During my teaching of history I have been amazed by the asinine questions that children and adults ask about the subject matter. For example, a child once asked, ‘Sir, if Queen Cleopatra hadn't been bitten by the asp would she still be alive today?'. This question suggests that despite comprehensive teaching a concept needed to appreciate history was lacking; that of an understanding of chronology. One would think that children would realise that the passage of time between Ancient Egypt and today would make it impossible for Cleopatra to be alive. However, some do not and such difficulties are common amongst children of primary age.

The Rose Curriculum

In 2009 the then Secretary of State for Education asked the Qualifications and Curriculum and Development Authority to launch consultation upon the introduction of a new curriculum for primary schools. It was with real hope that I entered into this consultation naively thinking that this curriculum would be based firmly upon evidence of what children are capable of achieving in their history learning. Disappointingly, though, the new ‘Rose' curriculum became one of strengthening schools' focus on raising standards in reading, writing and numeracy. This meant history was observed to be less important that literacy and numeracy and so was relegated to the status of an "also ran" subject...