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Abstract
It has been suggested that the new National Curriculum for history in primary schools should focus on content and on knowing the dates of English kings and queens rather than on the process of historical enquiry, in order to promote a shared sense of identity. Charlotte Mason was a very patriotic, nineteenth-century British educationalist who saw learning history as not Anglocentric and as an active engagement with primary and secondary sources, in order to interpret the past through retelling, role play and art. This article collates her thoughts about history education scattered throughout six volumes of her writing.
Notes
1. Mason recognised that children need secondary as well as primary sources. From the few books available for young children at the time she recommended H.E. Marshall's Our Island Story (2005; 1st ed., 1905, Vol. 6, 174). It is ironic, given Mason's criticisms of a ‘dates and kings and queens approach’, that on the frontispiece the publishers thank the readers of The Daily Telegraph, `whose generous support made this new edition possible'.