Ofsted’s subject professional development materials:
History
A training resource for
teachers of history in
primary schools
2012
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 1 of 30
About this training resource

Ofsted publishes a number of subject surveys every
year. They look at developments in a specific
subject over the previous three years, based on
specialist inspectors’ visits to a range of schools.

This resource has been put together to help
teachers in primary schools reflect on the main
messages from the history report History for all,
published in March 2011.

Subject coordinators should take time to go through
the resource prior to using it in a meeting. This will
help you to appreciate that everything in it cannot
be covered in one session. It is far better to select
the issues that match your priorities and to allocate
time accordingly.

At certain points, specific questions are suggested
for discussion. These questions are intended to help
you focus on your own practice.
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 2 of 30
Overview
This training looks at five issues. It poses questions for
discussion and provides some of the commentary from the
report. The questions covered are:





Do your pupils know when they are studying history
and why the subject is important?
Do your pupils leave school with knowledge that is
too episodic?
How can you ensure the most effective teaching in
history?
How can you ensure the best learning in history?
How effectively do you meet the subject-specific
history training needs of the teachers in your school?
You can take the issues in any order and spend as long as
you like on each one. However, we suggest that at some
stage you find time to look at all five.
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 3 of 30
Issue 1
Do your pupils know when they are
studying history and why the subject is
important?
Do your pupils know when they are studying
history and why the subject is important?
This section focuses on the identity and integrity of the subject and its
importance to pupils. It will lead you to think about how your curriculum is
structured and how well you ensure that the needs of individual subjects are
not ignored. To start, please read this summary of an inspector’s visit to a
primary school:
When some pupils in Years 5 and 6 were asked by an inspector about
what they had recently studied in history, there was silence. The inspector
prompted them by mentioning that he thought they had studied the
Ancient Greeks. A Year 6 pupil replied, ‘That’s not history – that’s topic’.
Discussion points
1.
How would your pupils respond in the same situation?
2.
Do they know the difference between history and topic?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 5 of 30
Do your pupils know when they are studying
history and why the subject is important?
Pupils told us how much they enjoyed history. They also told us they think
history is important. In our report, we link this to a key feature of the most
effective history subject coordinators – ‘teachers who have a well-articulated
vision for history’.
Discussion points
1.
If you were to ask pupils in your school why they were studying
what they were studying in history, what would their answer be?
2.
How do you explain the importance of history to your pupils and
especially the sceptical ones? What do you or should you tell them?
3.
Do you have a well articulated vision for history in your school?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 6 of 30
Do your pupils know when they are studying
history and why the subject is important?
This issue is not just about pupil perceptions. It is also about how topic work and
cross-curricular work in some schools are endangering the integrity and identity of
history as a subject.
In the report, we noted that including history in a thematic approach did not of itself
undermine the integrity of the subject. Integrated work succeeded where the
development of the knowledge and thinking of each subject was emphasised. When
this was done well, pupils made good progress.
However, we also found that pupils’ progress in history tended to be slower in the
schools visited that did not teach history as a discrete subject than in those that did.
Discussion point
How do you structure your curriculum so that it meets pupils’ needs and
interests yet, at the same time, ensures that subjects like history retain
their individual characteristics and that all pupils make good progress?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 7 of 30
Do your pupils know when they are studying
history and why the subject is important?
This slide focuses on curriculum structures and especially on history as part of a crosscurricular framework. However, if you teach discrete history please consider the issues
below, as they may help you think about how to develop your own curriculum.
Activity
Depending on the number of teachers present, either as a whole group or in smaller
groups, select a historical topic or theme you teach.
Discussion points
1.
When you are teaching this topic or theme, how could you better ensure
that the history you cover is explicit?
2.
Irrespective of how you teach history, how could you also better ensure
that your planning for progression in pupils’ historical knowledge and
thinking is more effective?
3.
What do you want pupils at the end of Key Stage 2 to be able to know,
do and understand that they could not do at the end of Key Stage 1?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 8 of 30
Issue 2
Do your pupils leave school with
knowledge that is too episodic?
Do your pupils leave school with knowledge
that is too episodic?
Politicians, academics and the media frequently complain that young people’s grasp of
history is poor. Recent newspaper headlines have included ‘No children, Hitler came
after 1066’ and ‘Trendy teaching is producing a generation of history numbskulls’. It is
also alleged that pupils know very little about their country’s history.
Discussion points
1.
Do your pupils leave school with a good grasp of the history they have
studied? How do you know?
2.
Do you cover enough British history? Are there any topics you ought to
be teaching that you don’t?
3.
What are you going to do about this and how are you going to fill the
gaps in your knowledge?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 10 of 30
Do your pupils leave school with knowledge
that is too episodic?
Our evidence shows that a considerable amount of British history was taught and
that, by the end of Key Stage 2, pupils generally knew about topics in some depth.
As they moved through the primary years, they learnt in greater detail about the
different topics that they studied.
However:

