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stereotypes. The need to challenge negative attitudes towards an Irish community has
relevance to all pupils but has particular implications for the esteem of children with Irish
heritage. The school history curriculum cannot be blamed as the sole cause of this problem
and our study found a range of influences on children including the media, parents, peers as
well as what is taught in school. Nevertheless, it could be argued that in order to appreciate
the impact of school history it is necessary to focus on the agencies responsible for framing
and developing it. Hence, this current research focus is on providers of school history as the
people responsible for the way in which history is presented to pupils.
This study will explore the perceptions of a range of providers including inspectors, advisers,
teacher trainers, and project leaders and subject leaders in school. However, Heads of History
and History Co-ordinators will provide the main research focus. Field, Holden and Lawlor
(2000) suggest that the role of subject leaders in both secondary and primary schools has
become particularly significant since the introduction of the National Curriculum, Ofsted and
the national leadership standards by the Teacher Training Agency in 1998. Given the
importance of subject leadership it is hardly surprising that it has been the subject of a number
of studies. Some studies look at the issues facing subject leaders from different subject areas.
For example, Wise (2001) investigated the difficulties faced by subject leaders in monitoring
academic standards in their disciplines. A number of studies have focused on issues
associated with specific subjects, of which a number examine teacher perceptions of issues
related to planning, teaching and learning. Lambert (1999), Chief Executive of the
Geography Association and former lecturer at London Institute of Education, focused on
teacher perceptions of teaching and learning approaches through using textbooks in
geography lessons. Rayment (2000), an Art Education lecturer at Reading University,