This week I presented some of my most able sixth form history students with a copy of the new curriculum and asked them for their thoughts. After a few minutes of silent intrigue the first hand shot up with a question; 'Sir, can I do anything to help stop this?' In my short time within the education profession I have certainly never known anything as contentious as the proposed National Curriculum. The problem with the document is each and every flaw is so blindingly obvious. Firstly, my sixth formers were quick to point out the narrow focus on white, male British history. Diversity should be at the heart of any good curriculum; otherwise the richness of the subject is simply lost. Secondly, the topics are often dull. The choices of topics like the Corn Laws reflect the work of individuals who have clearly never taught Year 7 on a Friday afternoon. Thirdly, the reliance on primary school history teaching to suddenly transform overnight is an incredible oversight. I would struggle badly to teach 8 year olds the complexities of rule in post-conquest Britain within 1 hour; so good luck to the primary practitioner who lacks a degree in history and has only Wikipedia to rely on. Fourthly, the prescriptive curriculum is so vast the only produce will be a watered down romp through time. It will lead to students who will excel on pub quiz nights, but lack the analytical skills which can only be developed by an in-depth examination of a historical topic. With year 9 I spend 6 weeks on the causes of World War 1 alone; this curriculum sanctions it an hour at best. That isn't to say history teaching in this country is perfect and the Historical Association and other bodies need to accept this. As far as I can see Gove's curriculum has been brought in to right two wrongs; a poor diet at primary school and a lack of chronological understanding in secondary students. These issues are real, but the curriculum is attempting to crack these nuts by destroying all the good of the skills based curriculum which saved my subject. So how do we solve these problems? The first step should be enforcing more time on the subject at primary level and proving better training to primary practitioners. The second step should be prescribing a few key broad topics of British history, but with a means to avoiding a straightjacketing the subject. One page, as opposed to six pages. This would allow practitioners to decide upon the more diverse elements based on their own expertise and interests. The third step should be enlisting the help of the academic historical community to support us. I can't help but think Mr. Ferguson's time would be better spent creating free resources for use in the classroom rather than sniping from the sidelines in national newspapers. For those academic historians who do care I challenge you to do more to help us here. It is travesty my sixth formers can't explore topics fully when it comes to their independent coursework due to their financial background. Forget writing textbooks, just make your journal articles freely available for students or write simplified versions for younger years. Finally, rewrite the GCSE curriculum. It is an inadequate bridge to A-level which curtails the development of extended writing based skills from Key Stage 3. Ultimately, the people who count are my sixth formers and students across the country. They deserve better than both the current curriculum and the proposed curriculum. The question is will they ever get it? The worrying account of Steve Mastin, detailing that the latest draft curriculum bares no resemblance to the suggested version proposed by his advisory party, hints that the answer is no. Mr. Gove seems a man on a set course. I have my fingers crossed that his ship either tacks sharply or sinks without trace into the blue. In the mean time I'll get on with my job. Dan Townsend, Teacher of History, The Highfield School, Letchworth

An at best weak and at worst hilarious defence of 1970s teaching methods. Good luck with engendering any real depth of learning in your mute charges and with your next Ofsted inspection with your dated and frequently disproved methods, and may God help the pupil who asks a question in one of your 'presentations' (sorry, find it hard to call it 'teaching'). Tell you what - let's stand your two years of presenting to naughty school kids up against the vast collective years of vibrant and inspiring history teaching amassed by every person who has opposed this archaic and politically motivated excuse for a revised curriculum, and we will soon see who endures. In addition, the slim possibility that a new teacher would read this and actually decide to follow your suede elbow-patched mantra makes me want to weep for their lost souls. By God if this was the Crimean war you'd have your sword snapped in half and be thrown out to swim back to jolly old England for gross misconduct.

If you are only in your second year of teaching as your article suggests, that may help to explain your view. Perhaps you should reconsider the school you work in or the way your department teaches. In my department, we do occasionally (once a year) give the pupils a project a little like the ones you describe - although much more rigorous and research based. However, we also do much more research, wider reading and essay writing than any other department in the school. I really would question the teaching methods if you have pupils asking about Victorian televisions.

