Enquiry through time: a review of the use of the term 'enquiry' across four decades of the professional journal Teaching History

This chapter reports the usage of ‘enquiry’ in England’s professional journal Teaching History since 1977. Through examining use of the term ‘enquiry,’ the analysis explores changing conceptions of the subject among the history education community, specifically history teachers, in England and internationally. Initial frequency counts were followed by coded analysis to assess use of the term, implicit and explicit definitions and the nature of classroom learning associated with the term enquiry. Distinct differences are identified in the use of the term across the last four decades. Sporadic use of the term within the journal before 1998 generally employed enquiry to denote a pedagogical approach to teaching history. Since 1998, the term ‘enquiry’ has been used more widely as a curricular concept to describe a sequence of lessons under a shared ‘enquiry question.’ It is argued that this difference represents an important change in how history educators in England conceive and implement enquiry in their work.