Summary of changes of proposed changes to national curriculum for history

Timescale: 7th Feb Gove launches review for consultation 16th April Consultation period ends Summer 13 results of consultation announced Sept 13 comes into force but non statutory, apart from Maths and English Sept 14 made compulsory Summary: Michael Gove released the new curriculum draft on 7th February which can be viewed at the following link: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/n/national%20curriculum %20consultation%20-%20framework%20document.pdf This outlines the most radical change to the curriculum since the original National curriculum released in 1989. Many of the subjects have been slimmed down in terms of content but the history curriculum (page 165) has been loaded with a vast amount of content that has already been described in such terms as ridiculously excessive, archaic and unteachable by an overwhelming majority of teachers who have responded in these first few days (please see sample of this proposed new content for key stage 2, for ages 7-11 at the end of this summary). The rationale behind this is based upon Michael Goves strong belief that history should be taught sequentially and chronologically throughout school, meaning of course that the very youngest pupils aged 6 will be taught about the stone age and the oldest aged 14 will be taught about the 20th century incl. WWII. In line with this rationale, the topics of the Victorians and WWII have been entirely removed from the primary stage to the secondary stage, where they are only apparently going to be covered from a political perspective. Potential consequences

IMPACT ON LEARNING: This is very much a fact-based model, eliminating the current emphasis on historical enquiry (for this read artefact handling and independent learning) and reverting more toward a learn dates by rote approach which has been proven many times to be completely ineffective in terms of depth of knowledge. In addition we are talking about explaining (and making fun/relevant) subjects such as Wycliffes Bible to seven year olds, instead of the home front and life as a Victorian child TEACHING TIME: impossible due to size of content a couple of lessons per historical period if you are lucky

TEACHER KNOWLEDGE: Barely any all teachers will need re training RESOURCES: There are barely any available so ALL will need to be funded and purchased by schools MUSEUMS/LIVING HISTORY: at best will lose income due to no school primary visits for WWII and Victorians, at worse some may even close REMEMBRANCE: children will not be taught about WWII until age 13/14. In addition, many teachers feel that, with the anniversary of WWI approaching, this has been a missed opportunity to bring the conflict alive for primary schools.

Desired outcomes from those opposed to the proposal A halt to the proposals immediately pending further consultation For this consultation process to be conducted transparently and with the majority of input coming from serving teachers

What the public can do Complete the Dept. for Education consultation feedback form at: http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/departmentalinformation/con sultations/a00221262/reform-national-curriculum or just google national curriculum review Visit and like the facebook protest page Save school history at www.facebook.com/SaveSchoolHistory Follow our twitter feed @saveour_history Contribute to the Historical Associations forum at http://www.history.org.uk/forum/forum_27_160.html Write to your MP SAMPLE CONTENT: Proposed new content JUST for key stage 2, for ages 7-11 Pupils should be taught the following chronology of British history sequentially: early Britons and settlers, including: the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages Celtic culture and patterns of settlement Roman conquest and rule, including: Caesar, Augustus, and Claudius Britain as part of the Roman Empire the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire Anglo-Saxon and Viking settlement, including: the Heptarchy the spread of Christianity key developments in the reigns of Alfred, Athelstan, Cnut and Edward the Confessor the Norman Conquest and Norman rule, including:

 the Domesday Book feudalism Norman culture the Crusades Plantagenet rule in the 12th and 13th centuries, including: key developments in the reign of Henry II, including the murder of Thomas Becket Magna Carta de Montfort's Parliament relations between England, Wales, Scotland and France, including: William Wallace Robert the Bruce Llywelyn and Dafydd ap Gruffydd the Hundred Years War life in 14th-century England, including: chivalry the Black Death the Peasants Revolt the later Middle Ages and the early modern period, including: Chaucer and the revival of learning Wycliffes Bible Caxton and the introduction of the printing press the Wars of the Roses Warwick the Kingmaker the Tudor period, including religious strife and Reformation in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary Elizabeth I's reign and English expansion, including: colonisation of the New World plantation of Ireland conflict with Spain the Renaissance in England, including the lives and works of individuals such as Shakespeare and Marlowe the Stuart period, including: the Union of the Crowns King versus Parliament Cromwell's commonwealth, the Levellers and the Diggers the restoration of the monarchy the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London Samuel Pepys and the establishment of the Royal Navy the Glorious Revolution, constitutional monarchy and the Union of the Parliaments.