In history, the substantive knowledge (the stuff of history) goes hand in hand with disciplinary knowledge – the lens through which that knowledge is applied.
In the Francis Curriculum and Assessment Review, recommendations state:
The Review has heard calls for the curriculum to provide more space for exploring and embedding these disciplinary skills which are essential for further study. The ability to assess varying sources of information critically also plays a role in supporting wider life skills, such as media literacy. We therefore recommend the Key Stage 1 to 3 Programmes of Study should update and enhance the requirement for disciplinary understanding, without adding excessive content. (Building a World Class Curriculum for All 2025) p. 84
The November 2025 government response indicated:
We will ensure that every subject in the revised national curriculum programmes of study continues to set out key content, including a rich spine of knowledge with aligned disciplinary skills that guides teachers to deliver high-quality, well-sequenced lessons. (Government Response November 2025, p.8)
We agree with the Review on the importance of applying disciplinary knowledge, skills and approaches, including how the past is studied and how historical claims are constructed. This is core to teaching history to the highest standard and should be clear in our curriculum requirements which all pupils will benefit from… we will improve the programme of study to support pupils to critically appraise historical sources and develop strong substantive and disciplinary knowledge. (Government Response November 2025 p.32)
Disciplinary knowledge in history
Disciplinary knowledge in history consists of the following:
Sources and evidence: This includes different types of source from the periods studied, the interrogation and selection of sources in order to establish evidence to support or discredit a historical question or statement and construct their own accounts about the past, the different ways source collections are curated and used and the impact of digitisation on the interrogation of sources.
Interpretations: When studying historical interpretations, pupils usually consider the author/producer’s audience and purpose, the sources the interpretation is based upon, the time and place in which the interpretation was produced and how this may have affected the author/producer’s perspective. Pupils may compare different interpretations of the same person/event/issue and consider how and why they are different.
Significance: Including how and why people have given historical significance to past events, people and issues, how and why some voices and stories do not get heard, how new discoveries and sources change perceptions about significance. How the passing of time or different places can affect the interpretation of significance.
Cause and consequence: Pupils will often consider a wide range of reasons, both longer and shorter term for an event or issue arising in history. They may consider the relative importance or interplay of different causes. Pupils will also consider the consequences, or what happened as a result of the issue/event, again possibly in the short and longer term. Pupils may also encounter a consequence of one event or issue as the cause of another.
Change and continuity: Pupils may study what changed and what continued across a specified time period as well as the reasons for change or lack of change. Pupils may also explore the nature, extent and the speed of change.
Similarity and difference: Similarity and difference is based upon an understanding of the complexity of people’s lives, differing perspectives and relationships between different groups and societies. This concept allows pupils to draw comparisons across people, their perspectives, motivations and actions both within and across time and space, helping pupils to develop a greater understanding of modern global society.
The Historical Association has a long history of supporting and developing thinking on the disciplinary concepts across our journals, CPD and web resources. We have grouped some of these together below to support your thinking about how you can develop and strengthen disciplinary knowledge in your history curriculum. These examples are by no means exhaustive, so do take a further look on our website if you’d like to delve deeper.
Resources to support disciplinary knowledge
Interpretations
This section of the HA website will provide links to articles and resources about cause and consequence, but some of these are unpacked below for ease.
What’s the wisdom on… Interpretations of the past This article provides an overview of the ‘story so far’ of practice-based professional thinking about interpretations.
Film: What's the wisdom on... Historical Interpretations In this recorded webinar Dr Katharine Burn, Helen Snelson and Christine Counsell use their professional expertise and experience of writing for and editing Teaching History journal to provide a structured discussion about Interpretations over the last 20-30 years of thought.
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Sources and evidence
This section of the HA website will provide links to articles and resources about cause and consequence, but some of these are unpacked below for ease.
What’s the wisdom on… Evidence and sources In this edition of What’s the Wisdom, the story so far on evidence and sources is discussed. And here is the accompanying filmed discussion.
Questions and answers about questions and answers In this article, Jonathan Sellin investigates pupils’ assumptions about sources and evidence.
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On-demand webinar: Keeping sources messy In this webinar Richard Kennett and Hugh Richards explore keeping approaches to sources in the classroom messy and why they support this approach.
Decolonising sources: helping Year 9 pupils critically evaluate colonial sources In this article, Danielle Donaldson explores helping students to critically evaluate colonial sources.
Using an anthology of substantial sources at GCSE In this article, Liam McDonnell explores the use of a source anthology with his GCSE students.
From the archive: Using visual sources to generate conversation In this 2012 article, Jane Card discusses visual sources.
Move Me On 191: using sources in lessons In this edition of Move Me On, designed for mentors to support beginning teachers, the focus is upon moving away from exam style use of sources with students.
On-demand webinar: Teaching disciplinary knowledge directly: sources In this On Demand webinar, Mike Hill and Jacob Olivey discuss teaching sources directly as opposed to getting students to do ‘source work’.
