15·History · KS3 to A Level

The Historian's Craft,
Confident Schools

One book for the whole department — the head of history defending curriculum time and the teacher taking a Year 9 class through a source they have never seen. What historical thinking actually is, how it is built from Year 7 to Year 13, and what separates a student who knows a great deal from one who can argue with it.

1Chronology
2Knowledge
3Concepts
4Evidence
5Argument

77 pages · 73 sections · 🔒 63 more pages unlock on purchase

History is the subject most often taught as content and examined as reasoning. No question on any board's paper asks a student to reproduce what happened; every one asks what they make of it. A curriculum built as a tour of topics prepares students for a paper nobody sets.

This booklet is written for the whole department at once. A head of history can read it as a curriculum and quality-assurance document; a teacher can open it at the page they need on a Tuesday. The specifications were read from the current documents rather than from summaries, and where the boards differ the difference is stated rather than blended.

Written to
Intended for
Extent

—·Look inside

Real pages, straight from the PDF

Click any page to see it full size.

—·Contents

All 73 sections

Taken from the booklet’s own contents page, so the page numbers are the real ones.

The Frame

1The Five Daily Non-Negotiablesp5

2The Five Pillars of Historical Capabilityp6

3The Five Pillars Are Not an Inventionp7

4The Words the Subject Usesp8

5What Is Fixed, and What Boards Decidep9

6What Ofsted Found When It Looked at Historyp10

7What Is Changing, and Whenp11

Chronology

8The Frame Nothing Else Hangs Onp12

9The Framework Students Are Assumed to Havep13

10Building a Mental Map Across Five Yearsp14

The Other Four Pillars

11There Is No Such Thing as a Skills Questionp15

12The Difference Between Describing and Explainingp16

13Causation Is Not the Word ‘Because’p17

14Change Is a Measurement, Not an Observationp18

15Significance Is Argued, Never Inherentp19

16A Source Is Not a Text to Be Comprehendedp20

17The Same Source, Four Analysesp21

18Why Historians Disagree, and Why That Is Not a Flawp22

19Writing Is Where History Becomes Visiblep23

Key Stage 3

20Three Years, Not a Run-Up to GCSEp24

21What Progression Actually Looks Likep25

22What the National Curriculum Actually Requiresp26

23The Aims Are the Curriculump27

24Breadth, Depth, and the Overview Problemp28

25Whose History? Diversity Without Tokenismp29

26Assessing Without Levels, and Without Pretendingp30

GCSE

27Four Objectives, Four Very Different Papersp31

28Five Specifications, Side by Sidep32

29Where a Board Puts Its Objectivesp33

30The Source Question, Board by Boardp34

31What a Source Answer Looks Like at Four Levelsp35

32The Interpretation Questionp36

33“How Convincing?” at Four Levelsp37

34The Extended Essay, and the Sentence That Defines Itp38

35The Factor Essay at Four Levelsp39

36Exam Technique That Is Actually Historyp40

37Revision That Is Not Just Re-Readingp41

A Level

38The Renumbering Nobody Warns Them Aboutp42

39Three Boards, and a Fifth of the Grade Off the Paperp43

40The Non-Examined Assessment, Start to Finishp44

41Artificial Intelligence and the Coursework Declarationp45

42What JCQ Requires, and Where the Line Fallsp46

43The Year 11 to Year 12 Bridgep47

The History Lesson

44What a History Lesson Is Actually Forp48

45Reading in History, and Why It Is Not Readingp49

46Talk, and the Discipline of Disagreeing Wellp50

47Knowledge Organisers, and Their Limitsp51

48Homework That Is Actually Historyp52

Leadership

49The Leadership Lensp53

50What an Inspector Actually Asks a Head of Historyp54

51Requirement, Recommendation, and the Differencep55

52The Sentences That Must Never Be Saidp56

53The Department Self-Auditp57

The New Teacher

54Your First Term as a History Teacherp58

55Teaching History When It Is Not Your Subjectp59

The Toolkit

56Twelve Questions for a Head of Historyp60

57A Forty-Five Minute Departmental INSETp61

58The Enquiry Question Plannerp62

59The Source Frame (student-facing)p63

60The Interpretation Frame (student-facing)p64

61The Factor Essay Plannerp65

62The Chronology Baseline Testp66

63The Unit Sequencing Checkp67

64The Four-Answer Moderation Setp68

65The Non-Specialist Briefing Sheetp69

66The Knowledge Organiser Checkp70

67The Year 11 to Year 12 Bridging Planp71

68The NEA Supervision Recordp72

69The Board Comparison Sheetp73

70The Department Claim Auditp74

71The History Lesson Observation Promptsp75

72The Options Evening Scriptp76

73Sources, and How Every Claim Was Checkedp77

Next: Year 7 English