Teaching and Learning History 11-18: Understanding the Past

Teaching and Learning History offers a fresh and distinctive view on the teaching of history in schools at a time when the value of learning about the past is often questioned. Drawing together ideas from research, classroom practice and the voices of learners themselves, it sets out an imaginative and wide-ranging rationale for a view of history as an essential component in the learning of all young people. The book is organized around four underlying ideas:

• The place of history in the contemporary school curriculum
• The importance of inclusive practices
• The nature of successful history pedagogy
• The centrality of professionalism and innovation

These four ideas interlock throughout the book as the authors review current practices, consider what history offers to all young people and offer practical guidance on developing outstanding practices for all learners. Beginning with an account of what it means to teach and learn history in schools, the authors go on to explore the main purposes of teaching history in schools. The book offers rich guidance on successful classroom practice, and sets classrooms in the wider context of the curriculum in a rapidly changing and often deeply divided society. Key features of the book include:

• Securely grounded in real classrooms with examples in easy to use charts and boxes
• Extensive examples from real learners

This book is essential reading for students training to teach history.