So you didn’t study history yourself beyond the age of 14, you have been leading the subject for just two terms , you have never taught it at KS1, you had only a few hours training during your degree course, you’ve never attended any INSET courses and there isn’t enough money to provide training next year and you also have geography to lead. And by the way OFSTED is coming to carry out deep dive inspection of history. Sound familiar? The fear of what OFSTED is expecting is causing worrying levels of stress among well-meaning subject leaders who are rarely trained and never paid to answer the depth of questions about the curriculum that OFSTED seems to be expecting. Twenty years ago, the National Curriculum for history was actually disapplied to make space for the teaching of Eng, Maths and Science.So naturally history was left on the back burner, until they found that the National Strategies had failed miserably and that it was better to use and apply literacy across the curriculum. So the government got it wrong. OFSTED have so often got it wrong and still haven’t given schools guidance on what a good history curriculum should look like. But miraculously you are supposed to know..or else. It really is grossly unfair. No doubt in time it will all bed down sensibly, but in the meantime it is the poor beleaguered history subject leader who is being hung out to dry.
I have offered lots of help in various articles and blogs on the site so do look at them. But more importantly don’t let their unrealistic expectations grind you down. You may well be able to answer their questions but not until you’ve been properly trained and they have given you the guidance you need to grow the subject
