The secondary curriculum review
The revision of the key stage 3 programme of study provides an opportunity to review and refresh your sequences of work. Different approaches can be taken to planning a history programme of study at key stage 3 as long as they meet the statutory requirements set out in the revised programme of study, consolidate and build on prior learning in history, and lay the foundations for further study of history beyond the age of 14.
When reviewing planning across the key stage, developing new sequences of work or revising existing ones, you should consider the following.
The key concepts underpin the study of history. Pupils need to understand these concepts in order to deepen and broaden their knowledge, skills and understanding of the past. Planning needs to highlight how the key concepts are integrated into teaching and learning across the key stage. For example, pupils should be given the opportunity to study a range of explanations of the causes and results of historical events, situations and changes. They should be taught how to construct their own analyses and explanations. As pupils progress, their explanations will become more complex, identifying and assessing the relative importance of different factors and making explanatory links between causes and effects.
When pupils revisit the key processes at different points in the key stage, there needs to be a clear increase in demand to ensure they continue to be challenged and progress. This could be achieved by employing the processes in an expanding range of contexts, including those that are unfamiliar, applying them to more complex questions and ideas and using them with increasing independence. For example, across the key stage pupils will study history through a series of structured enquiries into different kinds of historical questions and issues. As they progress, pupils will devise and refine their own questions to structure an investigation, developing their own hypotheses and selecting and deploying evidence to reach and justify their own conclusions.
The range and content of key stage 3 history covers primarily the medieval, early modern, industrial and twentieth-century periods in British, European and world history. Schemes of work should ensure that pupils develop, through a combination of studies in overview and depth, knowledge and understanding of the key periods and strands specified in the programme of study. For example, opportunities should be provided during key stage 3 for pupils to study the causes and consequences of various conflicts from European and world history and to develop an understanding of the changing nature of conflict over time. In selecting conflicts to study, teachers should consider their significance in terms of scale, characteristic and unique features, and immediate and longer-term impact.
Sequences of work should enable pupils to gain a knowledge and understanding of key aspects of British history and how these relate to the wider European and global contexts. In addition, pupils should have opportunities to study some exclusively European and world topics.
Planning needs to highlight how the curriculum opportunities set out in the programme of study are built into teaching and learning in history across key stage 3. The notes that accompany the programme of study describe the experiences you should provide and the purposes of these experiences.
Case study: Making connections across periods
