At our school, we say that studying history is a means of understanding the present by knowing the past. And it continues to be a very popular subject at both GCSE and A level (with interest fuelled, in part, no doubt, by TV, film and political developments at home and globally).
Thankfully, the courses offered across the exam boards at both GCSE and A level are well developed and have existed long enough for our teachers to have a good handle on what is required.
One area of concern, though, is around the A-level non-exam assessment (NEA), which whips up controversy on an annual basis when results come out: the various history teacher Facebook groups are always awash with dissatisfaction about exam board moderation and altered marks.
The process seems entirely arbitrary, even to the many teachers with considerable experience in delivering and assessing this element of the course.
Comprehension concerns
In a more general sense, there are concerns around the demands of literacy and comprehension needed by our students to be able to access the content, sources and exam questions. This has been and will likely continue to be a key area of focus over the coming years.
Similarly, there seems to have been a drop-off in the cultural capital displayed by students throughout key stage 3 and beyond.
Previously “taken-for-granted” knowledge - such as basic power structures, processes and so on - no longer seems to be as evident.
Of course, technology has had, and will continue to have, an impact upon the study of history, and learning more generally.
Approaches to teaching and learning will necessarily have to be adapted to meet the demands of addressing the literacy needs noted above, but also to recognise and tackle the changing attention spans of students.
The ability to concentrate on a task for an extended period seems much diminished in many and, therefore, provides a challenge in terms of extended writing, for example.
While the use of artificial intelligence does bring many positive benefits in supporting learning when asked the right questions, it can be a challenge when seeking to ensure that students are producing well-considered work that is understood and their own.
Perhaps this might hasten the end of the current iteration of the A-level NEA.
Different times ahead?
In terms of content, there are many great options and units currently available at both GCSE and A level, but we might reasonably expect that these are due for some modification and amendment soon.
The cyclical nature of trends in education means some are predicting that the discussion of modular exams may be due to come up again.
This might be beneficial for students as a way of focusing on developing their approaches to large bodies of information, helping them to focus more on the use of interpretive and analytical skills in the context of the units studied.
These units could be developed further to embrace a greater cultural breadth and give an opportunity for students to look at a wider or different range of historical areas of interest to them and their heritage, background or community.
By connecting the past to students’ lives and communities, we turn “understanding the present by knowing the past” from a guiding principle into a meaningful, lived experience that helps them make sense of the world today.
Suzie Whiting is director of humanities at E-ACT Ousedale School
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