by Katie Duce 32

This project was based solely on three Year 12 classes, all studying Sociology in the same school. Therefore, it is very difficult to generalise from my findings and observations to make any overall conclusions. Nonetheless, it has guided my own personal teaching practice and I feel confident in making similar recommendations to other colleagues and teachers of other subjects. It has been useful for the students to make links between their subjects and apply concepts from their studies to the world around them.

Now that my experimental group have entered Year 13, I am noticing the impact these application lessons has had on them. In one of the first lessons back after lockdown, I introduced a new theory of ‘Crime and Deviance’ to the class, and then invited them for 20 minutes at the end to read an article on the London 2011 riots and apply any of the concepts they have just learnt to the article. I was impressed by the links they were able to make – not just from the recent topic they have learnt, but also topics they had studied previously.This action research project could make a real impact on the progress that students make. This is because by making links between what they are reading and what they are studying in their subjects, they will be stretched and challenged, and will be displaying higher order thinking skills.

Appendices

Appendix 1: An example of a student annotated news article from an application lesson.

Appendix 2: An example of an interleaving test.

BIO Katie Duce joined Berkhamsted in 2017 and has taught a range of subjects including Sociology, Psychology, Geography and PSHE. From September 2021 she will be Second in Department for Sociology.

An investigation into the Year 9 History curriculum and its impact on the social development of pupils

This project began in September 2019 as an exploration of how we can ensure the History curriculum at Berkhamsted best supports our pupils’ social and cultural development. I certainly did not possess the foresight to predict the current national and international debate on British History that has flared up during this project. The international protests that followed George Floyd’s death and subsequent rise of the Black Lives Matter movement encouraged Berkhamsted’s History Department to accelerate some changes to the syllabus at all age groups. Frustratingly, the national debate continues to rage about what we should teach at the detriment of seeing the value in how we do so. This Action Research project has taken a conscious position against token curriculum adjustments that some have called for. Instead, it has looked at combining a review of content with a concurrent focus on method and development of meta-cognitive skills. The basis of the pedagogy used to deliver the syllabus needs to be reflected on alongside the content of that curriculum. One should not be changed without the other. As research into metacognition demonstrates, the ability to learn how to learn is of potentially equal importance to the pupils’ social development as what they learn.

This project investigates the suitability of the current KS3 curriculum for History and how it is applied at Berkhamsted School. It asks how curriculum choices impact the social development of our pupils, and how we can adapt our practice to best support them by addressing method and content concurrently. In particular, it looks at how our current study of the Atlantic Slave Trade can be adapted to prevent a purely victim narrative forming in regard to African History, as well as a better appreciation of African agency in History.

History at Berkhamsted is compulsory until Year 10. The choice was made to focus this ARP on Year 9 as it is the last year of study for a significant number of pupils. I hoped to achieve an understanding of how History at Berkhamsted can ensure that pupils are both developing as global citizens as well as developing the historical skills required by those who wish to study the subject further. As Berkhamsted benefits from relative freedom of choice on its KS3 History curriculum, it is important to look at how we can best meet the needs of our pupils with the knowledge that some will leave KS3 and never study History again. Due to COVID-19, the project was paused, and the data is still incomplete, but this has allowed me to compare new changes we have made on the syllabus to last year and action them.

A key seminal text on this debate is Claire Alexander, Debbie Weekes-Bernard, and Joya Chatterji’s History Lessons: Teaching Diversity In and Through the History National Curriculum (2015). Alexander et al., concluded that schools should make a better use of resources from museums, universities, and non-exam board locations to help create a truly diverse curriculum. Importantly, the argument is made that using these diverse resources alongside a non-exam-based system of assessment can help pupils develop their social skills. This ARP does demonstrate this in action at KS3 level as an effective way of diversifying the curriculum and supporting the metacognitive development of our pupils. Resources were used from beyond the normal KS3 textbooks and pupils had much greater ownership of which resources they used. The text also makes significant recommendations about the purpose of ‘nationhood’ that are too broad to be analysed effectively in this project. Alexander et al., also explore diversifying the teacher cohort and the perceived benefit that this has on pupils’ social development. As with the discussion of nationhood, this is an issue best left for a different project, but the clear message is that merely adding and removing topics from the curriculum is not enough.

Thus, central to the debate that Alexander et. al., address is the purpose of a curriculum in contrast to just its content. This was backed up by Audrey Osler, who cautioned the Labour government in 2009 against using the History curriculum to promote national unity and identity without knowing what the end goal was (Osler, 2009). Osler persuasively argued that a better focus for a History curriculum is to help pupils become ‘cosmopolitan citizens’ as opposed to solely ‘citizens of a nation-state’. While Osler’s focus is largely on the impact of concerns about Islamic radicalisation, the arguments can be applied to the broader question of how a curriculum should function. It is clear from recent evidence, however, that Osler’s call for a diversified curriculum as means to encourage social development is not perceived to have been met.