An interesting but inept overview of the current state of history teaching; it is also characterised by an odd view of history as an academic discipline, not sure what the history dept at your old university would think about the cavalier way you selectively fit your sources to your argument. For example the quote from Cannadine about the 'teachers' talk and pupils learn' model of instruction. Who was describing this experience - was it perhaps a history teacher? And they were describing history being taugh in what kind of school - a selective grammar for example? and writing about a supposed golden age perhaps - in the 1960s? As a historian you ought to know that these contexts are important. As I said with such disregard for historical method: fitting sources around the argument, one might almost assume that you are a marxist - except....... I would have hoped that someone so new to history teaching would at least have an open mind but life isn't perfect. Still it's not every recently qualified history teacher who can rightfully claim that Nail Ferguson has plagiarised one of his blogs.

Hi. Read this article in the Financial Review this morning. I found it very interesting and agree that when you speak to young people about the past, history is fast becoming history. Eric Hobsbawn once said he gets intelligent uni students asking him: You call it the Second World War: does that mean there was a First World War? What I was thinking when I read about your students' reaction to the Napoleon portrait, however, is that I would not have reacted to their laughter with anger. It was their honest response, and let's face it, Bonaparte does look pretty camp and faintly ridiculous in those pants and in that pose. As a teacher, I think I would have had a laugh with them and agreed that yes, fashions have changed since then. (Thank goodness) I would also have said that the man was in many was arrogant, self-promoting, and risible. Perhaps many of his contemporaries also laughed at the painting. Whatever else you believe about Napoleon, it pays, I think, never to take men like him as seriously as they took themselves. Charismatic leaders are, after all, usually responsible for the worst acts of aggression and violence. So anyway, just saying, I think it is important not to teach history in the old empiricist style of people like Leopold von Ranke. I would have got my students to find some other portraits of Napoleon and discuss what different responses they might have to them, and I believe some very fruitful ideas would begin to emerge. Maybe I would not have made a good history teacher...my field is literature....but I do think the responses of today's students need to be respected, as they are products of a world very different from the one we grew up in. Which is not to say their ideas should not be challenged, just that it's good to begin from a point of mutual respect and understanding. Cheers, Chris.

I think many of the points in thi article are a little out-dated. In the last few years I have seen plenty of evidence of rigorous historical teaching taking place. Read an issue of the Teaching History magazine. People like Christine Counsell, Ian Dawson, Dale Banham are out front in pushing forward a narrative approach to History, where big ideas are considered. The new SHP series of books contains some great ideas and does tell the story. The Think through History is particularly good at encouraging extended writing skills based around important questions. Lastly, the national curriculum is extremely flexible - it is not prescriptive in telling us we must do source evaluation all the time. The teacher is the best source in the classroom and story-telling and questioning are two powerful tools every teacher should use

"I angrily explained that..." At this point, the students knew they had you beat. Also, if you are relying solely on the textbooks for your GCSE course, you were not a very good historian to begin with. Publishers are ruthless with their page limits (I speak from experience) so it is impossible to squeeze in everything that should be there. Please come along to SHP to see what it's actually all about.

I agree with some of the sentiment here, particularly about the modern flight from factual knowledge being useful, or the underplaying of the skill of a teacher in making those facts mean something by the construction of narratives to a class. A skilled teacher does more than regurgitate facts, however. They can provide the evaluative framework in which those facts can be best understood and they can model the thought processes whereby facts carry meaning. I will never forget being told in my teacher training course in History in 2009 that it didn't matter what subject a teacher taught, because lessons were there to develop generic skills. What a total retreat from understanding the value of a subject like History for developing students' understanding of the world, as something properly educational in its own right, rather than merely contributing to 'employability' which was sadly the major focus of my teacher training course.

Perhaps I am illiterate and should throw in the towel. I think my post had lots of typos because I find typing on my ipad a nightmare. Actually I agree that literacy standards are generally too low among graduates but your comment is just nasty.

Laurence that is a really pointless comment. Interesting... a human being writing late at night on her new ipad (that doesnt seem to want to cooperate) made some errors.... Anything to comment on the actual content of my post?