Last week saw the publication of the annual survey into secondary history produced by the Historical Association. Obviously reflecting the views of members of the Association and representing less than 20% of schools, nevertheless the survey contains the most data we have available on the status quo in secondary schools. Much of the survey’s analysis merely repeats what was said in previous years but four statistics stood out for me, so I’m sharing them with you.
- In 43% of schools, there is a 3 year GCSE course
- 30% of state-funded non-selective schools are allowing students to give up history at the end of Year 8.
- The reported difficulty in addressing all the content of GCSE history occurs in a context in which 30% of respondents allocate a full three years to teaching GCSE (9–1) history, while a further 20% allocate some part of their Year 9 curriculum time to teaching the GCSE specification. 3
- Around 30% of all school respondents acknowledge that they actively prevent or discourage certain students from taking history.