The debate about curriculum choices is not the preserve of academics and teachers alone. A petition from July 2020 that reached over 250,000 signatures demanded that the government make Britain’s ‘colonial past compulsory’ (Petition to UK Government, 2020). In response, the Department of Education asserted the view of the government that the current National Curriculum allows for analysis of matters of conquest at all stages. According to the National Curriculum, KS3 History should improve chronological knowledge of ‘British, local and world history’. There is a particular demand on combining depth studies with broader overviews to allow pupils to build up a confidence with the ‘long arc of development’ alongside the ‘complexity of specific aspects.’ Apart from the Holocaust, the specific topics that a school may wish to teach are not statutory. There are broad descriptors from which recommended topics may fit best, but it is not a subject beset by compulsory content. For the social enterprise group, ‘The Black Curriculum’ which was founded in 2019, this is not enough. They accuse the current system of ‘omitting the contribution of Black British history in favour of a dominant White, Eurocentric curriculum’ (Arday, 2019). It would appear from the current debate that there is more division than cohesion amongst those with a vested interest in the curriculum.

However, from this research there are accessible and practical steps that Berkhamsted can explore. This is not a cry for token action solely in response to a visible and immediate problem, but an action designed to further support the development of pupils at Berkhamsted.

Action

Applying the action points from the research to the KS3 curriculum was carried out in the following manner. This project followed a scheme of work that concludes with the essay question: ‘White middle-class abolitionists played the most significant role in ending the Atlantic Slave Trade’. (This question has now been changed to focus on the actions of slaves as a primary argument.) For 2019-2020, the Year 9 curriculum content was not adapted. Instead, I adjusted my method of delivery. I explored what the merits were of resource diversification and asked whether that should form a key platform to our approach. I had 2 sets of Year 9 boys (for this project Set A (18) and Set B (15)). Both sets were of a similar academic level. Set A were taught the Atlantic Slave Trade SoW making use of two textbooks. Set B were taught through a combination of independent research, multimedia resources, and flipped learning. (An example of a Set A task in comparison to a Set B task can be seen in Appendices 1 and 2.) Using the recommendations from the ‘Black Curriculum’ platform, Set B were encouraged to research their

own take on the question. Pupils were regularly asked to feed back on what they thought about their research, their knowledge, and their application of both (see Appendix 3).

This was one data set and there are significant variables. Despite being of a similar base ability, the pupils in Set B were predominantly ‘legacy’ pupils. They had studied History at Berkhamsted in Year 7 and 8 and found the structuring of their work a more accessible task than Set A. They also worked harder. However, it was clear from the quality of both their written and verbal contributions that pupils in Set B had a better appreciation of the role of black figures in the ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade than pupils in Set A. They avoided a sole focus on victimhood when discussing the actions of slaves and avoided a one-dimensional answer. Their feedback from the course was also more positive. However, the quality of their written work had not developed as strongly as those in Set A.

Upon reflection, the adjustments I made in 2019-2020 were effective in increasing the social awareness of pupils. They did not, however, meet the dual purpose of also developing the academic written skills any more so than the previous method. Furthermore, the question of who was most to credit for the ending of the slave trade yielded similar responses across the groups. In casual low-stakes pupil voice, Set B had a greater awareness of the topic. Yet when the official assessment was taken, this variance was less stark. It may be that the use of the metacognitive approach would yield greater reward when used over a longer period of study. I am currently exploring this with my current cohort, but the results will not be known until after their study of the Holocaust (with which I am combining it) later in the academic year.

For 2020-2021, the Year 9 curriculum has been adapted considering the BLM movement. Instead of starting the topic of Atlantic Slavery by looking at the Trade straight away, the history of the Kingdom of Mali was added. There was no textbook for this SoW, and a colleague prepared the lessons in the format of an investigation into who played the most significant role in the end of the Slave Trade. Furthermore, the focus question was adapted from focusing on ‘White middle-class’ to the actions of ‘slaves themselves’. The addition of the Kingdom of Mali was a benefit to the pupils, although the impact was lessened by the lack of time given to explore the topic. Pupil voice was more positive than with the previous cohort, Set A. They were especially keen to explore the History of Africa pre-Slavery in much more detail. I would suggest that this was a significant social benefit of the addition of the Kingdom of Mali. Next year this will be set as research topic for Black History Month to give the pupils more time.

The adaptation of the question was more significant. In shifting the focus of the question, pupils were more inclined to explore other avenues in their answer. This is significant as the materials with which they learned were largely the same as the previous cohort. It raises questions about how we assess our pupils and their learning for the topic.

Conclusions

This project has been tripped up at various intervals. It has, however, actioned pedagogically based adjustments to the History curriculum at a KS3, Year 9 level. It has focused only on half a term of the curriculum. This narrow focus has limited the ability to make a judgement about the whole year but has allowed a targeted intervention and reflections on this.

It is apparent that Berkhamsted is very well-placed to adjust its delivery of History in Year 9 to build on its excellent current platform. With all pupils having a digital device of their own, the ability to diversify the resources used to teach the topic of Atlantic Slave Trade has been proven to have a material impact on the knowledge and skills of our pupils. This project also demonstrates the importance of not making snap curriculum decisions to address perceived areas of weakness. The two different cohorts both reveal development in social awareness and areas where they maintain previous dispositions. In suggesting actions, this project is clear that pupils benefit most when the teacher has the time to properly resource a topic and allow a pedagogy-based approach to learning. This is not a quick action to meet a current social demand. There are also legitimate questions to be asked of the mode of assessment. However, due to the current iGCSE and A-level assessment criteria, we are limited as to what we can try and achieve on this front. In any case, diversifying the curriculum is of benefit to the pupils as long as the process is supported with an understanding of skills for learning.

BIO Will Findlay joined Berkhamsted in 2018 and teaches History and Politics to Years 7-13. From September 2021 he will be Second in History and begin his role as Head of Old Stede House.