Using old and new textbooks in the classroom to develop disciplinary knowledge

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.

What are textbooks for and how do we think of them? As inevitably partial views of the past that reflect their purpose and moment of construction and their authors' location in physical and ideological time and space? As ‘the text' - canonical statements to be read and digested? In this article Christopher Edwards explores ways of using textbooks that draw attention to their constructedness and suggests that working critically with textbooks - particularly textbooks from a range of different times - can be a highly effective way of helping pupils develop their understanding of historical interpretation and of the nature of school history.