‘What is history?’ Africa and the excitement of sources with Year 7 In this 2020 article Abdul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn report on an introductory year 7 unit, designed with a specific focus on the history of Africa and an emphasis on the work of African historians in constructing interpretations of the past based on archaeological sources (such as artefacts and surviving buildings).
It’s just reading, right? Exploring how Year 12 students approach sources In this article, Jacqueline Vyrnwy-Pierce looks at how year 12 students approach sources.
An Investigation into Finding Effective Ways of Presenting a Written Source to Students This IJHLTR article describes the various methods used to offer the same written source as historical evidence for analyses but in different formats to a class of 13/14 year olds.
‘Miss, what’s the point of sources?’ Helping Year 11 to understand the discipline In this article Clare Bartington helps her GCSE students to see the point of sources using an analogy of Lego bricks.
Year 9 use sources to explore contemporary meanings and understandings of appeasement In this article, Jonathan Sellin uses sources to explore changing understandings of appeasement.
Inventing race? Using primary sources to investigate the origins of racial thinking in the past In this article, Kerry Apps explores how primary sources can demonstrate the construction of racial thinking.
Historical scholarship, archaeology and evidence in Year 7 In this article, Barbara Trapani uses Susan Whitfield’s accounts of the sources that she used as evidence to reconstruct people’s lives along the Silk Road to help year & pupils understand how historians use sources as evidence.
From the archive: The use of sources in school history 1910-1998: a critical perspective In this 1998 article, Tony McAleavy surveys the use of sources in the classroom from 1910-1998.
From the archive: Developing awareness of the need to select evidence In this 2013 article, Rachel Foster and Sarah Gadd focus on developing students’ awareness of the need to select evidence.
From the archive: Assessment of students' uses of evidence In this 2011 article, Elisabeth Pickles looks at students’ reasoning of source material and the conclusions they draw.
From the archive: How can students' use of historical evidence be enhanced? In this 2010 article, Elisabeth Pickles examines how to enhance students’ evidential skills.
From the archive: Teaching History 91: Evidence and Interpretation This 1998 edition of Teaching History focuses on evidence and interpretation.
From the archive: Evidence: Specific examples This page provides links to some pre-2014 articles that focus on either specific sources used as evidence or how specific kinds of sources have been used as evidence.
Mudlarking in the Thames: evidence, ecology and enquiry In this article, Maryam Dorudi uses mudlarking to introduce her students to both evidential and ecological questions.
On-demand webinar: Engaging with evidence at A-level In this On Demand webinar, Claire Holliss unpacks student misconceptions about evidence and how to tackle this.
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Significance
This section of the HA website will provide links to articles and resources about cause and consequence, but some of these are unpacked below for ease.
What’s The Wisdom On... Historical significance This edition of What’s the Wisdom On gives the story so far on significance.
Film: The significance of advisers – discussion I this film series, Professor Sue Doran and Professor Stephen Gunn discuss the significance of royal advisors.
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Myths and Monty Python: using the witch-hunts to introduce students to significance
In this article Kerry Apps introduces students to the significance of the witch-hunts in the modern era, at the time when they occurred, and in the middle of the eighteenth century.
The Life & Significance of Alan Turing This podcast series discusses the significance of Alan Turing.
Three strategies to support pupils’ study of historical significance In this article, Paula Lobo Worth introduces three strategies to support improvement of pupils’ understanding of historical significance.
Exploring the relationship between historical significance and historical interpretation In this article, Jane Card uses two examples to illustrate the relationship between historical significance and interpretations.
From the archive: New, Novice or Nervous? 163: Historical significance This article provides a quick starting point to historical significance for beginning teachers.
Developing KS3 students’ ability to challenge their history curriculum through an early introduction of significance Andrew Slater chose an unfamiliar area of study to give his pupils an early introduction to historical significance.
From the archive: Looking through a Josephine-Butler shaped window: focusing pupils' thinking on historical significance In this well-known piece, Christine Counsell developed definitions and practice concerning pupils' thinking about historical significance.
Who inherits the house? Using heritage to shape pupils’ thinking about historical significance In this article, Rachel Foster explores how changing values (about heritage) alters historical significance.
From the archive: Relevant, rigorous and revisited: using local history to make meaning of historical significance In this article from 2009, Geraint Brown and James woodcock explore how local history can be used to explore historical significance.
Move Me On 190: taking questions about historical significance In this edition of Move Me On, designed for mentors of beginning teachers, the focus is upon helping trainees to consider historical significance beyond consequences.
Film: Discussion: The significance of individuals, presidents and communities to the Civil Rights Movement In this film, Professor Tony Badger, Professor Joe Street and Professor Brian Ward discuss the significance of various individuals, groups and communities to the American Civil Rights movement.
Shaping what matters: Year 9 decide why we should care about the Windrush scandal In this article, Mark Fowle unpacks how his students made judgements about the significance of the Windrush scandal using their contextual knowledge of the past.
