John Simkin

When I was a child corporal punishment was accepted as being a normal part of school life, not that I recall many people actually being on the receiving end of it.

You obviously did not go to a secondary modern school in the 1950s. We were beaten on a regular basis in school. I would be quick to say “it never did me any harm”. In the sense that I never beat anyone else in return. In fact, I have never hit anyone in anger. But that is more to do with the way I was treated by my parents rather than by my teachers. However, I am sure that children who were beaten by both their teachers and parents, were damaged by the experience. They were taught that you solved problems by using violence.

Anyone ever heard Loudon Wainwright III’s song, Hitting You. It is well worth listening to if you are still convinced that beating children is a good idea.

1. When I click on the link it led me to the Resources which contain four sublevels which look like this:

Directory

Desription will be added later.

Virtual School newsletters

Teaching History Online is published by Spartacus Educational in association with the History Department of the Virtual School. The newsletter includes news, reviews of websites and articles on using ICT in the history classroom.

Notices in Brief

These items are collected and published by members of the History department. The list is updated every month, so visit this page regularly for new ideas.

Articles on History, Education and ICT

This section contains articles about ICT and pedagogy. Some articles are about ICT and history teaching. If you would like to have your article published here please contact: dalibor@fredrika.se

All articles are published as I wrote a moment ago ……..

The rest of the problems you mentioned shall I resend to Chui Hsia immediately for investigation.

2. If you clearly indicate what of yours works should be moved from your pages to the new one I can try to do this piece by piece over a longer period of time. It’s probably my task because I’m co-ordinator (until december!) of these things.

Right now I do have little time because schools in Sweden start to go on for summer holiday. This is a hectic time.

I do believe than I August there should be possibility to start removal of the most important material to our new page from your old pages.

You appear to be talking about the Contens system. I am talking about the live website.

I like to think I teach children to be equipped to ask questions and make choices. To these ends my views and "pet" subjects may well be discussed and studied but the ultimate aim is for the students themselves to be able to make up their own minds. Even if they turn out Tories I'd prefer thinking to unthinking Tories. (Andy Walker)

I agree. My main objective in my teaching is to help create fully functioning active citizens. This includes developing a desire to help make society as democratic as possible.

American Imperialism Perhaps a biased definition? (Marco Koene).

I think this is just a problem of language. What about calling this section United States: Postwar Superpower?

A good study takes the whole approach. Eyewitness to history and oral recall, photo archives, unearthed fact versus the status quo documented facts found in published material we call "history." All of it teaches humanity and to our young, what is good and evil.

Each part is considered despite the effect it has on the population. If JFK gives a horrified populace a research project then I think that is worthy of the man who died in a wave of doubt and intrigue. Even the more militant or rude researchers can "etherize" a good point.

FWIW I think history is examining the facts in time. There's no timetable on discovery. Think like a 1970's kid watching Alex Haley's "Roots" for the first time. History ain't pretty and part of the work is to unwind the hype. There were Jim Crow remnants in my youth. My history mentioned little of slavery in the books. I didn't know and now I have an understanding, for instance.

JFK research, for the lady who poopoo'ed it (I came to it late and from another angle)is precisely this approach to history. The "hobby" offers many an exercise in historic research they might not have. Like the fellows who re enact the Civil War each year. History is personal. (Chris Cox)

I think it is very important that people who are not history teachers get involved in this debate. I agree with Chris that methodology is vitally important and that at each stage of the process we should make full use of the sources available to us. We also need to ask serious questions about the sources that are not available to us. For example, in the case of the JFK assassination. This will also be an issue when students study the Iraq War in the future

Chris makes the valid point that most history is learnt after we leave school (definitely true in my case). The study of history therefore becomes involved with our experiences of life. For many people the study of history becomes a hobby. I recently read that as a result of the web the fastest growing hobby is family history research. Why do adults develop hobbies like this? I suspect a major reason is from having contact with an enthusiastic researcher. I would like to think that a good teacher can also use his or her enthusiasm for the subject to help produce life-long history students.

I'd like to return to the question posed at the beginning. The curriculum is interestingly wide in breadth, but I think it's too shallow in depth. It's very Euro/US (as an extension of European culture)-centric. Perhaps it would be more enlightening for the students to get a multi-cultural perspective. (Mervin Evler)

I agree. However, there is a good reason why history teachers in Europe tend to teach a Euro/US centric curriculum. I (and I assume most history teachers) want to teach those topics that best provide their students with an understanding of the past that best helps them cope with the society they are living in. We only have a limited amount of time available so we need to make difficult choices. Given this situation teachers are bound to select mainly European/US based topics although I agree we must include events from a wide variety of cultures.

