Why do we teach and learn about the past? How is history taught in schools? What are the influences on the way teachers teach and pupils learn about the past? History is one of the most ideologically disputed of school subjects. This title provides an account of the way history is taught in schools.

Preface

Part one: Understanding history education

What's happening in history teaching?
Why research history teaching?
How was this book researched?

Part two: Understanding history teachers

What do history teachers do in history classrooms?
What do history teachers know?
How do history teachers use their knowledge?

Part three: Understanding the history curriculum

What does school history look like?
What is school history for?
What is the future of the past?
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

·Why do we teach and learn about the past?
· How is history taught in schools?
· What are the influences on the way teachers teach and pupils learn about the past?

This book is the most detailed account of the way history is taught in schools to be published for 30 years. History has experienced fundamental changes in content, pedagogy and approach and remains one of the most ideologically disputed of school subjects.

Drawing on fieldwork in secondary schools, and on research studies worldwide, the authors pose fundamental questions about the way teachers teach and learners learn. They consider the purposes of teaching about the past in a world of accelerating change. The book explores the realities of classroom history teaching and offers pointers for the development on the subject in a new century.