Overview

How to develop pupils’ understanding of chronology at key stage 1 and 2

What are the aims of this guidance?

To help teachers continue to raise standards in the teaching and learning of history at key stages 1 and 2 by:

outlining how to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of key aspects of British history in its wider world context
demonstrating how to ensure that pupils develop a more secure chronological understanding of the past
outlining how to develop long- and medium-term plans for the development of chronological understanding
describing practical day-to-day classroom activities that develop, consolidate and extend pupils’ chronological understanding, and
showing ways they might assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding of chronology.

How is the guidance structured?

This guidance is divided into seven sections covering all aspects of chronological understanding, including models of key stage planning and examples of classroom activities that can be used in day-to-day lessons.

How should you use this guidance?

You can use this guidance in different ways. To undertake a comprehensive review of your schemes of work, you will need to work your way through each section of the guidance sequentially. If you are more confident about chronology, you may prefer to go straight to particular sections in the guidance, either for help with making minor adjustments to your existing schemes of work, or to select and download some of the planning models and practical activities for use in the classroom. In addition, these materials could be adapted for use on INSET and initial teacher training courses.You can access the individual sections directly from the list of contents in the left-hand menu. All the sections are linked together so that you can navigate through the guidance in ways that best suit your own needs.