You make some good suggestions. I particularly liked the following:

Democracy: Iroquois Confederacy

Poverty: Pre-late 1800s West Africa,

Conquest: Mongol Empire, Incan & Aztec Empires

Capitalism: Why is this separated from ideology? Would it include Mercantilism?

Ideology: Mercantilism, Peoples Republic of China, Iran, Saudi Arabia

Conflict: the United Nations, North-South Divide.

I am more of a timeline person. I will stick with what an American high school student should know.

Western Civilization from Egypt/Babylon through the present. World Civilization with a clear presentation of at least Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East. United States history from Columbus to the present.

I think this education should be able to provide a base for a more thorough investigation of historical topics in college. The concepts of social, political, and economic history should be easy for a graduate to understand, and they should be able to critically compare cultures (east/west) and time periods (colonial America/ Civil War United States) (Raymond Blair)

The problem with this approach is that it gives you no time to look at anything in any depth. You are of the opinion that “a more thorough investigation of historical topics" should be left to when they reach college. I disagree, I think we need to introduce in-depth studies at a much younger age. With the arrival of the web we can even allow them a certain amount of choice about what investigations they get involved in.

I think bright students in particularly get very frustrated by the need to cover too much content. My experience is that these students respond very well to in-depth research projects. I always set personalized local history research topics in Y7 (11-12 year olds). I was also very impressed with the quality of their research (true they often got their parents involved but I don’t think that is a bad idea). They also had the added bonus of knowing that the best research because teaching materials for future generations of students. They were made to feel they were already doing "real history".

(1) I do think that web editor Chui Hsia is not alone when the publishing rules are discussed in Brussels office. I guess that Anne Gilleran and others from the management team are deciding guidance for and policy of Virtual school and its departments together. I assumed (maybe wrongly) that they are her superiors.

(2) I do believe that Juan Carlos proposal of placing the same material at two websites simultaneously is the solution. After creating it the content or it’s most important parts could be move to History departmental or for that matter elsewhere else. Or is this procedure time consuming in excess?

(3) I ask Chui Hsia where are the material we moved to the new site at the meeting in Gothenburg. I especially ask for Articles I was working with. She sent me to http://www.eun.org/ww/en/pub/virtual_schoo...y/resources.htm

The Resources contains four sublevel headlines (I didn’t ask for Directory??) and Articles are uploaded. Your Newsletters are published too.

(1) I see what you mean. You meant the “ideas of her superiors” rather than “superior ideas”. Of course you are right on this. I am sure Chui Hsia knows more about the way the internet works than to have developed this policy. However, the point remains, we need to get this policy clarified.

(2) Yes there is no real problem about the production of new content (except for the use of photographs and flash animation that will probably have to be kept on member’s websites. As I said, my point is about material that has been produced in the past? If we are not to have links to this material, who is going to spend the time transferring it to the new website?

(3) The material you refer to here has not been uploaded (I looked only minutes ago). The links from About, Resources and Activities are still not working. Only Projects and Team seem to have been tackled. In the Projects section the links to external sites have been removed. Therefore it looks like nothing has been done on the Aviation Project.

Again, I do feel that arguing against her and her writings (and her superior’s ideas) on this site is slightly farfetched.

I do believe that we should have some discipline towards Virtual school/ History department as long as we agree to be a part of the network. By that I mean that we should obey Virtual school/History department rules. Or do you have another opinion? Which in that case?

Dalibor: I do not know what you mean by “superior ideas”. What I do know is that Chui Hsia’s comments about external links has profound implications for what was agreed last week in Sweden. As you know, the vast majority of material that we have produced for the Virtual School is currently on member websites. There are historical reasons for this. In the future we will place the material we have produced directly onto the VS website. We are now in a position to do that. However, I for one do not have the time to place the old material onto the new VS website. If you do have the time, you are free to take that material from my website and place it on the new website. I am sure the other members with websites will agree to you doing this.

I am disturbed that after a week the work we did last week has still not been uploaded? Is there any connection between this and the fact we concentrated on producing links to material on other websites? If so, the time we spent on this work has been wasted. I for one, will not be spending anymore time on this website until this position has been clarified?

