Hello and Happy Thursday!
In the last two posts (catch up here and here), we’ve talked about the ‘Wild West’ and the complicated (and problematic) depiction of men and women. This week – and thanks to a reader request (Hi, Nikki!) – let’s dig a bit deeper into the rationale behind the teaching of these topics. To do that, look no further than the A-Level guidance, issued by the Department for Education.
(If you want to read the guidance yourself in full, go here).
If you’re not aware, the Department for Education issues mandatory guidance for every subject. Exam boards are then free to go away and create their courses. This applies to both GCSE and A-Level. As you’ll see in a minute, there is PLENTY of room for manoeuvre – the Department for Education tends to be quite prescriptive in STEM subjects but it’s way less so when it comes to history.
Now, when I talk about “prescriptive,” what I mean is the content itself. Nowhere on the guidance does it say anything like “students must study World War Two” or “students must study the English Civil War.” (Fun fact: at Key Stage 3 <11-14 years old> the Department for Education stipulates that ALL students must study the Holocaust).
So, if we are talking purely about content, boards have a lot of creative and intellectual freedom. They do, however, have to follow rules around time and place, as you can see here:
They also have to ensure that students are exposed to a wide range of perspectives:
I’ve said this before but it’s worth repeating: as great as this freedom is, it can be a double-edged sword. If you don’t centre women and make sure that women are included FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, then how can you guarantee they will make the final cut? The short answer to this, dear reader, is that you can’t.
This year, I’m teaching six A-Level groups, sitting exams across two different boards. Except for the usual suspects (Queen Elizabeth I and … erm … Queen Elizabeth I), I am yet to see a woman named in any of the content that comes from either exam board. This includes past paper exams, mark schemes, specifications and example schemes of work. It’s a lot of content – and you can promise that if a woman was there, I’d find her.
So, here’s the thing:
If the Department for Education ain’t doing it
And the exam boards ain’t doing it
The responsibility for centring women goes to the individual teachers.
(It goes without saying that) I’m more than happy to shoulder that responsibility but not every teacher has the same background that I have, the same interests, or the same knowledge or skillset. We’re all as different as the people we study.
This is one of the reasons why working with trainee history teachers is really, really important to me. They HAVE to enter the classroom with the knowledge and the skills to centre women. It needs to start from day one of their training because if it doesn’t, if it’s added on later, what message are we sending?
I’ve been lucky enough to work with Manchester Metropolitan University (where I did my teacher training) for the last four years, talking about how we can centre women and their history, and why it isn’t optional. I’d love to do more of this work because it’s so important – so I’m throwing that out into the universe. Ya never know ✨
Until next time,
Kaye x