How Can We Plan for Progression in Primary School History?

This paper addresses issues concerning planning for and assessing progression in children’s thinking in primary school history. It argues that it is necessary to assess progression within the framework of constructivist learning theories, applied to the processes of historical enquiry. First, it discusses early research into children’s ability to understand concepts of time, historical sources and interpretations. Next, it describes the structure of the English National Curriculum, introduced in 1989, in which pupils are required to apply the processes of historical enquiry to content, in increasingly complex ways. The problem of what is meant by progression in history led to a large-scale research project attempting to identify patterns of development. It is argued that this proved problematic, and the level descriptors for the English History Curriculum have subsequently been removed. The article concludes that, at the moment, progression can be best planned for based on small-scale case studies, which apply constructivist theories to historical enquiries. Finally, suggestions are given for how teachers can plan and evaluate both their own practice and their pupils’ progress.