"Understanding History Teaching is an enjoyable read with a logical and flowing structure. It lives up to its goal of appealing to both academic and professional readers with both academic depth and real insights and opportunities for the professional teacher to draw from. It presents its data and interpretations in a manner which does not avoid the issues revealed within the research but has an uplifting effect on the reader and leaves them feeling optimistic about the quality of History teaching in UK secondary schools." Robert Wyness, Student, De Montfort University, Leicester,UK* Why do we teach and learn about the past? * How is history taught in schools? * What are the influences on the way teachers teach and pupils learn about the past? History is one of the most ideologically disputed of school subjects. Over the past generation, the subject has experienced fundamental changes in content, pedagogy and approach. This book is the first detailed account of the way history is taught in schools to be published for 30 years. Drawing on fieldwork in comprehensive schools, and on research studies worldwide, the authors pose fundamental questions about the way teachers teach and learners learn. They consider its purposes on teaching about the past in a world of accelerating change. The book sets out to explore the realities of classroom history teaching and to offer pointers for the development on the subject in a new century.