Changing history

Jamie Byrom – Devon Education Services

Some questions …Which aspects of the new orders does

each of these questions address?

• Why did Jamie’s great grandfather change his surname?

• Hawkins, Drake or Raleigh – who did most to change our world?

• Why does no one bother about the Battle of Brunanburh?

• Image of person with arm in sling – Jamie will explain relevance at the end

Less content? Maybe – but it’s up to us! Our greatest challenges / opportunities are related to “Range and content”.

New? The concepts and processes of history have been clearly defined and used with success in classrooms for at least 17 years. Keep them at the centre of planning.

The discipline of history

• “In particular the curriculum should … induct learners into the essential knowledge, skills and discourse of subject disciplines …”

(National Curriculum Orders 2008, page 5)

“Content”

• “…ensure that pupils can identify and understand major events, changes and developments in British, European and world history …”

the

• Image from the “Reduced Shakespeare Theatre Company”

• History teachers have many of their skills!

• Knowing the art of the acceptable simplification

• Must be disciplined about what we put in and what we leave out. We can be our own worst enemies.

• Image representing assassination of Lincoln

• Reduced Shakespeare Company – and society at large – expects children to emerge knowing “iconic” moments from history. I think they are right – but there is far more to it of course.

It seems we have to help pupils to …

• Know the iconic• Understand it is a construct• Critique the construct• Create their own constructs• Learn “The” (main events of world history)

• In 1 hour a week or so?• It FEELS as if all this must be done at KS3! Odd

that KS1 and 2 were not included. Hard to know how these will be revised in the light of the new KS3

Issues of content selection remain and always will. Don’t be your own worst enemy. Think big when planning. (Perhaps think in terms of “Key Stage Objectives” as well as lesson objectives).

• Image of jigsaw puzzle spread chaotically on table top

• When a boat faces into the wind and its sails flap, it is said to be “in stays”

• Up so in so in up in we in so so than in than we so we

Select and memorise one of these:

From “When teaching becomes learning” by Eric Sotto. Publ. Cassell 1994

• Too many Key Stage 3 history schemes still look like a list to me (ie they resemble the “Up so in so in up …” statement above)

• Some individual lessons feel like this too!

• The new orders urge us to put shape into our planning and teaching

Coherence – and endurance

• Coherence

• Endurance

• When things “make sense” they are easier to learn

• And the learning goes deeper and lasts longer

How can we make the whole key stage more coherent – a “course”?

Big Planning for Big Effect

Key Stage 3 Plan – Thematic (vertical)

Autumn: Changing lives and attitudes Spring: Power, conflict and co-operation

Summer: Civilisations and empires

Y 7 Daily Lives•What can medieval deaths tell us about medieval lives?•How can we find out about daily life around 1700?•How did the Industrial Revolution change people’s lives 1750 to 1900?•Which invention did most to shape people’s lives in the twentieth century?

RulersHow did William gain control of England?Who was the most powerful medieval monarch?How did Elizabeth l deal with problems of power?Who was the greatest Prime Minister of the twentieth century?

Islam and the Wider WorldWhy did Islam spread so quickly?How different were London and Cordoba in the fifteenth century?How did Muslims and Christians see each other at the time of the Crusades?What made the Ottoman Empire so powerful?

Y8 Hearts and MindsWhy did the medieval Church matter so much? What can paintings tell us about changing beliefs 1450 to 1750? What can our local buildings tell us about Victorian attitudes?What can music tell us about changing attitudes in the twentieth century?

Challenges to PowerWhy did Owain Glyn Dwr’s rebellion fail?What makes a good fictional story about the English Civil War?What was the impact of the French Revolution?Why did it take British women so long to get the vote?

The British EmpireHow did England build its first colonies?How should we remember Britain’s slave trade? What happened when the Europeans scrambled for Africa?How was the British Empire portrayed?

Y9 Moving stories•What are the ingredients of British society?•Why did people move to Australia?How did Britain treat Irish migrants?How can we research the stories of Commonwealth migrants?

