Tuesday 4 August 2009

A quarter of History teachers are not specialists


New figures have revealed there is a huge shortage in the number of specialist History teachers in state schools.

In total, there are less than 12,000 specialist Historians – which amounts to just 76% of the History workforce.

By contrast, there are over 18,000 specialist PE teachers, or 83% of the PE workforce.

This revelation follows on from the discovery that only one third of students sat History GCSE in 2008.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, said, "It is vital we act to end the decline and fall of history in our schools. Giving every child the opportunity to learn our island story is crucial to improving education.”

He stressed, "Heads need to be given more power over their budgets to get the history specialists our children need. And we need to ensure the resources to attract the very best teachers are concentrated in the poorest areas."

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