their chronological understanding, and in particular their understanding that the
intervals between the periods they had studied varied, was no better than
satisfactory

their ability to relate what they had learnt in one topic to what they discovered
in another was also no better than satisfactory.
This meant that many pupils ended up with an episodic knowledge of history and
their sense of time was unclear.
Discussion point
Is this true for your school? Do your pupils leave school with an episodic
knowledge of history?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 11 of 30
Do your pupils leave school with knowledge
that is too episodic?
The report recommended that primary schools should focus on developing pupils’
secure understanding of chronology, as well as improving their thinking and knowledge
in history.
Discussion point
What more could you do to develop pupils’ chronological understanding and
their ability to link what they had learnt in one topic to what they discovered in
another?
For example:
 are time lines displayed in all your classrooms and are they accurately
spaced to represent the passage of time?

do you emphasise interval (the distance between events) and duration
(the length of time each event lasted) as much as you do sequence?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 12 of 30
Issue 3
How can you ensure the most effective
teaching in history?
How can you ensure the most effective
teaching in history?
Activity
Write down three ways in which you ensure effective
teaching in history.
Please make sure you are specific about history and that
you do not rely on generic aspects of effective teaching.
Discussion point
Discuss these lists with your immediate colleague and
with the group.
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 14 of 30
How can you ensure the most effective
teaching in history?
Activity
Look at the next slide. It gives a list of many of the
characteristics of highly effective teaching in history. This
list was included in the report.
Discussion point
Did you and your colleagues identify all the points
given?
As a group and/or as individuals, select the top three
things you need to concentrate on to improve teaching
and to make it even better in your school.
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 15 of 30
How can you ensure the most effective
teaching in history?
The characteristics of highly effective teaching in history include:


thorough planning focused on clear subject-specific learning outcomes



opportunities for pupils to collaborate in questioning historical evidence

thoughtful cross-curricular links which ensure that historical understanding is
nurtured through other opportunities

imaginative use of the internet and the interactive whiteboard to bring variety to
lessons but also to gain access to a wealth of historical resources


a creative balance between teacher-directed learning and independent learning
opportunities for pupils to ask valid historical questions, find answers and present
their work to their peers
opportunities to use and evaluate artefacts and real historical evidence
careful subject-specific assessment during lessons of the progress and understanding
of all pupils
sensitive teaching so that pupils understand the changing views of the past, how and
why interpretations and representations change, why history matters and why what
they are taught is worth knowing.
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 16 of 30
Issue 4
How can you ensure the best learning in
history?
How can you ensure the best learning in
history?
Activity
Study these paragraphs from the report:

The best learning in history took place when the teaching developed pupils’
historical knowledge and historical thinking and, as a result, enabled them to
show their historical understanding. Historical thinking demands the ability to
investigate, consider, reflect and review the events of the past. Consequently,
pupils acquired historical knowledge which they learnt to communicate in an
increasingly sophisticated way. Their historical understanding was revealed in
the way that they communicated the developments they had studied.

Particularly effective practice was characterised by teachers who not only had
good subject knowledge but also good subject pedagogy, that is, a good
understanding of how pupils learn in the subject. The most effective subject
pedagogy, which ensured high achievement in history, was shown by
teachers whose approach focused on well-structured enquiry,
embracing independent thinking and learning.
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 18 of 30
How can you ensure the best learning in
history?
Discussion points
1. How do you structure pupils’ learning in history?
Think about an effective historical enquiry you have recently undertaken
with a class. What made that enquiry effective? Jot down the three key
characteristics that made this enquiry effective.
2. Discuss the characteristics you have selected with your colleagues.
Do you all agree?
Do your colleagues do anything in their historical enquires which you do
not do?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 19 of 30
How can you ensure the best learning in
history?
Activity
Read the following slide about the way in which teachers
developed pupils’ enquiry skills in history in the very best
lessons observed by inspectors.
Discussion points
1.
Do your historical enquiries encompass all these
points?
2.
Which ones do you not do?
3.
How might you now amend future enquiries to
ensure that your pupils experience the best
learning in history?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 20 of 30
How can you ensure the best learning in
history?
The report noted that, in the very best lessons seen, teachers developed pupils’
enquiry skills by:


