Teaching Historical Interpretations at GCSE.

I am really, really pleased that Historical Interpretations has been placed at the heart of the 2016 GCSEs. After all, as Neil Thompson and Christine Counsell have stated, interpretations has always been the jewel in the crown of the Key Stage 3 concepts.

Previously we were teaching great stuff at Key Stage 3, then churning out the rubbishly predictable, ‘how far do you agree with this interpretation’ type of question at Key Stage 4. And that was it! As there was little real interpretations focus, most teaches were just getting kids to practice and succeed at this type of  ‘ how far do you agree’ question. Yawn!

It was only the brave, who carried on the great interpretations work from Key Stage 3 into Key Stage 4. We did this, simply because we wanted to teach decent history, despite the exam. We also felt that teaching kids beyond the exam would be great preparation. However, this has now changed.

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