More than just a word list

The current focus on a knowledge-rich curriculum, in which the intent and impact should be clearly identified, has seen many subject leaders scrutinising and reworking the history curriculum within their contexts.

As part of this, specific vocabulary, be it conceptual or otherwise, has been highlighted, and word lists are appearing in commercial schemes and knowledge organisers.

Whether such lists embed progress within vocabulary gain however, is often questionable. While our children’s learning is at the heart of our teaching, many curriculum choices are being driven by the intent, implementation and impact which Ofsted want to see, and progress needs to be embedded throughout this. There are ways to ensure that this happens within historical vocabulary teaching in school, so that vocabulary gain becomes more than just a word list and supports teaching...