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History in Secondary Schools:
Challenges and Opportunities
SHP 21st Annual Conference
Michael Maddison HMI
Ofsted’s Specialist Adviser for History
Leeds Trinity
5 July 2009
Today’s text
Subjects matter – history matters
Unfortunately, photographs have been deleted for
reasons of copyright and to reduce the file size.
History in secondary schools:
strengths
Secondary successes
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Good teaching

High standards and good achievement
Good teachers’ subject knowledge
Effective leadership and management
History is enjoyable and popular
Students acquire knowledge and understanding in depth
Good development of enquiry skills and source evaluation investigation, extraction, evaluation and communication
‘It makes you think’ (student Year 9)
GCSE Entries
360,000
320,000
Number of entries
280,000
240,000
200,000
160,000
120,000
80,000
40,000
0
1997
1998
Art and Design
Geography
Media/Film/TV
1999
2000
2001
Business Studies
German
Music
2002
2003
2004
2005
Drama
History
Figures from 2005 onwards are for end of KS4. Figures prior to this are for pupils aged 15
2006
2007
French
IT
2008
GCSE History
100%
90%
80%
2%
4%
5%
3%
5%
3%
4%
3%
4%
8%
8%
8%
11%
70%
14%
11%
14%
11%
14%
8%
3%
4%
7%
3%
4%
7%
3%
4%
7%
3%
4%
7%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
13%
13%
13%
18%
18%
18%
20%
20%
20%
14%
13%
20%
19%
19%
18%
18%
40%
30%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
2%
3%
6%
3%
6%
3%
5%
9%
9%
9%
9%
13%
13%
13%
13%
18%
18%
17%
18%
20%
20%
21%
20%
17%
18%
18%
19%
19%
60%
50%
2%
3%
3%
6%
16%
16%
10%
14%
16%
13%
15%
17%
5%
6%
7%
8%
8%
8%
9%
10%
10%
10%
11%
0%
4%
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
A*
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
U, X
Figures from 2005 onwards are for end of KS4. Figures prior to this are for pupils aged 15
A level History Entries
50,000
44,623
45,000
Number of entries
40,000
35,000
36,373
42,107
36,078
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
A Level
2002
2003
AS Level
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
A level History
100%
80%
13.4
12.4
11.6
10.8
10.7
11.5
11.4
10.2
13.3
12.7
18.6
18.8
2.8
9.2
17.6
18.1
24.5
20.8
21.8
1.8
7.6
1.9
7.4
1.8
7.1
1.5
6.6
1.1
5.7
16.6
16.5
16.3
16.2
15.1
17.5
24.4
24.8
24.2
23.9
25.1
23.8
25.6
26
26.1
26.2
26.7
28.1
17.5
17.8
60%
21.0
2.1
7.7
22.1
22.3
40%
25.4
19.4
19.9
20.2
20.9
23.6
23.3
24.8
15.7
20.5
23.3
14.9
18.6
25.1
17.5
24.4
17.1
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
E
Other
19
20%
0%
A
B
C
D
History in secondary schools:
challenges
Departmental challenges
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Insufficiently focussed assessment on subject-specific
objectives, e.g. progression in skills
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Marking insufficiently precise to help students improve
Insufficient challenge for the most able
Limited British Isles history and too little local history
Absence of an overarching rationale leading to an
unbalanced curriculum at KS3
Whole school challenges
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Insufficient curriculum liaison between Years 6 and 7
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Growth of vocational learning & new subjects 14-19
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Whole school curriculum pressures - greater emphasis on
thematic teaching and the skills-based curriculum
Student recruitment to exam courses at GCSE and the
falling proportion of students taking GCSE history
Reduced time allocation at KS3 leading to fleeting
coverage and restricted number of topics in depth
History at GCSE
Year
Total number of Total number of
students at the students taking
end of KS4
history (full &
short)
% of students
taking history
(full & short)
1996/7
586,766
207,608
35.38%
655,146
206,834
31.5%
653,045
206,311
31.59%
585,967
180,828
30.85%
All schools
2006/7
All schools
2007/8
All schools
2007/8
Maintained
Schools only
Figures from 2005 onwards are for end of KS4. Figures prior to this are for pupils aged 15
Curriculum developments at KS3
The curriculum
continuum
Separate subjects
Cross-curricular links
Integrated themes
History in secondary schools:
opportunities
So what can we do?
Ten questions for you to answer
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How will the primary curriculum changes help my Year 7
students to be better prepared to achieve at KS3? What can we do
to help our feeder primary teachers?
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Do we have a clear rationale for our KS3 history curriculum?
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How effective is our work in teaching emotive and controversial
issues such as the Holocaust and the slave trade?
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Do we ensure relevance in what and how we teach history to
young people in our school in 21st century Britain?
What contribution have we made, are we making and can we make
to the school’s work on ‘Britishness’, identity, diversity,
citizenship, community cohesion and political literacy?
So what can we do?
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Which cross-curricular links will be the most effective in enhancing
the students’ experience in history?
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What can we offer through increased cross-curricular links to
students and other departments in and beyond the school?
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How could thematic teaching and a skills-based curriculum improve
the achievement and progress of students in their historical
knowledge, understanding and skills?
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What could thematic teaching and a skills-based curriculum
achieve that history (and other foundation subjects) on their own
and through increased cross-curricular links could not
achieve?
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What circumstances do we need to engender to ensure that
curriculum innovation, which enhances learning in history,
flourishes?
Final thoughts
The importance of history
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History fires pupils’ curiosity and imagination, moving and inspiring
them with the dilemmas, choices and beliefs of people in the past.
(QCA, KS3)
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‘History stops people believing rubbish’
(student age 12)
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‘History has taught me to read between the lines’
(student age 16)
Subjects matter – history matters
History in Secondary Schools:
Challenges and Opportunities
SHP 21st Annual Conference
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