There has been debate over the extent to which it is possible to teach history before Key Stage 3. The fact that children take years to develop an understanding of long periods of time, and that they understand consequences sooner than they do causes and intentions, makes it problematic to teach younger children history. As a result, the focus at Key Stage 1 or the Foundation Stage has been on developing a general narrative competence, rather than worrying about their understanding of history as such.
The difficulty with this is that young children often encounter images of history derived from ideas developed in the 19th century that can seriously distort their knowledge and understanding of the world. Some stories about our past focus on the achievements of Anglo-Saxons (principally men, although there is room for the occasional heroine). Things are rarely seen from the perspective of other cultures. There is a need to build up a wider picture of world history in the early years.
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