Interesting article in today’s Guardian. This is the beginning of the article:

When the television historian Marc Morris settled down in his Oxford home to watch a BBC documentary about Harlech castle earlier this month, it was with not inconsiderable interest: a year ago, he had made a programme for Channel 4 about the same building.

But Morris's interest turned to surprise and then anger when, a few minutes into the film, he began to recognise some of the words and phrases used by his fellow broadcaster, Dan Cruickshank. As the BBC4 programme progressed, it became apparent that sections of Morris's Channel 4 documentary, and the book that accompanied it, had been lifted and used virtually unaltered.

As soon as the programme was over, Morris drafted a letter to the BBC listing eight significant "borrowings" and several less obvious derivations. So clear-cut was his complaint that the corporation immediately re-edited the programme before its repeat showings and apologised to him. The Guardian has learned that the BBC has this week offered to pay Morris a four-figure sum, thought to be about £4,000, which the historian will ask to be given to the restoration fund of Rochester Castle.

The incident has raised questions about the standards of history programmes on television, a genre that has expanded enormously since the success of big-budget series fronted by Simon Schama and David Starkey. It also raises issues of trust and authenticity: the programme was billed as "written and presented by Dan Cruickshank", although it appears he did not write the disputed passages.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,...1226543,00.html

Polly Toynbee, in today’s Guardian, argues that obesity is a class issue. She points out: “Fat is a class issue, but few like to admit that most of the seriously obese are poor… True, many of us middle classes are overweight, but most of the dangerously obese - the 22% with a body-mass index in the red zone - are to be found carless on council estates and not in the leafy suburbs where kids are driven to school in supertanker 4x4s. It is poor children at most risk of swelling up like balloons, in danger of losing limbs and eyesight to diabetes as they grow up.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,...1226522,00.html

One of the major reasons for obesity is the use of hydrogenerated ingredients in manufactured food. It is also a major killer. According to a Consumers’ Association report, heart attacks and strokes could be cut by a quarter if food manufacturers cut their use of hydrogenated ingredients by just 2.4%.

The hydrogenation process involves treating good vegetable oils with hydrogen at high temperatures. This turns them into a hard saturated fat, to give a longer shelf-life to ready meals, etc. In the body this creates LDL (bad cholesterol). Small particles of LDL squeeze under blood vessel linings, narrowing passageways with a build-up of fatty plaques that can lead to strokes and heart-attacks.

The radical pacifist, David Dellinger, died this week. A member of the Chicago Eight, he spent his life involved in non-violent action against war and oppression. I am not sure he ever wrote anything about the assassination of JFK but he belongs to that fine tradition of men and women who continues to fight the establishment in an effort to uncover the truth about America’s foreign policy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story...1226372,00.html

On June 6 1944, the largest armada in history launched an assault on the Normandy beaches. It was the decisive moment in the second world war. So how did it feel to be there on that tumultuous day? To mark the 60th anniversary of D-day, the Guardian has unearthed a series of letters written home by the combatants. This website also includes a dispatch from Martha Gellhorn, the American war correspondent who joined the landings and several articles by David Woodward, the Manchester Guardian war correspondent, who was one of three journalists who were landed in France from the air.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/d...1216111,00.html

There are plenty of reasons for being against corporal punishment other than that it could lead to torture. Sweden made it a criminal offence to physically strike or even manhandle children - even by their parents - more than 30 years ago. Guess what - society didn't fall apart! Sweden is a lot more violent now than it was, though, but my conclusion is that that development started when Sweden de-regulated TV transmissions, allowing on to the screens a vast amount of US TV screen violence.

I have had the pleasure of visiting Sweden several times over the last few years. I believe your attitudes towards violence can be witnessed on the streets of the country. I was in Gothenburg for five days last week. In all the time I was there I did not see one act of aggression. This included walking the streets of the city late on Friday and Saturday night. I think Sweden has a great deal to be proud of and is the reason that I have suggested that I think that a study of the country as a good modern democracy should be included in our national curriculum.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=822

I don't select topics because I like the message they provide. (Andy Walker)

Of course history teachers have limited control over the topics they teach. However, they still do have a certain amount of freedom when it comes to in-depth case studies. What factors determine your choice? Are you sure your basic political opinions have no influence over these decisions?

