History is a Verb! Why students should use archives in their study of history

Abstract

Within the UK, and other jurisdictions, there is a keen debate about the nature and pedagogical approach that should be adopted in the teaching of History. The traditional transfer of knowledge approach which was common in schools before the 1970s has gained resurgent support in the past decade in the light of cognitive psychology research and political debate about what and how students should be taught. It considers History to be a body of agreed “truth” which can, and should, be transferred from historian, to teacher, to student and then to the examiner. By contrast the constructivist approach which developed in the 1970s in various centres of education including the School Council History Project has advocated strongly for a source-based enquiry-led approach which aims to develop students understanding of the methodology of historians as well as the development of substantive knowledge. This is based on the principle of making the study of History more relevant as a transferable skill to other disciplines and to everyday life. It argues that History is a construct, which presents knowledge of the past as partial and contextualised by the perspective of the author. In light of this debate, this paper will present the pedagogic method developed by the Education and Outreach department at The National Archives of the United Kingdom over the past 25 years. It will explain the approach and provide examples of the programmes, projects and resources that it offers, to explain why we believe a knowledge and understanding of archives, their formation and structure is essential for students of all ages to gain a true insight into what History is and how it is constructed.