A revolution in primary history teaching, quietly consolidated over the past 35 years

Primary History article

By Jerome Freeman, published 5th June 2025

This article is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of teachers and subject leaders, join the Historical Association today

In my 38 years in history education, the most profound changes to the way history was taught in primary schools were caused by the introduction in 1990 of the National Curriculum, followed closely by the creation of Ofsted, the body tasked with ensuring compliance with the new requirements. In one fell swoop, decisions around the content of the primary history curriculum, and indeed the way it was taught, were taken out of the hands of teachers and centralised in the hands of government and various quangos. This had huge consequences for primary teachers, who had to re-examine their approach to history teaching, alongside the myriad other changes they faced across the school curriculum as a whole...

This resource is FREE to all registered users of the website

If you are not already registered you can sign up for FREE Basic Website Access or Join the HA to access this content.