'But why did Guy Fawkes try to blow up the king, Miss?'

Helping children understand the past and how the historical record is put together and communicated is enshrined within the National Curriculum. At the end of Key Stage 2, the descriptor for Level 5 emphasises the need for children to understand, and give reasons why, the past has been represented and interpreted in different ways (DfEE/QCA:1999). How teachers set about this task very much depends on their own understanding of history and on the nature of the resources they use in the classroom. History is often taught in the primary school by the non-specialist whose own understanding of the subject might be very different from that of a history specialist. Non-History specialists who are committed to developing children’s understanding may rely heavily on available texts to be their guide in this domain. But how much support for understanding do such texts offer the Key Stage 2 teacher?