History for all – a wider view

In this update, I plan to share ideas and practice from colleagues who lead and teach history in special schools in the northeast of England. Ten years have passed since the publication of History for All and this therefore seems a good moment for reflection. By 2011, in many of England’s schools, history had become the domain of the ‘top set’. It was perceived as simply too challenging for many pupils to study through to public examination at 16+. In this short update, I plan to share perspectives and experiences from two subject leads in two special schools in the northeast of England, Jamie Hall and Sarah Perry. Jamie and Sarah shared with me their experience of teaching history to all pupils across the last decade. Curriculum planning, adaptations, specialist history professional development and meeting pupil needs are the key themes.

At the time of writing, the number of pupils in state-funded special schools has now reached 128,100. These schools are very diverse. They range from highly specialist secondary settings focused on social, emotional and mental health provision to cross-phase schools educating pupils with a wide array of special educational needs...