Question 1: Have you exploited the reduced amount of prescription in the new curriculum, or are you still teaching some topics because you always have?
If you are teaching history topics that neither teachers nor pupils enjoy, then stop! This applies equally to parts of topics. If you can’t understand why pupils are learning aspects that you feel are inappropriate, then you must call a halt and reconsider. Take as your guide the focus statement for each history topic. That says what the heartland of the topic is. Everything you teach should relate to that.
Question 2: Have you started to tailor your pupils’ learning in history to local circumstances?
This does not just mean a topic on local history. It might involve covering local history in several of the British topics rather then doing just one blocked topic.
