Preparing Students to Thrive
(Re)presenting how history teaching
can make a difference
History teaching with passion
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The History Passion Project
Aims to:
Encourage conversation about key issues
concerning historians as teachers
Provide digital & bibliographic resources
Generate ideas about present & future
practice
History teaching with passion
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Research questions
What motivates historians as teachers? Where does love
of the subject fit & how does it influence pedagogic
hopes & ideals?
What difference does history teaching make? And how
can this be expressed in ways that resonate with wider
publics?
What sort of teaching engages students deeply?
How do historians view their development as teachers &
what advice do they have for others – especially those
just starting out?
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Methodology
National online survey of UK historians based in
history departments
Filmed individual interviews and group discussions
Review of literature
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The survey
14% up to
5 years
33%
teaching for
10 – 20
years
42%
male
21% 5-10
years
38%
female
32%
20 years+
210 survey
responses
22%
professors
72 HE Institutions
54% research
intensive
36%
seniors
History teaching with passion
27%
lecturers
15%
other
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What historians say about teaching: some
headlines
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Love, engagement and making a difference
‘I teach history because I love history ... In teaching
it you have the sense that you are opening minds
to things they never considered previously.’
‘I want to inspire an enduring love of history that
lasts well-beyond the degree.’
‘I really get a kick out of seeing students develop,
particularly to the point when they don’t need
me anymore ... I like the fact that I can make a
difference to so many lives.’
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Lightbulb moments
‘Seeing the lightbulb above their heads when they
understand what the study of history is all about –
when they’ve made a qualitative leap.’
‘That moment when the penny drops and you can
sense that a student has begun to understand the
process of thinking historically.’
‘I particularly enjoy it when it is meaningful in some
way – beyond the usual skills. Sometimes there is
that flash of recognition when they see the
past/their community/their own life/their future
differently.’
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Questions 7 & 8
Q 7: In your view what can students get from
history teaching at its best?
Q 8: How would you describe the value of these
things to policymakers?
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What can students get from history
teaching at its best? (1)
‘History teaching can encourage students to think about the past, or
distant societies, and reflect what it might mean for both the human
experience and for today. History in many ways is uniquely placed to ask
the big questions societies face, and arguably to point to solutions,
challenges and impacts. It crosses every aspect of human activity – from
culture to the environment, to gender relations, economics, welfare,
nation-building ... the list could go on.’
‘History education cultivates people useful to a democratic society. It is
not enough to have practical skills. How those skills are imparted to
others, and how our graduates shape the opportunities for others, are all
determined by an ability to be fair, open-minded, see other peoples’
views, to see false or dangerous arguments and to be empowered to act
upon those things.’
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What can students get from history
teaching at its best? (2)
‘They get the realisation that they are the heirs of a vastly complex and
messy thing called humanity ... history gives students the understanding
that humans are irrational and illogical. That is necessary in coming to
grips with the horrors found in history, but it is also essential in the
appreciation of great beauties, the great triumphs that we as human
beings have been capable of.’
‘History students acquire a deep sense of the contours of the past. They
realise that events are never simple and straightforward but, instead,
highly nuanced. They learn to appreciate that decision-making is fraught
with risk because the outcomes are never clear to the participants and
they learn to differentiate between what matters and what does not. This
helps them to reach conclusions on imperfect information, and remain
flexible and to improvise when required. In a fast changing world the
creation of a group of people with those capabilities is vital to the future
success of the nation.’
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What can students get from history
teaching at its best (3)?
‘The study of history encourages people to think critically, to refuse
to accept things as they appear on the surface. It produces
individuals who are aware of the complexity of issues that confront
society. History graduates have a greater sense, not only of the
world they live in, but how it got there. Ultimately, this can only
make for better citizens.’
‘[History teaching] encourages not only critical but creative ways of
looking, and an ethical imagination. Without history we would be
reduced to a society which had deprived itself of a key compass
with which to navigate the complexities of our own world or
imagine futures in an evidence-based way. Without the selfreflexive qualities history education provides we would be left with
“traditions” we could not properly understand or use.’
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What can students get from history
teaching at its best?
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People with a complex awareness
Understand society (& selves) in broader perspective
View society in multi-faceted ways
Sensitive to ‘otherness’
Attentive to complexity of events and circumstances
Aware of contingency
Attuned to partiality of information and knowledge
Sensitive to the complexity of making judgements
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People who display...
A critical disposition – a healthy scepticism; independent thinking;
rigorous logic; eye for details; flexible thinking; ability to see beyond
the taken-for-granted and current fashions; a questioning approach
to all information; nuanced judgement; self-reflexivity.
A sympathetic imagination – tolerance; empathy; humility in never
fully knowing; sensitivity to ‘messiness’ of human life; openness to
the strange and different; fair-minded; curiosity about others.
A will to learn (and keep learning) – passion; enthusiasm; excitement;
intuition; wonderment; awe; intellectual curiosity; openness to new
information and experience; resourcefulness; persistence; selfreliance; confidence.
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Q8 How would you describe the value
of these things to policymakers?
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Expressions of value to policymakers
‘These are essential skills all valuable to the free
market, enterprise economy ...’