Some topics such as the First World War and the Industrial Revolution are taught in all schools. These are big subjects and choices have to be made about what you take a look at. This I believe involves teachers thinking about what the message will be (I actually think it would be an immoral act not to do this). For example, it would be possible to teach about the First World War as if it was an exciting activity (history teachers taught about war in this way in the 19th century). It was because it was taught in this way that governments throughout Europe were able to persuade people to join the armed forces at the outbreak of war. It could be argued that without this willingness to fight the war it would not have lasted for so long.

When I teach about the First World War the last thing I want my students to believe is that war is exciting. Instead I want them to obtain a very different message. When my book Contemporary Accounts of the First World War was first published the reviewer in the TES questioned whether it should be used in the classroom. She quoted T. S. Eliot from the Wasteland: “Human kind cannot bear too much reality”. First-hand accounts of the horror of war was unusual in 1979 although it has now entered the mainstream.

The same is true of the Industrial Revolution. I spend some time of famous entrepreneurs like Richard Arkwright, George Courtauld, James Watt and George Stephenson. I do that because I want to inspire them into becoming future inventors and entrepreneurs. I mainly do this because I know most people are motivated by a desire to make money. However, I also want them to get another message. That is that people can cause a lot of misery by their desire for money. I therefore look at the example of child labour. This includes those who worked for Richard Arkwright, George Courtauld, Robert Owen and John Fielden. I do this for political reasons. I want to show them you don’t have to treat people badly to make money. Owen and Fielden are fine examples of the human race and make good role models for our students.

Am I really so different from other teachers? Do they teach in a political and moral vacuum? Or is it because they are unaware of the political and moral reasons for teaching what they do? (I studied psychology as well as history at university and do not believe people make decisions without reference to their value system).

Finally, whilst I agree that enthusiasm and expertise in particular topics may on occasions inspire and enthuse our students, we must also be alive to the possibility that when taken to an extreme they may make us appear something of bore. (Andy Walker)

Agreed. We must always be aware of our audience. I, like all teachers, have suffered from students complaining that history was boring. However, they never said that when I was teaching about the assassination of JFK. Not because they shared my interest in the political reasons for the assassination. They were excited by the fact that it is a mystery. One of the attractions to them of this is that they are not being told what to think. As it is a mystery they can make up their own mind about what happened. The only complaint I got from the students was when we had to stop studying the subject.

Next time we have dinner together I might well bore you with the latest evidence that has emerged on the JFK assassination. I will also probably talk too much about West Ham. However, I am sure you will get your own back by telling me stories about recent events on the golf course. I think it is what people call friendship.

John

Where do I find the research on their website, I've looked but can't find the link - no doubt it's quite obvious to all but me!!

This is this website but they don't appear to have uploaded the report yet. I assume they will or maybe they hope to charge for it.

Unlike the Sheriff I have no particular, political or partial agenda to propound when I teach history. (Andy Walker)

I think you are mistaken when you say you have “no particular, political or partial agenda to propound when I teach history”. We all have political values and this is reflected in what we teach (in the small areas in the UK when you can do this). In most cases this is not clear because we are reflecting the dominant ideology. For example, it is unlikely that people would object to my suggestion that we teach the struggle for equal civil rights in South Africa or the United States. We select topics like this partly because we like the message it provides. Liberals like yourself would be less keen to study some of the unpleasant consequences of black majority rule in some African countries.

My crime has been to use the term “American Imperialism”. My dictionary defines imperialism as “the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and domination of a nation”. I think that is a correct definition of American foreign policy since the Second World War. In most cases this has been by the use of economic power and covert operations but in some cases it has been the result of naked military power.

One possibility is to call it an American Empire (after all no one objected to me using the terms the Soviet Empire or the British Empire). My dictionary defines empire as “an extensive territory or enterprise under single domination or control”. This is not so different from the word imperialism. The main difference is that the word empire is more acceptable (the British of course proudly used the term empire to describe its possessions). I suspect imperialism is less acceptable because it is associated with communist thinkers like Lenin.