Impact of WarWhat stories lie behind our town’s war memorial? How did the Second World War change people’s lives? Why is it so important to remember the Holocaust? Why are people still fighting over Jerusalem?

Britain and IndiaWhat mattered to the Mughals?What can paintings tell us about eighteenth-century India? Why can’t people agree about the Indian Rebellion, 1857-8?Why should we remember Mohandas Gandhi?

“Enquiry”

• Image of magnifying glass

Historical enquiries

• A “Big Question” and a clear focus around one or more key concept/skill.

• Pupils encounter a range of content, always reflecting on its relevance to the question. At intervals they “choose and use” evidence to prepare for …

• A significant outcome, that involves them in organising and communicating an effective answer to the original puzzle/question

Chronological framework

• Image of clock face – with second hand as well as hour/minute hands

• Use themes to let them feel the sweep of time

Key Stage 3 Plan – Thematic (vertical)

Autumn: Changing lives and attitudes Spring: Power, conflict and co-operation

Summer: Civilisations and empires

Y 7 Daily Lives•What can medieval deaths tell us about medieval lives?•How can we find out about daily life around 1700?•How did the Industrial Revolution change people’s lives 1750 to 1900?•Which invention did most to shape people’s lives in the twentieth century?

RulersHow did William gain control of England?Who was the most powerful medieval monarch?How did Elizabeth l deal with problems of power?Who was the greatest Prime Minister of the twentieth century?

Islam and the Wider WorldWhy did Islam spread so quickly?How different were London and Cordoba in the fifteenth century?How did Muslims and Christians see each other at the time of the Crusades?What made the Ottoman Empire so powerful?

Y8 Hearts and MindsWhy did the medieval Church matter so much? What can paintings tell us about changing beliefs 1450 to 1750? What can our local buildings tell us about Victorian attitudes?What can music tell us about changing attitudes in the twentieth century?

Challenges to PowerWhy did Owain Glyn Dwr’s rebellion fail?What makes a good fictional story about the English Civil War?What was the impact of the French Revolution?Why did it take British women so long to get the vote?

The British EmpireHow did England build its first colonies?How should we remember Britain’s slave trade? What happened when the Europeans scrambled for Africa?How was the British Empire portrayed?

Y9 Moving stories•What are the ingredients of British society?•Why did people move to Australia?How did Britain treat Irish migrants?How can we research the stories of Commonwealth migrants?

Impact of WarWhat stories lie behind our town’s war memorial? How did the Second World War change people’s lives? Why is it so important to remember the Holocaust? Why are people still fighting over Jerusalem?

Britain and IndiaWhat mattered to the Mughals?What can paintings tell us about eighteenth-century India? Why can’t people agree about the Indian Rebellion, 1857-8?Why should we remember Mohandas Gandhi?

Resistance!What would make a good

historical film about Owain Glyn Dwr? Hereward the Wake?

Bonnie Prince Charlie?

• Images of eg Braveheart, Michael Collins film posters• Also images of Hereward the Wake, Bonnie Prince Charlie and Owain Glyn

Dwr• Suggest use Braveheart and Michael Collins films as models for how

directors like historical contexts, stories, heroes … get pupils to write a “bid” to make film about each of the other three figures. One way of tackling aspects of English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish relationships in a “sweep”

Sense of period

• By the end of Year 9, what would you want your pupils to associate with the word “Medieval”?

Image of Henry V – with mobile phone. Anecodote of pupil who believed Henry could have called for reinforcements at Agincourt!

• Image of pig on a paraglider!

• “Parachutists” – taking in the Big Picture

• “Truffle hunters” – finding delicious morsels

• We need to move our pupils between these two roles

Overview and Depth

Which of these two figures is more significant in British history?

• Winston Churchill image

• Image of a sheep

Significance

• Now appears in the level descriptions!

