK. The inception of a National Curriculum for History brought about a much more clearly defined framework for progression in the subject. The introduction of formal (and quite complex) models for measuring pupils’ progress in history, and changing and contested ideas about progression in history as a school subject occasioned vigorous debate, both between politicians, historians and history teacher educators, and between teacher educators themselves. However, less attention has focused on pupils’ ideas about what it means to get better at history, and the extent of their understanding of the models of progression, which have been developed in recent years. The research asked pupils to explain in their own words what they thought it meant ‘to get better at history’. The outcomes revealed that many pupils had very little understanding of the models for progression for history which have been put in place in UK schools, and quite vague and inchoate ideas about what it means to make progress in history. Only a minority of pupils, in some of the schools involved, were able to explain progression in terms which in any way reflected the models of progression laid down in official curriculum specifications, and as expounded in adult discourse about history education. It is possible that many teachers have perhaps made assumptions about the extent to which pupils understand what they have to do to make progress in history, and that more time and thought might be invested in this aspect of history education in order to improve pupil motivation and attainment in history
assessment, curriculum, history education, progression, pupil voice
1472-9466
26-39
Haydn, Terry
bcaa095f-407c-422f-aa1d-f91bbfe19695
Harris, Richard
0550d258-245a-4d0f-b366-4a8bc580cda3
Haydn, Terry
bcaa095f-407c-422f-aa1d-f91bbfe19695
Harris, Richard
0550d258-245a-4d0f-b366-4a8bc580cda3

Haydn, Terry and Harris, Richard (2009) Children’s ideas about what it means ‘to get better’ at History: a view from the UK. International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research, 8 (2), 26-39.

Record type: Article

Abstract

The past three decades have seen radical changes in history educators’, policymakers’ and educationalists’ ideas about what it means ‘to get better’ in history as a school subject in the UK. The inception of a National Curriculum for History brought about a much more clearly defined framework for progression in the subject. The introduction of formal (and quite complex) models for measuring pupils’ progress in history, and changing and contested ideas about progression in history as a school subject occasioned vigorous debate, both between politicians, historians and history teacher educators, and between teacher educators themselves. However, less attention has focused on pupils’ ideas about what it means to get better at history, and the extent of their understanding of the models of progression, which have been developed in recent years. The research asked pupils to explain in their own words what they thought it meant ‘to get better at history’. The outcomes revealed that many pupils had very little understanding of the models for progression for history which have been put in place in UK schools, and quite vague and inchoate ideas about what it means to make progress in history. Only a minority of pupils, in some of the schools involved, were able to explain progression in terms which in any way reflected the models of progression laid down in official curriculum specifications, and as expounded in adult discourse about history education. It is possible that many teachers have perhaps made assumptions about the extent to which pupils understand what they have to do to make progress in history, and that more time and thought might be invested in this aspect of history education in order to improve pupil motivation and attainment in history

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More information

Published date: October 2009
Keywords: assessment, curriculum, history education, progression, pupil voice

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 69854
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/69854
ISSN: 1472-9466
PURE UUID: 9b044a17-a4fd-4b4a-b817-1540f9c215ee

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Date deposited: 08 Dec 2009
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 19:50

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Contributors

Author: Terry Haydn
Author: Richard Harris

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