Findings from the KS2 to KS3 Transitions Project – challenges & opportunities, part 2

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated

The last edition of Primary History published the first part of the report on the KS2 to KS3 transitions project. Part 1 illuminated the first four of produced eight key ideas or guiding principles for effective history teaching:

1. Primary pupils love primary history when it is both challenging and engaging.
2. Planning Primary History around tightly structured enquiry questions improves the quality of teaching and learning.
3. Pupils are motivated by intrigue and mystery
4. teaching with a focus on Interpretations of History encourages higher order thinking. Part 2 addressed key ideas 5-8
5. Primary History dovetails well with the use of ICT and the application of literacy
6. the performance of year 6 (and year 5) pupils can often exceed teacher expectations. However, planning for challenging outcomes also requires carefully scaffolded tasks and appropriate support.
7. Using a range of teaching strategies more effectively meets the needs of the variety of pupils’ learning styles.
8. both Primary and Secondary teachers benefit from planning and teaching together.