From a compartmentalised to a complicated past: developing transferable knowledge at A-level

Students find it difficult to join up the different things they study into a complex account of the past. Examination specifications do not necessarily help with this because of the way in which history is divided up into different ‘units', a problem exacerbated by textbooks being designed for particular exam topics. Stacey-Chapman describes this problem as one of students needing the ability to see how one bit of history might serve a role in multiple narratives. He reached the conclusion that careful thought about long-term planning is needed, particularly in terms of  explicitly teaching students how knowledge of the past can be transferred from one context to another...