How can historical fiction enhance the teaching of history?
Catherine Bickersteth – Associate Consultant for Primary History
Historical fiction is a valuable tool in teaching history. There are many opportunities to develop historical understanding in key stages 1 and 2 via carefully planned use of historical fiction. Bearing in mind that historical fiction has been deliberately created to entertain readers, whilst these stories can be valuable in sparking curiosity about the past, teachers need to plan how they are using texts if this is as part of the history curriculum.
Chronology and context Use timelines and maps to place the story within real historical frameworks as a starting point. Ideas for key stage 1: Place the book on a physical, interactive class timeline, using images of characters and places from the story as visual aids. Use artefacts to enable interaction and to create a sense of period, such as: audio clip of steam engine sounds to convey journeys; clothing of the period, toys and household items. For Key stage 2 involve children in creating a timeline which uses increasing depth in the elements included. For example, if using the story, ‘Friend or Foe’ by Michael Murpurgo’, photographs of World War 2 aircraft can be added to the timeline, newspaper headlines and sources showing specific examples related to themes in the story such as evacuees. The use of artefacts and replicas are also useful in Key Stage 2, with the potential to develop this to include more written sources and oral history evidence from World War 2.
Interpretation Authors imagine characters and dialogue, even when settings and events are historically grounded. Discuss why the author chose certain fictional elements—what message or theme are they conveying? Consider when the story was written and how this might impact on the overall themes in the story. In Key Stage 2 the book ‘Windrush Child’, by Benjamin Zephaniah has many themes that can be explored for further historical study. The narrator says that his father found a job in England as a bus driver – this could be linked to deeper study of life in England for people from the Caribbean who settled in England, with a link to a deeper enquiry into the British Bus Boycott and its significance. History is a way to support children in developing an understanding of contemporary Britain and the potentially sensitive topic of immigration. There is the potential to link historical fiction to a locality study and this is where the teacher can use a rich fiction story to jump into deeper historical investigation as part of a sequence of learning. In Key Stage 1, the picture book, ‘Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush’, Patrice Lawrence, is a story rich in opportunities to think about the stories of the Windrush generation, with a story that starts with the context of a child choosing their costume for a school day to dress up as someone they admire. This story is an excellent example of how to engage children through story and provides lots of opportunities to take the story further into the classroom, for example, recreating the suitcase of memories that the character shares with her granddaughter. This could be suitable in Key Stage 1 studies of ‘Significant Historical Events, People and Places in Their Own Locality’ or ‘Changes Within Living Memory’.
Source analysis Link fiction with primary sources. The book ‘Empire’s End, A Roman Story’ by Leila Rasheed, could be read in conjunction with an examination of Roman artefacts to compare to aspects of the story’s narrative about the Roman buildings and everyday life described in the story. Asking questions about the text can generate further investigation and retrieval of prior knowledge from their study of Roman history, example questions are: In chapter 6 what do we learn about the living conditions of the wealthier Romans ? What historical sources could be looked at to find out if the description of the villa in the book matches the historical evidence? What are the ‘games’ that are referred to in the description of the animals being transported on the boat?
The picture book ‘Stone Age Boy’ by Satoshi Kitamura provides a great story telling session to use to then carry out historical investigation using resources such as those available online with free access from Historic England, which have activities including learning about the types of tools used in the Stone Age and how they changed throughout the Stone Age and understand how knowledge of the past comes from a range of sources.
Substantive knowledge Discuss which events in the story are based on real historical causes and which could have been added for drama. There could be opportunities to have children devise their own drama scenes based on historical events and knowledge. By exploring this first with a historian’s perspective and linked to a specific historical fiction text, the children will be better equipped to devise thoughtful dramas.
Plan structured activities explicitly to separate fact from fiction For example, after reading, pupils can identify how far elements in the story are historically accurate. Pupils could “fact-check” the story like historians would, using evidence. Age-appropriate structured tasks can be planned by the teacher selecting extracts from the book and providing sources and evidence to support fact-checking. The story, ‘Friend or Foe’ by Michael Morpurgo refers to the experience of evacuees in the second World War, which teachers could use with historical sources such as photographs of evacuees, newspaper reports about evacuation and first hand accounts of people who were evacuees, to compare to the story’s presentation of evacuees. ‘Friend or Foe’ also could also be linked to source materials about the Home Guard and the types of military aircraft used.
Model critical reading out loud The use of explicit teacher modelling is key: think out loud as you delve into a particular part of the text, for example, look at dialogue used and ask questions , “Would someone in the 1930s use that language? How would that character have been able to travel between the places described? What medicine could people use to treat illness at that time ?” These are opportunities to explain the concept of anachronism, as well as continuity and change.
Plan your use of historical fiction as part of your broader curriculum
Ensure the fiction is not a distraction from the historical skills being taught. As a primary class teacher, you are in the unique position of being able to plan your sequences of learning in history and literacy to encompass a text which is a rich source for different specific curricular skills and exploration. This enables a rich historical fiction text to be interwoven across the curriculum, whilst maintaining subject discipline appropriately. Teachers can use high quality historical fiction to take historical learning into other curriculum areas. Is the text one that you could use more in a specific English lesson to stimulate poetry or fiction writing? How can the use of different number systems from the past, which are mentioned in historical fiction, be used to deepen mathematical thinking ? When planning , the teacher needs to think of what learning outcomes are intended from a subject specific viewpoint. For example, What are the literacy learning objectives? Are there any history skills that can be applied in a task ? Diary writing tasks used with pupils can include historical objectives such as including historically accurate facts, avoiding anachronisms and using appropriate vocabulary and grammatical choices for the period in which the diary is set. Questions raised by children as they engage with a text should feed into your planning for future lessons and subjects. This can be a rich, organic learning process for both teacher and pupil.
Selecting fiction
Use quality books vetted by educators or historical associations. Read the whole book yourself before using it, to ensure that it is appropriate for the pupils, that any sensitive subject matter has been prepared for, any necessary pre-teaching of vocabulary has been planned and that the teacher has pre-empted potential knowledge that may need to be covered to address any cultural gaps in pupils’ prior experience that could otherwise be a barrier to accessing the story. Consider which characters in history are included in the stories you choose to share – are women and girls included? Are there books which share the experiences of less economically powerful individuals? Are characters of the global majority in the stories shared?
The silences in history can often be filled by historical fiction as whilst written historical records may have omitted marginalised voices of the past, writers may use their creative freedom to create characters from the past.
Further resources:
Historical Association annual awards for best historical fiction for young people:
Historic England Stone Age resources