It has been a while since OFSTED published any revised criteria. With the departure of chief history HMI Mike Maddison in 2014-5, I doubt very much that there will be any new guidance in the near future. Even if there was, I doubt if it would differ greatly from its predecessor which said this about OUTSTANDING history teaching:
Teachers’ practice is informed by excellent knowledge of continuing developments in teaching and learning in history.
- They routinely promote rigorous historical thinking.
- Teachers communicate their passion for history and consistently challenge and inspire pupils to produce the best work they can.
- History is very skilfully presented as a dynamic and organic subject to be explored and investigated rather than as a subject to be received. As a result, pupils approach historical enquiries as keen and skilled investigators.
- Teaching makes pupils alive to changing views of the past and helps them to understand how and why interpretations and representations change over time.
- As a result, lessons are exciting and often innovative.
Lists such as this are only useful up to a point. They do highlight what is characteristically present in lessons judged as outstanding, but much depends on how these different ingredients
