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Content

This module brings together what is known about young people’s historical thinking,Ìýwith wider insights from pedagogical research,Ìýto equip history educators to act as curriculumÌýresearchers,Ìýdevelopers andÌýdesigners. The module focuses on: the value of historical knowledge and understanding to young people, and the ways in which they both develop and use such knowledge and ways of thinking; on the obstacles to learning history thatÌýlearnersÌýof different kinds encounter,Ìýand how they can be overcome; and on ways in which historyÌýeducators can work with and learn from different history education communities including theÌýlearners within their ownÌýcontexts, their colleagues inÌýtheir institutions and colleagues in the wider history education community.Ìý

Teaching Delivery

The module can be studied on a blended basis and via distance learning.

The module is taught through weekly online discussion board tasks using Moodle. These will be supplemented with a weekly face to face tutorial session, lasting 60 minutes, in which tutors will present and summarise key readings and in which students will have the opportunity to discuss the week’s readings and tasks. These sessions will be offered through blended teaching so that students studying at a distance can benefit fully. The tutor input to each session will also be recorded and posted on Moodle and students can interact with tutors and each other (1) face-to-face, (2) synchronously (facilities permitting) or (3) asynchronously via discussion boards.

The module will also be taught through three Saturday seminars which can be attended face to face or asynchronously online using recorded tutor input and discussion boards. This pattern of teaching will accommodate the needs of full-time students studying face-to-face, full-time teachers studying part-time and also students studying at a distance.

Indicative Topics

The module is divided into three key units.Ìý The three units and key questions are:

Unit A:Ìý The value of historical thinking and learning to young people

• What do children need to learn in history – and why?Ìý
• What is their experience of learning history?
• What do we know about the nature of children’s historical thinking and the ways in which they engage in and draw on it?Ìý

Unit B:Ìý History for all: creative curriculum thinking in history

• What obstacles may students encounter in developing their historical thinking?
• What kinds of history pedagogy and curriculum design will enable me to meet diverse students’ learning needs?Ìý
• What assessment strategies will best support genuinely responsive teaching and promote effective progression?

Unit C: Effective professional learning within and between history education communities

• How can I work together with my students to develop effective history pedagogy and improve their experiences of learning history?

• What links can I forge between the community of enquiry in my classroom and that of the professional community of historians?
• How can I work with other history educators to sustain the processes of creative curriculum design and responsive pedagogy?

Each unit will include a series of specified readings, critical reflections on the particular challenges encountered by pupils in learning history and exploration of responsive pedagogical strategies and curriculum design. Students will be encouraged to reflect critically on different sources of knowledge about history classrooms, and to work collaboratively in refining and challenging each other’s analyses.

Module Aims

The aims of this module are to:

• Encourage students to engage with and respond to research on young peoples’ perceptions of history. In doing so they will be recognising and taking account of the ways in which young people encounter history beyond the classroom, their experiences of learning history in school and their views of its value to them.
• Examine and promote critical engagement with debates about the purposes of history education in schools and the kinds of history curriculum and pedagogy that may support the achievement of these purposes.Ìý
• Examine and evaluate a range of research into the nature of pupils’ historical knowledge and thinking, including suggested models of progression and common misconceptions that can act as barriers to the development of more powerful historical knowledge.
• Identify and analyse the obstacles to learning that students with particular needs may encounter in history classrooms and critically evaluate approaches to inclusive pedagogy intended to secure access and achievement for all.Ìý
• Equip students with effective tools to engage in curriculum and / or pedagogic research, critically examining the purposesÌý of history education and the contexts in which historical learning takes place.
• Explore the nature of the relationship between the work that young people do in classrooms as co-constructors of historical knowledge and the work of professional historians, and investigate the different kinds of connections that practitioners have sought to build between the two.Ìý
• Engage in learning conversations with other participants to elaborate and analyse specific challenges that history educators faceÌý and to explore potential solutions.

Recommended Readings

Readings useful throughout the course are:

Davies, I. (ed.) (2017) . London: Routledge.

Harris, R., Burn, K. and Woolley, M. (2013) . London and New York: Routledge.

Kitson, A and Husbands, C. with Steward, S. (2011) , Buckingham: Open University Press.Ìý

Metzger, S.A. and McArthur Harris, L. (eds.) (2018) , Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Barton, K. & Levstik, L. (2004) , London: Routledge.

Counsell, C., Burn, K. & Chapman, A. (2016) . London: Bloomsbury.

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The full course reading list is available at this link:

Assessment

Students will be required to complete one assignment of 5000 words reporting on a curriculum enquiry involving the elaboration and analysis of a specific challenge for teaching and learning in history and, where appropriate, the development of a pedagogical or curriculum intervention intended to address the challenge.

In this assignment brief, we understand ‘curriculum enquiry’ to include research into any aspect of the design and / or implementation of historical teaching and learning.

Additional Costs

There are no additional costs.