This eleven chapter book edited by Portal outlines the necessary criteria for building a history curriculum for students at various levels in their secondary school education. As such, this book is aimed at teachers who need guidance in developing their high school history course. Portal divides the book into two sections. The chapters in the first section introduce teachers to the theory and research necessary to construct a history curriculum. The chapters in the second section address issues and questions pertaining to the specifics of building a history curriculum for high school students in varying grades.

 
In chapter one Peter Rogers presents a case for making history a compulsory subject occupying approximately two-thirds of school time for every student. The book thus starts from the issue of history’s value as a secondary school subject. Chapter two written by Martin Booth attempts to reconsider conclusions often drawn from the legacy of Piaget. Grounding his argument in a review of the research literature, Booth argues that such conclusions have a limiting effect on how history teachers understand student learning. Also drawing from research, in chapter three Denis Shemilt uses data from the “Schools Council Project History 13-16” to provide teachers with four suggestions on how to present information to their students in the history classroom. In chapter four Rosalyn Ashby and Peter Lee examine how elementary school students conceptualize empathy and use the concept of empathy to understand the past. To conclude, the authors offer suggestions on how to teach empathy maintaining that the best way to do this is to allow students to present each other with conflicting views of the past. Finally, in chapter five Christopher Portal argues that empathy is a process that motivates other forms of historical thinking and therefore needs to be used in conjunction with other cognitive skills for productive history learning.
 
In the second section, chapter six, written by John Fines, outlines important principles for planning a history course focusing on “content” including skills, concepts, and information. The next three chapters deal primarily with different reactions to the “Schools Council Project History 13-16.” In chapter seven Chris Sansom reviews research on how children understand history and the concepts of time, evidence, change, and causation in order to apply findings from these studies to the development of a history curriculum for young children. In chapter eight Christopher Smallbone argues more specifically that the early stages of history teaching should be aimed at teaching students how to develop certain attitudes, concepts and skills. In chapter nine Vincent Crinnion on the other hand deals with history education for sixteen to eighteen year olds. In this chapter he argues that “contrast and progression” are the overarching principles that should inform the development of a history curriculum for this age group. Finally, chapter ten by Henry Macintosh concerns assessment methods for the history classroom and chapter eleven by Jon Nichol et. al. takes up the issue of how to include technology in the history classroom.