Students' Historical Thinking and the National History Curriculum in England

Abstract

England's new, centrally imposed National History Curriculum was introduced into state-maintained schools in September, 1991. The curriculum is based on a linear theory of cognitive development and on Bruner's conception of cognitive development and a spiral curriculum. This notion of progression in historical thinking is written into attainment targets (assessment objectives) which, with their associated statements of attainment, serve as criteria for measuring student thinking throughout the school years. In this discussion, I first examine the National History Curriculum critically, by noting that such a mechanistic model, with its supposedly clear-cut description of progression in historical thinking, may have little to do with the perceptions of teachers, the realities of the classroom, and the findings of research on students' historical understanding. I then measure the theory, content, and prescriptions of the National History Curriculum against the research literature, and conclude that these assessment programs may lead to assessment-led teaching. This in turn could result in a lowering of teacher expectations of student potential for genuine historical thinking. I conclude by suggesting an alternative method for assessing students' historical thinking.