How Can We Plan for Progression in Primary School History?
Open Access
- 1 April 2015
- journal article
- Published by Universidad de los Andes in Revista de Estudios Sociales
- No. 52,p. 16-31
- https://doi.org/10.7440/res52.2015.02
Abstract
This paper addresses issues concerning planning for and assessing progression in children’s thinking in primary school history. It argues that it is necessary to assess progression within the framework of constructivist learning theories, applied to the processes of historical enquiry. First, it discusses early research into children’s ability to understand concepts of time, historical sources and interpretations. Next, it describes the structure of the English National Curriculum, introduced in 1989, in which pupils are required to apply the processes of historical enquiry to content, in increasingly complex ways. The problem of what is meant by progression in history led to a large-scale research project attempting to identify patterns of development. It is argued that this proved problematic, and the level descriptors for the English History Curriculum have subsequently been removed. The article concludes that, at the moment, progression can be best planned for based on small-scale case studies, which apply constructivist theories to historical enquiries. Finally, suggestions are given for how teachers can plan and evaluate both their own practice and their pupils’ progressKeywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- History Learning Activities for Citizenship Education1Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, 2007
- Does the English Curriculum for History and its Schemes of Work effectively promote primary-aged children’s assimilation of the concepts of historical time? Some observations based on current researchEducational Research, 2004
- Murals as Monuments: Students’ Ideas about Depictions of Civilization in British ColumbiaAmerican Journal of Education, 2004
- “Back When God Was Around and Everything”: Elementary Children’s Understanding of Historical TimeAmerican Educational Research Journal, 1996
- Identifying Progression in Children's Understanding: the use of visual materials to assess primary school children's learning in historyCambridge Journal of Education, 1993
- The Development of Children's Historical ThinkingCambridge Journal of Education, 1988
- Understanding of the Concept of Change among Children and Young AdolescentsEducational Review, 1982
- Psychological Processes and CommunicationSoviet Psychology, 1978
- The Development of Children's Construction of Historical Duration: A New Approach and Some FindingsEducational Research, 1977
- CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS OF TIME AND HISTORYEducational Review, 1963