How to develop pupils’ understanding of chronology at key stage 3

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1. What is chronological understanding in the national curriculum and why is it important?

Since the national curriculum in history was introduced in 1991 there has been a requirement to develop students’ chronological understanding. The current programme of study for key stage 3 states that: ‘Pupils should be taught to recognise and make appropriate use of dates, vocabulary and conventions that describe historical periods and the passing of time.’ Pupils’ understanding of historical time sequencing is an essential part of the development of their broader historical knowledge and understanding.

However chronological understanding goes beyond using dates and other conventions. Pupils also need to develop a sense of period in relation to a number of key periods of history, an ability to use related concepts such as change and continuity, and an enduring knowledge and understanding of broad outlines of British, European and world history.

Chronological understanding is important because:

• understanding and using important historical concepts such as change, development, progress and regress are only effective when pupils have acquired a chronological framework of relevant events
• explanations of cause and effect will be incomplete without a precise understanding of the chronology of a topic
• evaluating the significance of specific events requires a wider chronological context, or ‘looking at the big picture’
• as a pupil’s chronological framework gradually builds up, new events can be more readily understood and placed in context
• implicit in the national curriculum for history is the expectation that by the age of 14 pupils will have acquired a chronological framework of British history in its wider world context when the statutory requirement to study history ends.

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