Teaching history through the use of story: working with early years practitioners who do not have qualified teacher status, in settings other than schools

Abstract

This article arose from a series of workshops with practitioners in early years teaching. The workshops addressed how history could be taught to very young children, three‐ to five‐years‐old. The authors were aware that there was a widely held belief that history was inappropriate for the very young child. The authors felt that this was because of a common view that history was solely concerned with facts. There was also a prevalent view that, as history was about chronology (time), it was too difficult a subject for very young children, for whom ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’ had little meaning. This article argues that successful teaching of history is possible with very young children if the teaching concentrates on interpretation and enquiry. Through using story, young children are able to interpret the behaviour, motivation and intent of the characters. The practitioners are able to question the child as to why s/he interprets the character’s actions in the way that s/he does. In other words the practitioner asks for evidence: the essence of history. When considering time, the authors’ note that young children have a subjective understanding of time and this can be used to develop a growing awareness of chronology.