The purpose and aims of the History curriculum is to ensure students gain and develop a passionate understanding of the past, both within the UK and the wider world. Teaching should inspire historical curiosity through key events, people, discoveries and by delving into the complexity of social, economic and political histories.
Effective teaching will support students in fostering necessary communication and analytical skills whilst developing an awareness of historical concepts such as change and continuity, cause and consequence, importance and significance as well as understanding key terms to take into account how the past has been interpreted and portrayed through personal or national perspective. Overall, the MAT intention within History is to impart an in depth knowledge and narrative of the past so that they can see how this shapes their current environment.
The national curriculum for History aims to ensure that all students:
Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’.
Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.