providing a clear framework and sense of direction for the investigation

ensuring that research activities were matched by high levels of cognitive
challenge

encouraging pupils to think for themselves and giving them sufficient time to
consider what they were studying and what this told them about, for example,
the importance of an event, or the consequences of an action

maintaining a relentless focus on subject-specific thinking which helped to
develop pupils’ willingness to pose high-quality historical questions, propose
hypotheses about the past and work things out for themselves.
controlling the scope of pupils’ expectations and encouraging them to identify
and pursue valid lines of enquiry
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 21 of 30
Issue 5
How effectively do you meet the subjectspecific history training needs of the
teachers in your school?
How effectively do you meet the subjectspecific history training needs of the teachers
in your school?
In this section we are going to look at the importance of meeting the training needs
of all the teachers who teach history in your school, most of whom are probably nonspecialists.
We are also going to consider how well you use:


the expertise available in neighbouring schools to improve history in your school
how effectively you use the expertise available in your school to help your
neighbouring schools.
Discussion points
1.
How do you and your colleagues keep up to date on history? Jot
down the two main ways you do this.
2.
How does the school meet the history training needs of the teachers?
Again, jot down the two main ways you do this.
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 23 of 30
How effectively do you meet the subjectspecific history training needs of the
teachers in your school?
In the report we noted the near-absence of appropriate
subject-specific training and judged the quality of it to be
inadequate in one in three schools visited.
Discussion points
1.
When did any of the teachers in your school
last attend some subject-specific training in
history?
2.
On the other hand, if you have subject-specific
expertise in your school, when did you last
organise some training for other schools in your
area?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 24 of 30
How effectively do you meet the subjectspecific history training needs of the
teachers in your school?
Although the general picture on subject training is bleak,
we did come across some good practice as shown on the
next slide.
Discussion points
Compare this list with your own lists.
1.
Which of these approaches have you used in
the last year?
2.
If you are not doing any of our examples, what
are you doing to ensure improvement?
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 25 of 30
How effectively do you meet the subjectspecific history training needs of the
teachers in your school?
The characteristics of good or outstanding training seen in the schools visited included:


in-house training involving subject-specific sessions led by the subject coordinator

high-quality, external subject-specific training which was later shared systematically
and comprehensively with colleagues in school

regular use of membership of the Historical Association (including its magazines and
monthly newsletters for primary teachers and its online professional development
guidance)

working with colleagues from a neighbouring primary school or schools which had a
history subject specialist to create teaching materials

working with history specialist teachers from neighbouring secondary schools on
improving teachers’ subject knowledge and on developing teaching resource packs.
taking opportunities to observe colleagues teaching in their own school and in
neighbouring schools and sharing the good practice witnessed
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 26 of 30
How effectively do you meet the subjectspecific history training needs of the teachers
in your school?
The report recommends that all schools should develop formal and informal
networks, clusters and federations to provide greater opportunities for teachers of
history to work together on subject-specific training.
Discussion points
1.
If you have subject-specific expertise in your school, what are you going
to do to support improvement in the schools in your area?
2.
If you haven’t any subject expertise in your school, what more can you
do to improve subject-specific history training for the teachers in your
school that is appropriate and cost-effective?
For example, do you know where the primary history specialists are in
your area and which are the best secondary schools for history teaching
within a 10- or 20-mile radius of your school?
Ofsted publishes lists of schools which have been judged to be
outstanding in subject surveys. You can access this list at:
www.ofsted.gov.uk/schools/for-schools/about-our-survey-reports
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 27 of 30
Summary and conclusion
Summary task
Please consider this question as your summary task:
Discussion point
What three priorities and accompanying actions do
you now have for improving history in your school as a
result of the discussions in which you have just been
engaged?
To help you in this, we suggest you look at the specific
criteria we use to judge history on subject inspections. You
can find this material on Ofsted’s website:
www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/generic-grade-descriptorsand-supplementary-subject-specific-guidance-forinspectors-making-judgements
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 29 of 30
Conclusion
We hope you have found this resource helpful in
prompting discussion about how to improve provision and
outcomes for young people in history in your school.
There is much more in the report History for all, which can
be found on Ofsted’s website:
www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/090223
You will also find examples of good practice on Ofsted’s
website: www.goodpractice.ofsted.gov.uk
We welcome comments on this training resource. Please
write to enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk and ensure that you put
‘History Professional Development Materials’ in the subject
box of your email.
Ofsted’s subject professional development materials: history (primary schools)
January 2012
Slide 30 of 30