Trainee doesn’t see any need to take questions about historical significance beyond a focus on consequences

Tilda Scot is part way through her second school placement and has been given the opportunity to adapt an existing Key Stage 3 scheme of work to include a greater focus on the concept of historical significance. This invitation followed a recent external review of the school’s history curriculum which revealed strengths in terms of its focus on developing secure substantive knowledge, and particular emphases on students’ analysis of the nature and extent of change between one period and another, and on developing causal explanations for key developments. While this seemed to have served students well as a preparation for GCSE, the review identified that the students had very little opportunity at Key Stage 3 to engage with historical interpretations or the concept of historical significance...