However I am deeply committed to helping students become critical thinkers, rational and circumspect voters, and balanced adults. This I believe can be achieved through teaching a wide variety of historical content so long as within it is a study of ideas, ideology, sociology and human psychology and that the methodology applied is one of encouraging the students to question everything. (Andy Walker)

I totally agree with this statement. However, you would be wrong to suggest that this suggests that you have “no particular, political or partial agenda to propound”. The attraction of this approach is that it questioned the political status quo. That is the reason why I, and other like me, fought so hard for this approach in the 1970s. It must be difficult for younger teachers to realize how revolutionary this approach was at the time. Its proponents were described as people with a political agenda (they were of course right in this). Keith Joseph, the Education Minister under Margaret Thatcher, even went as far as to say we were “Marxists”. He also blamed the influence of the Open University for this approach (they had indeed been partly responsible – I was trained by them) and talked about closing down its courses for teachers. The great irony is that this approach became part of the dominant ideology under Thatcher when the National Curriculum was introduced. Thatcher made every attempt to get Kenneth Baker to get this changed but by this time it was too late and could not be done without it becoming clear that the Tories were interfering with the way history was taught in schools.

For these reasons, and others, I believe it is important that I do not project my own pet subjects or semi obsessions onto my students. Not least because they will probably gain a deal more gratification from developing their own. (Andy Walker)

I actually believe that one of the most serious mistakes that teachers make is to disguise or suppress their “own pet subjects or semi obsessions”. I left school with no interest in history. One of the reasons for this was because my own history teachers were not enthusiastic about the subject. My interest in the subject came from the enthusiasm of a group of teenagers (members of the Harold Hill Young Socialists). They were indeed obsessed with their “pet subjects” (at the time it was the Vietnam War, Apartheid in South Africa, Civil Rights in America). They were also obsessed with reading history books (a very unusual activity on a council estate that did not have a grammar school). Their enthusiasm for the subject had a deep impact on me. It was infectious and I soon also had a passion for the subject.

When I got to university I began to encounter other enthusiastic and passionate teachers. It was at the Open University and unlike the teachers at my secondary school they did not appear to find the subjects they were teaching to be boring. They helped to give me a love of other subjects such as English Literature, Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology (with the OU you did not specialise until the last four years of your course). I still retain this love of these subjects and this has influenced the way I teach history.

The first two lessons I observed while on my PGCE course were of Y9 students studying poetry. The first lesson was truly appalling. The behaviour of the students so bad that I seriously questioned whether I wanted to train as a teacher. It was the second lesson that convinced me to stay on the course. Although it was the same subject as the first lesson, the students were enthralled. So was I. Why? Because the teacher was so passionate about what he was teaching. He really believed in the poems of Thomas Hardy. By the end of the lesson, so did I. I suspect the students did as well.

What success that I have had as a teacher has depended to a large extent on my willingness (it does need a certain amount of courage) to express my passion for the subject. This of course depends to a certain extent on the topics I teach. For example, I have always found it difficult to be too enthusiastic about teaching Ancient Egypt. Even a visit to this country did not solve this problem.

However, I was passionate when I taught about my “pet subjects or semi obsessions” such as the First World War, the assassination of JFK, the fight for the vote, the Vietnam War, Apartheid in South Africa, Civil Rights in America, Cuban Missile Crisis, etc.

I remember an old man telling me that he first became interested in history while at school. He dated it back to a lesson on the First World War. It was when the teacher began to cry while he was reading out a war poem. He told me he did not fully understand the poem, but he knew it was important and he was determined to find out why.

American Imperialism

Perhaps a biased definition?

America currently has more than 200,000 troops stationed in 144 countries and territories. Can you come up with a better definition? As Robin Ramsay said recently:

The Americans now plan to control the entire non-EU world so that they can continue to extract raw materials and consume at their present rate. A lot of skinny brown, black and yellow people are going to die to enable a lot of fat Americans to stay fat. This new American empire will not be sustainable for long, but its creation and collapse will be bloody and terrible.

For historical reasons, and because the UK is the world’s second largest overseas investor, Britain is committed to supporting the US – we’re still the Yanks’ unsinkable aircraft carrier. This means that a lot of unpleasant things will have to be endured. At one level, people in villages on the North Yorkshire Moors near the American listening base at Fylingdales will have to endure rising cancer rates which are caused by its signals.

At another, British armed forces will be involved in ‘peacekeeping’ duties around the world, trying to re-assemble Humpty Dumpty after the Americans have blown him to smithereens. And at another, British diplomats will have to provide support for America’s increasingly ludicrous rationales for its imperial expansion. It’s a degrading job being the school bully’s best friend.

