The second strategy aims to ensure that students are supported in developing their historical knowledge and thinking. Planning a sequence of lessons around a single enquiry question that requires a piece of extended assessment as end product is a good way to achieve this. In order to render the challenge accessible, supporting structures to help students’ thinking’ should be provided by the teacher. In the case of this practice, the enquiry was built on a structured sequence of learning, which has been organised around the six lessons on Augustus: his appearance, his private life, the Senate, the Army, Rome, and the Empire. In order to help students to select, sort, classify, and simplify historical information, a thinking frame in the form of a graphic organizer was provided. After each lesson, students were required to sort and organize the historical information received, by deciding whether to put this information into attributes that rendered Emperor Augustus great, or not.

The third strategy aims to ensure the accessibility of the learning, by providing scaffolding for the extended piece of writing. Specifically, Michael Riley aimed to model the language of discourse, and to provide students with guidance on how to structure their extended writing’. In assessing the greatness of Emperor Augustus, students were provided with a writing frame that contained several elements helping them to turn their ideas into an extended piece of writing built on historical knowledge and critical thinking. Specifically, the writing frame set up the four paragraphs that students could use to structure their writing’, namely the introduction describing Augustus, discussing potential problems with evidence on Augustus, students’ own judgement on the greatness of the Emperor, and a concluding paragraph.

Obstacles and lessons learned

The key challenge that Michael Riley encountered while implementing this practice, based on an overall historical enquiry, was the planning process involved. In order to ensure that the learning was accessible, each of the six lessons needed to be thought through with regard to the overall sequence of lessons. Such planning requires for teachers to think beyond the individual lesson, and to consider exactly how each lesson contributes to the overall enquiry.

The effect of the practice

The practice by Michael Riley, involving a sequence of lessons built around a rigorous and engaging enquiry question, had a significant impact on students’ learning’. One student, for example, who was interested in history per se, but was struggling with school history due to his difficulties in reading and writing as well as in thinking analytically, was able to produce a high-quality piece of extended writing on the greatness of Augustus, demonstrating his analytical skills and historical knowledge. Applying the principles of this practice to your own work can contribute to rendering school history more challenging, fascinating and accessible for all students. The process of historical enquiry specifically helps learners to build historical knowledge and understanding.