‘I would describe the study of History as a superb
method of producing an inquisitive, innovative
and flexible workforce.’
‘Sadly, I would try to speak to policy-makers on
their own terms: parroting the seemingly
relentless business/skills agenda.’
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Some (more polite) expressions
of disquiet
‘I am worried that we repeatedly articulate the value of what we do in
terms largely dictated by the Treasury view rather than seek to
challenge the terms of debate.’
‘If we instrumentalise the study of history to please policy-makers in
2010, we will simply have to change our language when the policymakers of 2011 change theirs. Hitching our wagons to transient
stars won’t save us – but nor should we loftily trumpet “ivory
tower” values.’
‘I am extremely concerned that policy-makers and university managers
will opt for the measurable and ignore the less tangible, in
particular the development of students as independent learners.’
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Complex constantly changing world
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History Graduates from 2009
6 months following graduation
9.2% unemployed
4.7% not available
47% in employment
PGCE 3.5%
14.4% studying for
higher degree
7.8% working + studying
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Employment
6.5% Marketing, Sales & Advertising
Professionals
17.9% Other Occupations
10.3% Commercial,
Industrial and Public Sector
Managers
4.0% education
professionals
23.0% Retail, Catering,
Waiting
and bar staff
8.3% Business &
Financial Professionals
and Associate
Professionals
15.0% Other clerical and
secretarial occupations
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Richard Lambert, CBI
‘It is impossible to predict what
disciplines will be of most
economic and social value in a
rapidly changing world. Most of
the big breakthroughs in the
development of products and
services these days come from
collaboration among different
disciplines.’
Richard Lambert, former Director General
of the Confederation of British Industry
(a historian) Nov.12th 2010
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Making a living in a complex constantly
changing world
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To thrive in complexity requires ability
• To relate to, make & maintain
relationships with people at all
levels, inside & outside
organisations
• Collaborate & work in teams,
more than one team at once,
& adjust roles in ever-shifting
situation
• Willingness to learn
continually, take risks, lead &
deal with change & help
others to do so
• Self-management, selfconfidence & self-promotion
• Ability to recontextualise their
skills, knowledge and
understanding according to the
requirements of different settings
& develop a frame of mind
whereby they continually look to
improve
Warwick Institute for Employment
Research, Changing Patterns of
Work, 2010
Harvey, New Realities, 2000
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People with a complex awareness
Understand society (& selves) in broader perspective
View society in multi-faceted ways
Sensitive to ‘otherness’
Attentive to complexity of events and circumstances
Aware of contingency
Attuned to partiality of information and knowledge
Sensitive to the complexity of making judgements
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People who display...
A critical disposition – a healthy scepticism; independent thinking;
rigorous logic; eye for details; flexible thinking; ability to see beyond
the taken-for-granted and current fashions; a questioning approach
to all information; nuanced judgement; self-reflexivity.
A sympathetic imagination – tolerance; empathy; humility in never
fully knowing; sensitivity to ‘messiness’ of human life; openness to
the strange and different; fair-minded; curiosity about others.
A will to learn (and keep learning) – passion; enthusiasm; excitement;
intuition; wonderment; awe; intellectual curiosity; openness to new
information and experience; resourcefulness; persistence; selfreliance; confidence.
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Top 10 reasons for going to university
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Changing attitudes to work/life
Want good work
Creating work for themselves
•
•
•
•
•
• 46% increase in
graduates starting own
business
• More from arts and
humanities
• Third of those starting
businesses start social
enterprises
Makes a difference
Shared values
Flat structures
Self-development
Ethical & sustainable
operation
• Sharing learning &
working in teams
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(Re)presenting history teaching at its best
•
•
•
•
•
•
Amplify how it goes beyond skills & employability to prepare graduates to
make a good living
Draw more deeply on values & ideals that anchor us as teachers and are
shared by many students
Appeal to the emotional as well as the intellectual nature of engagement
with the subject
Demonstrate ‘the particularity of the kind of people’ that history teaching
at its best can cultivate
Draw upon a richer vocabulary that expresses how history teaching fosters
the ‘will to learn’ and go on learning
Demonstrate practically how history teaching at its best enables students
to navigate the kinds of lives they will be living in a complex, unpredictable
world
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And some final (hopeful) advice from
historians to their (new) selves ...
‘Try not to be discouraged by the widespread Human Resources and Managementspeak, the constant misery reported by the ‘Times Higher’ Magazine and the
general climate of gloom and doom in higher education in Britain. Cherish idealism
rather than the current trend to make all things vocational and you will find
students and their parents, to whom we genuinely owe our calling, respond.’
‘Try as hard as possible to ignore Human Resources-inspired nonsense, the RAE/REF
culture of publish-any-old-rubbish and jump-on-whatever-the-latest-bandwagon
is, and be true to yourself and to the intellectual curiosity, idealism and general
human decency of your students.’
‘Be yourself – don’t try and pretend to be someone you’re not. Use this as strength in
your teaching – be natural and don’t be afraid of what others might think or say
about you. Allow your passion for the subject to shine out – students will love it,
and you’ll be true to yourself.’
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