The House of Commons Health Select Committee published its report on obesity. It points out that obesity in the UK has grown almost 400%. Over three-quarters of the adult population are now overweight (22% are obese). Childhood obesity has tripled in 20 years. The report points out the link with obesity and cancer, heart-disease, diabetes and renal failure. It quotes one example of a six stone 3 year old child who died of a heart-attack.

The report calculates that it is costing England £7.4bn a year (this figure will increase rapidly over the next few years). Although critical of the government’s performance the report provides no real answers to the problem and backs the currently policy of voluntary agreements with the food manufacturing industry.

Today’s Guardian reports that it has obtained documents that show that the food industry is exploiting sophisticated techniques to market to children without their parent’s knowledge. It quotes the example of Kellog’s Real Fruit Winders. The product does contain real fruit but it has been processed and supplemented with sugar and hydrogenated fat. Sugars make up a third of the product and it recently won the yearly Tooth Rot award. The product was initially marketed exclusively to children through the magazines they read. They also created microsites on existing websites popular with children. The advertising agency says it managed to reach 60% of children using this strategy. It was only after this that it started TV advertising to reach mothers who are seen as the main purchasers.

I am interested in how other countries are dealing with this problem. Are your schools playing a role in this?

http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth...1225581,00.html

http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth...1225589,00.html

I have just started to work on a Flash film that will encompass most of the Olympic Games from Helsinki 1952 to Barcelona 1992.  It will show information (icons and written content) on Cold War and its influence in the differente Games. From the ban on GDR to participate in Helsinki to the South African participation in Barcelona 1992

This is a great idea. This is an obvious example of something that should be kept on your website.

However, I was rather disturbed by this comment from Dalibor:

Two days ago did I sent to you and the others a letter from Chui Hsia where the rules about our participation are outlined They are as follows:

- Preference should be given to unique content created by members of the Virtual School.

- Content should reside on the Virtual School site wherever possible.

- External links should be avoided, unless the link is an 'additional resource' or an 'authoritative site'.

If these guidelines are followed it will severely restrict what we can do. Especially those members of the department who are no longer receiving any funding from the Virtual School.

The external links comment is ridiculous. It is by the external links to the forum that we are creating material. Chui Hsia also seems to be unaware that external links are rewarded by search-engines (it is one of the reasons why I get such high-rankings). By restricting external links you are also restricting your number of visitors.

I have started a discussion on what a national history curriculum should contain.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=822

It might be a good idea to put the best contributions onto the Virtual School website. This could become a good way of using the forum. We could then put a link back that would enable people reading the material on the VS website, to go to the forum and contribute their views. If of the required standard, this could then be added to the website.

I see that the VS website has still not been updated. It hardly inspires you to bother placing material on the site. Have you heard anything about this Dalibor?

It has been claimed that David Milliband is New Labour’s leading intellectual. (His father, Ralph Milliband, was one of the leading critics of Old Labour - his attacks came from the left rather than the right). Ralph’s book, Parliamentary Socialism, is a real tour-de-force. However, David is not in the same class (in more ways than one). As Maggie points out, his writing is full of simplistic platitudes. In fact, they are dangerous platitudes.

Professor Frank Coffield of the Institute of London has carried out research into “personalised learning” (commissioned by the Learning Skills Development Agency). He claims that many of the methods or instruments used to identify pupils’ individual learning styles were unreliable, and had a negligible impact on teaching and learning. He points out in his report:

“Some learning styles instruments – many of them well-known commercial products – make extravagant claims of success which are not upheld when subjected to scrutiny. People who use these instruments may come to think in stereotypes – for instance, by tending to label vocational students as if they are all non-reflective, activity based learners.”

http://www.lsrc.ac.uk/

I think you are probably talking about Ofsted's new concept "distributed leadership in schools". For example, see:

http://www.ncsl.org.uk/mediastore/image2/k...matter-full.pdf

I thought I would try and answer my own question. Here is a draft outline of what I think should be in a History National Curriculum. With adaptions, I think it could be used throught the world. I am very keen that teachers from other countries get involved in this debate.

My course would be based on a series of themes (Democracy, Poverty, Conquest, Capitalism and Conflict). Each component would be made up of a series of case-studies, including at least one local study. The course would be planned to link up all five themes. The course would make full use of primary sources to look at how ordinary people responded to, and shaped, these important events.

What would you add to this list? What would you take out? I am also interested in the views of people living outside the UK. Would your ideal history curriculum look very different to this one.