Using turning points in anti-racist history to explore historical significance at Key Stage 3 In tis article, Joel Sharples explains the organising principles that underpinned his planning for a new enquiry sequence inspired by a local photography exhibition.
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Cause and consequence
This section of the HA website will provide links to articles and resources about cause and consequence, but some of these are unpacked below for ease.
What’s The Wisdom On... Consequence Consequence is often causation’s forgotten sibling. Therefore, a whole edition of What’s the Wisdom On has been dedicated specifically to thinking around consequence. You can find the accompanying film here.
What’s the wisdom on… Causation In this edition of What’s the Wisdom, the focus is causation. You can find the accompanying film here.
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From the archive: Camels, diamonds and counterfactuals: a model for teaching causal reasoning In this well-known article, Arthur Chapman introduces Alphonse the camel considering which straw broke the camel’s back.
Triumphs Show: Seeing consequences in 3D In this article, Joshua Bull explains his approach to helping Year 7 understand historical consequence.
Deepening Year 9’s knowledge for better causation arguments In this article, Alexia Michalaki addresses how she approached her students’ glib use of terms such as militarism in causal arguments about the First World War.
From the archive: Using causation diagrams to help sixth-formers think about cause and effect Alex Alcoe uses cause and effect diagrams to help students to think about causation.
What Have Historians Been Arguing About... the consequences of the industrial revolution Emma Griffin discusses the consequences of the Industrial Revolution.
Dealing with the consequences In this article, Molly-Ann Navey discusses a lesson sequence that explored ways of teaching pupils how to identify, characterise, weigh and interrelate historical consequences.
Changing thinking about cause In this article, Alex Ford seeks to get to the heart of issues with teaching causation well at GCSE.
Using metaphor to highlight causal processes with Year 13 In this article, James Carroll introduces how he helped his students to develop their causal language by introducing them to metaphors used by historians.
From the archive: Does the linguistic release the conceptual? Helping Year 10 to improve their casual reasoning In this article, James Woodcock considers whether introducing his students to new vocabulary can enhance their analyses of causation.
What Have Historians Been Arguing About... the long-term impact of the Black Death on English towns In this article, Clare Kennan discusses the historical debate about the consequences of the Black Death.
Unravelling the complexity of the causes of British abolition with Year 8 In this article, Elizabeth Marsay unravel the complexity and interrelation of causes of the British abolition of slavery.
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Change and continuity
This section of the HA website will provide links to articles and resources about cause and consequence, but some of these are unpacked below for ease.
What’s The Wisdom On... change and continuity? This edition of What’s the Wisdom On gives the story so far on change and continuity. You can find the accompanying film here.
Cunning Plan 178: How far did Anglo-Saxon England survive the Norman Conquest? In this Cunning Plan, Eve Hackett demonstrates how she approached an enquiry looking at levels of continuity of Anglo-Saxon England into the Norman period.
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Anything but brief: Year 8 students encounter the longue durée In this article, Suzanne Powell asks her students to think about change on a grand scale.
From road map to thought map: helping students theorise the nature of change In this article, Warren Valentine draws upon Rachel Foster’s road map to get his students to theorise about the nature of change.
Why are you wearing a watch? Complicating narratives of economic and social progress Hannah Sibona complicates the tidy narrative of continual change and ‘improvement’ for her pupils.
From the archive: Continuity in the treatment of mental health through time Helen Murray, Rachel Burney and Andrew Stacey Chapman show how they strengthened knowledge, narrative and conceptual analysis through historical continuity.
From the archive: Developing students' thinking about change and continuity In this 2013 article, Rachel Foster experiments with new approaches to get her students thinking about the nature of change and finding analytical ways of describing change and continuity in the past.
From the archive: Teaching History 151: Continuity Teaching History 151 focuses on continuity.
From the archive: Out went Caesar and in came the Conqueror, though I'm sure something happened in between.. In this 2012 article, Michael Fordham outlines the evolution of an enquiry examining historical change from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Norman Conquest.
From the archive: How students make sense of the historical concepts of change, continuity and development In this article, Frances Blow explores what understanding change, continuity and development means and poses a research based model for progression in understanding these concepts.
From the archive: Year 9 use a 'road map' to problematise change and continuity In this well known article from 2009, Rachel Foster uses the analogy of a road map to get her students to think about the speed, nature and duration of change.
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Similarity and difference
This section of the HA website will provide links to articles and resources about cause and consequence, but some of these are unpacked below for ease.
What’s The Wisdom On... Similarity and difference? This edition of What’s the Wisdom On provides the story so far on similarity and difference. You can find the accompanying film here.
Connecting past and present through the lens of enduring human issues: International Women’s Day protests In this article, Arthur Casey argues that connecting the past and the present through similarity and difference foregrounds the inevitable role played by the present in mediating the past.
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