What is historical significance?
Setting out the rival curriculum plan at the
Independent Girls' Schools Association conference
in Leeds, Michael Spinney, chairman of the
Independent Association of Prep Schools, claimed
that "teaching and learning" were being "sacrificed
in favour of fashionable causes".
A “classic example” from his criticisms of the new
curriculum was the decision to drop Churchill from
a list of historical figures recommended for
teaching.
Guardian, Thursday 15th November 2007
Key concept 1.5 Significance
• Considering the significance of events, people
and developments in their historical context and
in the present day.
The National Curriculum 2007
Key concept 1.5 Significance
Explanatory note This includes:
• considering why judgements about the significance of historical
events, causes and people have changed over time;
• identifying the criteria and values used to attribute significance;
• and assessing how these have been used in past and present
descriptions and explanations.
Statements about significance are interpretations that may be
based on contestable judgements about events, issues and
people, and are often related to value systems of the period in
which the interpretation was produced.
The National Curriculum 2007
Significance and Interpretation
Any statement about significance is an interpretation
but the converse is not true,
there are other types of historical interpretation.
Key concept 1.5 Significance
What can be significant?
events
people
developments
causes
issues
changes
Example
Using criteria – Partington’s model
What makes an event significant is dependent upon the
following factors:
1. Importance – to people living at the time
2. Profundity – how deeply people’s lives were affected by it
3. Quantity – how many lives were affected
4. Durability – for how long people’s lives were affected
5. Relevance – the extent to which the event has contributed
to an increased understanding of present life
Battle of
Hastings
Peterloo
Massacre
The atomic
bomb
1066
1819
1945
Using criteria – Ian Dawson’s model
Reasons for a person being significant. If s/he:
• changed events at the time they lived.
• improved lots of people’s lives – or made them worse.
• changed people’s ideas.
• had a long lasting impact on their country or the world.
• had been a really good or a very bad example to other people
of how to live or behave.
a
Using criteria – Christine Counsell’s model
An event/development is significant if they are: • Remarkable – it was remarked upon by people at the time and/or
since
• Remembered – it was important at some stage in history within
the collective memory of a group or groups
• Resulted in change – it had consequences for the future
• Resonant– people like to make analogies with it; it is possible to
connect with experiences, beliefs or situations across time & space
• Revealing – of some other aspect of the past
What are your criteria?
What makes a good historical
significance enquiry question?
Year 7: Should Thomas Beckett be remembered?
Year 8: What was remarkable about the Renaissance?
Year 9: What does Josephine Butler reveal about
nineteenth century Britain?
Year 9: What is so resonant about the Vietnam War?
Matthew Bradshaw (2006), ‘Creating controversy in the classroom: making progress with
historical significance’, Teaching History Issue 125.
How will you plan for historical
significance across key stage 3?
Your pupils will need opportunities to: • use criteria to make judgements on historical significance,
• devise their own criteria,
• understand, and then explain, that using different criteria
can lead to different judgements,
• understand, and then explain, that asking different historical
questions can lead to different judgements,
• explore how judgements on historical significance have
varied across different periods,
• recognise, and then explain, that holding different values
leads to different judgements.
Further reading on teaching historical
significance?
See ‘Nutshell’, Teaching History, Issue 128, pp 58-59.
Matthew Bradshaw (2006), ‘Creating controversy in the
classroom: making progress with historical significance’,
Teaching History (Significance edition) Issue 125, pp 18-25.
Christine Counsell (2004), ‘Looking through a Josephine-Butlershaped window: focussing pupils’ thinking on historical
significance’, Teaching History Issue 114, pp 30-36.
Ian Dawson (2003), What is history Y7.
Geoffrey Partington (1980), The Idea of an Historical Education.