Thanks to Phil Arkinstall and Helen Snelson of HA Secondary Committee for writing up this blogpost to share the HA Young Voices project and ideas about how you can develop your own work with students to support quality assurance processes.
As history teachers we are required to quality assure what we do and to develop improvement plans. How often do we check with the young people we are teaching about their views on the quality of their history education? This short article is written to help you to engage with the opinions of students by:
- Sharing the opinions of 100s of history students from across the country.
- Providing support to help you ask your own students about their experiences of history in school.
Why should we engage with the opinions of the students about school history?
The students are our equivalent of a ‘theatre audience’ or ‘customers’ and although we have a responsibility to choose and deliver quality history teaching to them, we also have a responsibility to listen to their views and shape our lessons with them in mind. From helping them review how a class has been taught throughout the year, to getting them to help decide which topics to teach in any key stage. You can also use student voice as evidence to support your plans for curriculum change, add weight to arguments about why things should be done in certain ways for your department and to show senior leaders evidence that something can work for the whole school. It’s time to let student voice support your next steps.
What are history students saying about the history they learn in schools?
During the first half of 2023, the HA asked students in 15 different secondary schools from Scotland to the Scilly Isles to answer the following questions:
- What sorts of things in history do the young people in your school/group most want to learn about?
- In what ways does history matter to the young people in your school/group?
- In what ways have your history teachers shown that they care about what history means to you?
Students carried out the research, asking the questions of their peers via surveys. As a result, 100s of secondary age students contributed their opinions. The student researchers then presented their findings to the HA. Here is a summary of their findings:
What pupils want to learn about in school history
Some broad themes emerged frequently. Students wanted to learn:
- about a wide range of people and places from the past,
- history from all parts of the world and not just history from their UK nation and Europe,
- how Britain has come to be as it is today,
- about the British Empire, colonialism and colonial legacies (including the role of all UK nations),
- ancient history,
- about varieties of viewpoints and historiography,
- about local history.
Some other themes mentioned once or twice were:
- History of previously marginalised groups
- History of groups with which students identify
- Connections between countries.
- Black history
- Islamic history
- History of science and economics
- Women’s history
- Natural/environmental history
- Military history
The student researchers found that the specific topics that their peers said they wanted to learn were influenced by topics students had already learnt and enjoyed, including at primary level, for example World War One and the Black Death beyond Britain. Choices also seem to have been influenced by news and events, for example the Russian-Ukrainian War and the history of football.
Some researchers found that students disliked topics being repeated, that students want a variety of topics and that some topics were perceived as hard and dull. This latter group included the battle of Hastings, Tudor politics, the French and Industrial Revolutions and the Cold War.
Why history matters
Some students surveyed did not think that it mattered, they did not like history, found it hard and/or dull and specifically did not like the amount of writing required to do well in exams.
The two dominant reasons given for history mattering were:
- It explains how we are here/things are as they are today (from families to the world) and influences the future
- It can suggest what we need to learn to prevent mistakes
The other reasons people gave for school history mattering focused on gaining a better understanding of other people and cultures, challenging myths and lies, developing useful skills for future plans, developing empathy and tolerance, and because it is enjoyable.
History teachers and lessons
The reasons most often mentioned were for liking history lessons were:
- Teachers responding to students, consulting them, enabling them to choose topics and teaching them topics they were interested in
- Lessons full of discussion, debate, the chance to actively express own opinions, to understand others’ opinions and have their perspectives changed as a result
- Interactive lessons with e.g. group work, role-play, film etc
Other things students like included: coursework, stories and personal experiences, going beyond the GCSE topics, choosing their own A Level coursework, and being challenged and stretched.
There was much appreciation of history teachers who show great enthusiasm, passion and knowledge. And of those teachers who go above and beyond to support students and to find inspiring resources, to put students in contact with interesting resources and ideas, to run clubs and bring in speakers. There was huge support for trips out of school to museums and sites.
You can find out more about this Young Voices project and view the films here: https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/module/8832/ha-young-voices
How can I engage with the opinions of the history students in my school?
If you create something electronically that can be copied and repeated year in year out, it not only saves time, but allows you to get more than one snapshot on how a particular year group is responding to your subject. Start with one for each key stage, which can differentiate between teacher and year group to aid filtering or results and then consider doing them as exit polls attached to QR codes for events/trips or experiences. Take a look at this example using microsoft forms: Key Stage 3 History End of Year Review 2023 (office.com)
In this article from TH 179, Catherine Priggs explains how students in her school were brought into the process of curriculum development. She explains how the department worked with students to enable to them to be able to make suggestions. That is, they thought hard about the problem of students not being able to suggest what they do not know at all.
If it is not possible to do this sort of work in lesson time, then perhaps you could talk about curriculum with a history club. The YorkClio teacher network have been asking their History Nerds Club what they would like to engage with. This is in recognition that, although the City of York is awash with events focused on history, there is not much specific provision for keen historians who are the age of senior secondary students.
Whether you use the findings from the HA Young Voices project, or engage with student voice yourself, there are advantages for student engagement, a more responsive curriculum, quality assurance and evidence-based improvement.
OBHD 