Nuffield Primary History
Nuffield Primary History teaching resources are available from the Historical Association website [1].
The resources include notes on teaching approaches exemplified by over a hundred lessons and short lessons. There is also advice on leading history in primary schools.
About Primary History
Directors: Jon Nicol, the late John Fines, Jacqui Dean and Ray Verrier.
The seven key principles for teaching and learning history are given below.
Resources available to all on the Historical Association website [1]
Topics covered in the lessons include
- Key stage 1 lessons
- A local study
- Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings
- The Tudor World
- Victorian Britain
- Britain Since 1930
- European Study: Ancient Greece
- World study
- Cross-curricular learning
Seven key Nuffield Primary History principles
Questioning: learning is about asking and answering questions. Questions focus attention, rouse curiosity and interest, elicit views and stimulate discussion.
Challenge: challenge pupils to speculate, to debate, to make connections, to select, to prioritise, to persist, in tackling real issues and important questions.
Depth: real knowledge demands study in depth. Children's expertise and confidence develop as a result of deep knowledge.
Authenticity: we do not need to give children Mickey Mouse versions of what we want them to learn. Challenge them with authentic materials.
Economy: children will learn more from a few well-chosen resources which they can focus on than from an unstructured jumble.
Accessibility: make learning accessible to all children by starting with what they know and can do, and building on that. Also by finding a key - something they can identify with which will unlock the door to engagement and learning.
Communication: essential for consolidating learning and to give it purpose. Give children the opportunity to communicate to a real audience.
Why history?
The Nuffield Foundation has always been receptive to ideas from creative and effective people even when their proposal lies outside the main areas of interest declared by Trustees. In this spirit they backed the duo of the charismatic and scholarly John Fines of Bishop Otter College and the highly effective teacher trainer and writer, Jon Nichol of Exeter University.
The first grant was for a post-16 History course, ETHOS, and the second for Primary History.
A distinctive approach to curriculum development
The Nuffield Primary History method of curriculum development is itself distinctive with the principle that nothing is published that has not been taught by the team. So the guidance on lessons for teachers takes the form of a narrative based on work with children in primary schools. Many of the lessons have been produced by teachers on professional development courses.
There is a profound commitment to History in depth, with young people creating their own histories while working with authentic sources.
The resources
The project generated a vast amount of material some of which was shaped into a set of publications from Heinemann in the early years of the Nuffield Curriculum Centre. The main guide Teaching Primary History has been very influential, especially in initial teacher training.
The project was, however, much better served by non-commercial publishing through the Nuffield Primary History website, with over 150,000 unique visitors a year most of them from Britain. All the resources continue to be available to all via the Historical Association website [1].