Historians And School History In The UK: A Historical Perspective

Author(s):

Terry Haydn(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

23 SES 04 B, Educational Research and Policy

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-19

09:00-10:30

Room:

FFL - Aula 15

Chair:

Christian Ydesen

Contribution

The part played by academic historians in the fashioning of the history curriculum in schools varies from one country to another. In some countries – for instance Japan and the Netherlands, academics have played an influential role in discussions and policymaking relating to the nature, form and purpose of history in schools (Grever and Stuurman, 2007, Sato, 2008), whereas until recently, historians had not played a central role in the formulation of the history curriculum in schools (Phillips, 1998, Haydn, 2011). However, (for the first time since the inception of the National Curriculum for History in 1991) the Secretary of State for Education and other leading politicians have called for leading UK historians to be closely involved in this latest reform of school history. Historian Simon Schama has been asked to lead the review, and other historians, including Niall Ferguson and Andrew Roberts have been asked to give their views on the form and purpose of school history (Collins, 2005, Gove 2010). The current review will result in the fifth version of the statutory curriculum for history since its inception, and the first to be significantly influenced by the ideas of professional historians working in universities.

Given that historians are to be given a significant influence over the nature and form of the new National Curriculum for history, what are the implications for the sort of school history which is likely to emerge from this process? The paper examines the views of the large numbers of academic historians who have expressed their views about school history in recent decades, either through comments on television and in newspapers, or in academic journals, and more popular history magazines.

What weaknesses do they identify in more recent models of history education in UK schools, and what are their prescriptions for improving it? Have the views of historians on what sort of history should be taught in school remained fairly constant over time, or is it possible to discern a change over time in their ideas as we have moved into the 21^st century, and over the past two decades, when the state has decreed a statutory National Curriculum for history for all pupils in state schools? To what extent do the views of UK historians correspond to the contributions of historians elsewhere in the world who have contributed to national debates about the content and purpose of school history in their countries? The paper draws on Aldrich's idea ( see Aldrich, 2006) of historical perspectives (the study of the past in order to gain insights into current issues and problems by considering what has gone before). In terms of perspectives and theoretical frameworks, the paper also draws on the work of Stephen J. Ball, whose analysis of educational policymaking considers the interplay of three influences on education policy; the context of influence, the context of text production, and the context of practice (Ball, 1990). This theoretical framework was deployed by Robert Phillips, in his study of the original National Curriculum for history in the UK (Phillips, 1998).

Method

In terms of sources, data and modes of enquiry, the paper takes advantage of the fact that as in many other countries, the history curriculum has been a high profile strand of public policy and debate, with over a thousand articles in national newspapers since the idea of introducing a National Curriculum in England was first mooted in the 1980s. In addition to the contributions of academic historians which have been recorded in the national press, discourse on school history can also be found in television and radio interviews, and in articles commissioned in academic and professional journals, and popular history magazines such as BBC History magazine, and History Today. The electronic archiving of broadsheet newspapers and the blogs of political think-tanks in the UK also proved to be invaluable in providing access to historians’ comments about school history, and the ways in which politicians drew on particular historians and their comments in setting up their review of the history curriculum in schools.

Expected Outcomes

Whilst acknowledging the valuable and constructive part that university historians might play in contributing to debates on the nature and purposes of school history, it warns of the danger of politicians being seduced by the cult of celebrity, or being tempted to recruit historians whose political outlook is close to their own ideas, rather than canvassing the ideas of a more representative section of the academy. It also warns of the dangers of marginalizing or excluding ‘experts’ on history education who have a more grounded understanding of, for instance, how much content can reasonably be fitted into the curriculum time available, and how to make learning in history effective.There is also a danger that a curriculum which is formulated by a combination of privately educated politicians and historians from privileged backgrounds may be tempted by a mixture of nostalgia and ‘it worked for me’, to restore a traditional ‘Our island story’ version of school history which leads young people to regard history as something which is not particularly relevant or useful to the lives they will lead outside school and after leaving school

References

Aldrich, R. (2006) Lessons from history of education, London, Routledge. Ball, S. (1990) Politics and Policymaking in Education: Explorations in Policy Sociology, London, Routledge. Collins, T. (2005) Speech to National Conference of Catholic Headteachers, 27 January. Gove, M. (2010) Quoted in ‘Pupils to Learn Poetry by Heart in Tory Return to Traditional School Lessons’, The Times, 6 March: 3. Grever, M. and Stuurman, S. (eds) (2007) Beyond the canon: history for the twenty first century, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Haydn, T. (2011) Historians and school history: a view from the UK, paper presented at the HEIRNET Conference, Braga, 19 July. Maddern, K. (2010) ‘History Teachers Call for Extra Time on Kings and Queens’, Times Educational Supplement, 21 May 2010: 6. Phillips, R. (1998) History Teaching, Nationhood and the State: a Study in Educational Politics, London, Cassell. Sato, M. (2008) ‘History text books in Japan, paper presented at the annual conference of the International Society for History Didactics, Tutzing, September.

Author Information

Terry Haydn (presenting / submitting)

University of East Anglia

Norwich

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