What remains of history? Historical epistemology and historical understanding in Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence

ABSTRACT

This paper critically examines the framing of historical knowledge in the primary and ‘broad general education’ phases (ages 4–14) of Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence. The paper focuses on curriculum documentation, particularly the curriculum's aims and ‘Experiences and Outcomes’ and evaluates these in light of recent research on children's historical understanding. It is argued that the decision to frame historical understanding as ‘People, Past Events and Societies’ within the context of a ‘social studies’ curriculum area has been motivated by a misunderstanding of history's unique disciplinary identity. It is argued that history curricula must take account of the unique ontological and epistemological challenges posed by investigating the past and that by failing to do this, ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ offers children in Scotland a problematic representation of what it means to study the past. The paper challenges the curriculum in both epistemic and pedagogical terms, before suggesting that a rigorous study of history as a discipline can make a valuable contribution to children's personal and social development.

KEYWORDS:

• History
• Curriculum for Excellence
• social studies
• progression
• historical understanding
• historical epistemology

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Mark Priestley for reading early drafts of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The seemingly neutral traditionalist appeal for ‘history for its own sake’ was famously skewered by Slater who asked simply ‘who is the “it” on whose behalf history is learnt? Someone other than the learner or the historian? Clio perhaps? Alas, she does not exist’ (1992, p. 47).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith began to work at Stirling University in 2015, following spells at Edge Hill and Liverpool Hope Universities. Before moving into higher education, he worked for nine years as a history teacher in secondary schools, with the last five as Head of Department. He has written for a general and academic audience and has worked for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) as the Senior Lead Practitioner in History.