• This is about helping pupils develop and apply criteria for judging “historical significance”

• Likely to be a focus for CPD

Linking world, European, British and local history

Use opportunities such as • Black Death• Christendom• Age of Exploration• The Reformation• The Renaissance• The French Revolution• Empires• Migration

Image of rat

• Image of CS Lewis

CS Lewis on the power of fiction:

Fill Key Stage 3 with real-life, historical stories that shape and shake identity – Personal, Local, British and International.

‘Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom realise the enormous extension of our being that we owe to authors ... My own eyes are not enough for me. I will see through those of others. In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself … I see with a thousand eyes, but it is still I who see … I transcend myself: and am never more myself than when I do’

Identity and diversity

History fires pupils’ curiosity and imagination, moving and inspiring them by the dilemmas, choices and beliefs of people in the past. It helps pupils to develop their own identity through an understanding of history at personal, local, national and international levels.

(From the Importance statement in the revised Key Stage 3 Programme of

Study)

• Some examples from the Vertical Plan showing how to use personal and local history while developing a sense of identity and diversity …

“He’s just my Grandad”

How did the Second World War change

people’s lives?

• Image of a student’s grandfather who fought in the Polish resistance – the student never knew this until she did research for this task as a history homework!

“A song in our hearts”

What can music tell us

about changing attitudes in the

twentieth century?

• Image representing music in second half of 20th century eg early rock festival

Real Remembrance – What stories lie behind the Chard War Memorial?

Images and account of how one school involved pupils in researching names on local war memorial – and ended by pupils taking governors to places in the town and telling them the stories of soldiers who died in Flanders

How did the British treat

Irish immigrants?

• Image of Irish emigration at time of the Great Hunger

“It’s not rude to ask”How can we uncover the stories of

Commonwealth migrants?

• Image of arrivals eg from Windrush

How different were London and Cordoba in the fifteenth century?

• Images of London and Cordoba

Flexibility and curricular links

• Beware loose talk of “Concepts” and “Skills” – not all subject disciplines are as carefully defined as history in the new orders

• Look for substantial links with other subjects by reading the National Curriculum eg …– Art– Music– Geography (Sense of place cf Interpretations)– English– ICT

• Probably better to use days or short blocks rather than full integration for a year

• Keep the rigour, keep the specialists!

Some questions …Which aspects of the new orders does each of

these questions address?

• Why did Jamie’s great grandfather change his surname? Personal history (Name was “Alfred Hayman Hartwig von der Lahr, born in Manchester. Became “Russell” in 1914 for obvious reasons)

• Hawkins, Drake or Raleigh – who did most to change our world? (Linking Devon’s local to European and world history)

• Why does no one bother about the Battle of Brunanburh? (This battle in 937 saw Athelstan emerge as the first commonly accepted king of England – but no one is sure where it was fought and it is from pre-1066 so until now it has not been “significant” at KS3!)

There may be some pain involved!

• Image of person in sling• Anecdote of Jamie breaking his collar bone,

spending weeks in a sling looking forward to the freedom to move at will again. When the sling was removed it was agony to move the arm around as it had become so locked in place

• The “Sling” has gone, we are free to shape our history courses in exciting ways – but it may be painful at first.

Summary

• Build on existing strengths of the discipline of history and the skills of history teachers to create “successful, confident, responsible” young people

• Issues of content selection remain and always will. Don’t be your own worst enemy – be prepared to leave things out and to vary depth. Think big when planning.

• The orders encourage / require coherence and reinforcement across the course. Plan for what you believe should endure, don’t just hope for it!

• New emphasis on enquiry should make learning less fragmented.• Clear (and fair) requirement to develop a chronological framework and a

sense of period – needs explicit attention• Overviews / Significance are related and will need to be done well to

tackle themes effectively - important areas for training• Helpful linkage between Personal, Local, British and European / World

history• Healthy emphasis on identity / diversity – create rich experiences centred

on real people’s lives and dilemmas• Thematic approach can enable more sensible links between subjects eg

for days / modules – but keep the rigour and the subject specialists• It may be painful to change! Sustained, creative work is needed over

time to make best use of the new freedoms. Your Senior Leaders need to know that this work requires care and rigour – and time.