What sort of History should we teach in English schools? The problem of time.

by **jamesdhobsonuk** on Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:12 pm

The teaching of History is English schools- secondary schools mostly- is imbued by politicians with almost supernatural powers. It creates thoughtful citizens; it creates a sense of nationhood and a love of democracy. If certain content is not included in the National Curriculum- the actual choice lies at the whim of the individual, but it usually includes Churchill and Nelson- then unspecified bad things happen to the morale of the nation. However, do not press for details, as they will be unforthcoming. Riddle that one for yourselves

If this assertion were true then you would expect the country to go into administrative overdrive.

“Right, how much History shall we teach? Clearly this boon to mankind and to the character of young people should be available to all. Nobody should have a short ration”

However, this does not happen. The variation in time spent on History is huge, and getting bigger.
There is a National Curriculum to spread the magic but the wand waves over some people more than others. Some schools will devote 2 hour per week over three years of 39 weeks plus homework. That’s 234 hours while some schools may have 50 minutes per week over three years. That’s less than half of the time. Either politicians are lying to us about History as a magic cure, in the tradition of the snake oil merchants of the Wild West, or more plausibly, their love their disjointed and fragmented education system more than a fair distribution of time for the subject.

This analysis does not include the woeful record of academies, the use of non specialist teachers and the two year Key Stage 3, that altar on which children’s education has been sacrificed for grown ups' school performance tables

So, even on the simplest of tests, the politicians fail. They think they know what History is “for”.
They think, in their naivety, that it is they decide how it is taught. However, they do not even bother to pretend that they control the time allocation. The fragmented system, designed to set school against school, makes coherence in my subject impossible. And it every other subject, I am sure.