MEMORANDUM

ON THE

STUDY OF HISTORY IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS.

PREFATORY NOTE

THE present is the fifth of a series of Memoranda which are being issued at short intervals. As is well known, it has for years past been the policy of the Department (as expressed in the Code) to refrain from prescribing in detail the courses of instruction in the various school subjects. Teachers and managers have been left free to formulate their own proposals for consideration and approval. There is no thought of departing from this policy, which, though not without its disadvantages in certain cases, has yet given a stimulus to independent deliberation upon questions of curriculum, and thereby a directness of purpose and aim to individual work, the effects of which are becoming increasingly visible in our schools. The task of laying down a suitable course in any given subject is, however, by no means an easy one, and the Department has been repeatedly appealed to for guidance. It is in response to these appeals that the preparation of the Memoranda has been undertaken.

It follows from what has been said that, as a rule, no attempt will be made to formulate a definite scheme of instruction. A definite scheme must be relative to the particular school to which it is to apply, and must take account of many circumstances, such as the size of the school concerned, the extent to which the classes are sub-divided, and, above all, the contribution which the home may be depended upon to make towards the education of the children-considerations which are foreign to a general discussion. But an endeavour will be made to present clearly the end and aim of instruction in each separate branch, and the inner articulation and development of its subject matter, as well as to indicate certain leading principles which should be kept in view in the preparation of detailed syllabuses. Furthermore, the Memoranda are not put forward as final or authoritative documents. The views expressed embody, it is believed, the ideals and aspirations that animate the best schools; and few, if any, specific recommendations are made which are not supported by the actual experience

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of teachers of repute. But criticisms and suggestions will be welcomed and will be carefully weighed, with a view to issuing revised editions, from time to time, as experience may prompt. All that is expected, therefore, is that the Memoranda will receive the thoughtful consideration of teachers and managers in the framing of their syllabuses, in order that no radical departure may be made from the general principles advocated without a deliberate judgment as to the reasons which justify such a departure.

Scotch Education Department.

December, 1907.

ON THE

STUDY OF HISTORY

IN

SCOTTISH SCHOOLS

Properly speaking, there is but one history which Object of should be made the object of study for educational pur- historical poses, viz., the history of the beginnings and growth study. of civilization, more particularly as exhibited in the peoples of Western and Southern Europe,-including, of course, its extension into other continents,—the ideas, persons, and apparent accidents which have left their mark upon every one of the existing nations, and which account for much in their present political and social position. Most, if not all, of the leading ideas which moulded the life of successive generations in Scotland, for example, find their origin beyond its borders, and not infrequently the purely foreign circumstances in which an idea or set of ideas took birth are of greater intrinsic importance educationally than the mere history of its development amongst ourselves. This applies in a very special degree to such fundamental conceptions as Feudalism, the Reformation, the ideals of the French Revolution. But that is not all. At every point the social and political life of Scotland has been coloured by foreign influences, and to confine one's view to Scottish history alone would be to have a very imperfect understanding of how Scotland and the Scottish people came to be what they now are.

But, granting that the object of study is one and one only, viz., the continuously developing idea of civilization, it is plain that history as a subject may be attacked from many sides, and that the natural starting point for Scottish Scottish children is their immediate environment-here children and now. In other words, for Scottish children, stories, places, objects, institutions, within the circle of their Scotland. own little experience, must be the foundation on which

should

begin with

Material available.

(a)Literary.

any study of history is based. There can be, in fact, no other. Just as Geography must ultimately rest upon actual observation of physical realities, so the facts of history take meaning only from the child's immediate knowledge of life-of motive, character and action, as he observes them in himself or in his own small society. And so it is at once natural and proper that, during the Primary stage at all events, the history of Scotland should form for Scottish children the main object of historical study. No other side of history makes the same direct appeal to their personal experience and interest in their surroundings, spiritual and physical; no other will contribute in the same direct way towards one of the main ends for which they pursue the study, viz., a truer understanding of the present day conditions of the society in which they will grow up and of which they are to be members.

We must accordingly begin by considering what kinds of things there are within the experience of children living in Scotland to which one would naturally turn in the search for a suitable starting ground.

There is, first and chiefly, that store of material relating to historical or mythical persons or events which the child has been gradually acquiring through the medium of ballads, songs, poems, tales-written or oral-which ought to have constituted a considerable part of his instruction in English in the earlier years of school life, as set forth in the Memorandum on English. These tales, etc., may be drawn from any part of the field of European, including Greek and Roman, history and legend. For the sake of the later developments of historical study it is important that the field of selection should not be unduly restricted. it is clear that at the outset those portions of the material will have a greater value which can be given a concrete association in the mind of the child; and such concrete association can be most easily established, whether immediately or indirectly, for such portions of (b) Topo- the material as relate to the history and the traditions graphical. of Scotland. In almost every part of the country there are British or Roman forts, Picts' houses, feudal castles, more recent manor houses, battlefields-places or material objects to which some historical interest

But

attaches, and which the skilful teacher can surround with that glamour of bygone days which stimulates the imagination of the normal child and gives him his first interest in history. In specially favoured districtsEdinburgh, for example, or the Border Counties-the wealth of material of this sort is almost overwhelming. Even when some particular neighbourhood is apparently quite barren of such things, there is at all events a church which, if not itself old, is the successor of similar buildings, generally on the same spot, which have been the centres of religious lifesometimes of the whole social life of the peoplethroughout the ages. Or memories of the past may lie enshrined in local names. Again, where the actual starting points within the child's personal experience are scanty, much may be done by a judicious use of pictures. Pictures and illustrations, however, should always be regarded as secondary, and should never be allowed to divert attention from places and objects of more concrete historical association when these latter are available.

tinguished

The study of history, in fact, must be held to Preparatory include a preparatory stage of considerable duration in stage: which the necessary materials are gradually but History unconsciously accumulating. At this stage there not dis should be no mention of history as a separate subject; from Literno distinction drawn between those tales and poems ature and which relate to historical incidents, and those which do Geography. not; no question raised as to comparative truth or falsehood. Ulysses and Horatius should be every whit as real as William Wallace, while the Good King Arthur should rank with Robert Bruce. And, similarly, those places and objects which have historical associations do not need to be specially marked off from that general survey of the material environment of the child which constitutes the field of Nature Study, or-in its more specialised form-Geography.

of the

It is important to observe that this first stage of Ethical unsystematic historical reading has an intrinsic value of possibilities its own, quite apart from its use as a preparation for the preparatory more systematic work to be referred to later on. That stage. later study, as will be seen, is mainly an intellectual discipline. But the school study of history should be