Teaching and learning history: using skills progression
History teachers pay lip service to learning historical skills. In reality we are either vague about it or what we mean is examination technique, how to write short essays and answer source questions to trigger the mark scheme. Ive always told classes that I have two missions in life. First and most important to make them excellent historians. Second, easier and less important, to get them top grades.
The problem arises because examinations are muddled about what theyre trying to assess. Questions that are supposed to test skill with historical sources in fact depend largely either on memory or on textual analysis. Essays that are supposed to test understanding of cause in fact test the basics of essay structure.