100 schools where not one pupil studied GCSE history.
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More than 100 state schools failed to enter a single candidate for GCSE history last year, an official report has revealed. It says the subject is becoming ‘marginalised’ and many pupils have no chronological knowledge of historical events.
More than 100 state schools failed to enter a single candidate for GCSE history last year, an official report has revealed. It says the subject is becoming ‘marginalised’ and many pupils have no chronological knowledge of historical events.
The schools inspectorate Ofsted also found that England is the only country in Europe where children may stop studying history at the age of 13. Its conclusions will add weight to calls for reform to the national curriculum, which is being reviewed by Education Secretary Michael Gove and historian Simon Schama.
The report, History for All, was based on inspections of 83 primary and 83 secondary schools.
It found that in a quarter of secondaries inspected between 2008 and 2010, curriculum changes were having a negative impact on history, with the subject becoming marginalised and time for teaching reduced.
Inspectors concluded that allowing pupils to drop the subject earlier, combined with a trend towards teaching history as part of general topics, or combined with geography, had led to teaching and learning that was ‘no better than satisfactory’.
The report said: ‘One of the most serious concerns about poor provision was the tendency for teachers to try to cover too much content and “spoonfeed” students.
‘As a result, teachers talked too much, lessons were rushed, opportunities for debate and reflection were missed, and students lost interest.’
In primaries, inspectors raised concerns that many pupils lacked chronological knowledge of historical events, partly because of the fashionable move towards teaching in ‘themes’.
Read more about this at the Mail Online.
