Experiences of teaching history 1985-2011 : the teachers' voice
An oral history approach was used to explore history teachersâ perceptions, experiences and enactments of curriculum and policy between the years 1985 and 2011. The history curriculum has long been a site of contention. However, research has tended to concentrate on policy creation, policy documentation and textbook content. More recently, some studies have considered the voice of the history teacher. This research set out explicitly to understand teachersâ experiences in the history classroom throughout a period of rapid curriculum and policy change. Interviews were conducted with thirteen history teachers, who had taught across this timeframe. The focus in using oral history was on teachers as witnesses, interpreters and enactors of curriculum and policy changes. Findings are set out in a chronological and occasionally thematic form, supported where relevant by secondary material. The relative autonomy of history teachers in the 1980s is explored, finding a diversity of practice and a significant amount of âdual practice,â with teachers employing both traditional and progressive methods. The impact of the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1991 on teachersâ experience is considered before
Woolley, Mary Catherine
Experiences of teaching history 1985-2011 : the teachers' voice. An oral history approach was used to explore history teachersâ perceptions, experiences and enactments of curriculum and policy between the years 1985 and 2011. The history curriculum has long been a site of contention. However, research has tended to concentrate on policy creation, policy documentation and textbook content. More recently, some studies have considered the voice of the history teacher. This research set out explicitly to understand teachersâ experiences in the history classroom throughout a period of rapid curriculum and policy change. Interviews were conducted with thirteen history teachers, who had taught across this timeframe. The focus in using oral history was on teachers as witnesses, interpreters and enactors of curriculum and policy changes. Findings are set out in a chronological and occasionally thematic form, supported where relevant by secondary material. The relative autonomy of history teachers in the 1980s is explored, finding a diversity of practice and a significant amount of âdual practice,â with teachers employing both traditional and progressive methods. The impact of the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1991 on teachersâ experience is considered before
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