Democracy

An account of how men and women have attempted to gain political control of their destinies. Case studies would include Ancient Greece, Republican Rome, Early Parliaments, Male and Female Suffrage, Sweden – A Modern Democracy, Citizenship, Local Study: The Struggle for the Vote in Your Area.

Poverty

A look at the history of inequality. How people became rich and why so many people remained poor. A study of the strategies of how people protected their wealth and how the poor attempted to improve their situation. Case Studies would include Poverty in the Ancient World, Serfdom in the Middle Ages, Managing the Poor in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Poverty and the Industrial Revolution, the Welfare State and a Local Study: Poverty in the 19th Century.

Conquest

A look at the history of conquest and empire. The political and economic advantages of conquest. Strategies used to maintain control over the conquered people. Strategies used by the subjected people to regain control. Case Studies would include the Roman Empire, the Vikings and Normans, the Spanish Empire, the British Empire, the Soviet Empire, American Imperialism and a Local Study: Invasion of your Region.

Capitalism

A study of the development of our economic system. Case Studies would include Early Capitalism, the Industrial Revolution, Trade Unionism, Growth and Depression, Alternative Systems, Globalisation, Environmentalism and a Local Study: Trade and Industry.

Ideology

A look at the different ideologies that have emerged over the last 200 years. Case Studies would include Communism in Russia, Fascism in Italy, Spain and Germany, Capitalism in the United States and a Local Study: Political Ideology in your Region.

Conflict

A study of conflict over the last 200 years. Case Studies would include the First World War, Spanish Civil War, Second World War, the Cold War, Racial Conflict in South Africa, the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, Religious Fundamentalism and a Local Study: The Impact of War.

The most significant event for me took place during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Tommie Smith won gold in the 200m by setting a new world record. His team mate, John Carlos, took bronze. Both men were black Americans and after a lifetime of racial discrimination, they decided to hit back. At the medal ceremony, as The Star-Spangled Banner played, Smith raised his right, black-gloved fist to represent black power, while Carlos's raised left fist represented black unity. Peter Norman, the Australian athlete who won the silver medal, wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge in sympathy. Smith and Carlos were banned from the Olympic village and received countless death threats.

One of my earliest memories of the Olympic Games in seeing newsreel footage of Jim Peters in the 1952 marathon. Peters was the race favourite and attempted to destroy the opposition by setting a blistering pace. The plan worked well for the first 20 miles. He then began to suffer from severe cramp and tried to keep running but after three competitors swept past him he was forced to retire from the race.

Emile Zatopek went on to win in an Olympic record of 2hrs 23mins 03.2secs. He also won the gold medals in the 5,000m and the 10,000m. He also came from Czechoslovakia (then under the control of the Soviet Union). I suppose revisionists would now say Zatopek must have been on drugs.

I next saw Jim Peters in the marathon at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. Despite the hot and humid conditions, Peters once again set a blistering pace. This time he did not have these cheating communists to race against and he entered the stadium with a 17 minute lead. All of a sudden his legs went again and he started to stagger from side to side. He appeared to be unconscious but his legs kept moving (although in a way that I had never seen before). He fell several times but each time he got up and then made a couple more steps towards the finishing line. With 85 yards to go, he went down for the 12th time. Spectators went to his aid. Peters later claimed they were congratulating him for winning the race. However, because they touched him, Peters was disqualified. He was rushed to hospital suffering from heatstroke and dehydration.

As a child I was struck by Jim Peters’ bravery and determination. It illustrated the bulldog spirit. Or was it just another example of the British not accepting the reality of the situation? It would be nice to say he went on to won the gold medal at the next olympics. However, following medical advice, he was advised to give up racing and Jim Peters never won the gold medal he so desperately wanted.

I have just uploaded the following:

The History Department of the European Virtual School is launching an Olympic Games Oral Project. The plan is to start threads where people can post their recollections of previous Olympic Games. It is hoped that we will be able to persuade former competitors to post their thoughts as well.

The second part of this project will involve people posting their impressions of the 2004 Olympic Games.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=143

I see that nothing has happened to our website this week. Does anyone know when our material will be uploaded?

The History Department of the European Virtual School is launching an Olympic Games Oral Project. The plan is to start threads where people can post their recollections of previous Olympic Games. It is hoped that we will be able to persuade former competitors to post their thoughts as well.

The second part of this project will involve people posting their impressions of the 2004 Olympic Games.