1. “Muck-up Day” – does it exist?

2. Real Life Situation: “Muck-up Day” Area of Knowledge: History Knowledge Question: How objective is our knowledge in History? subsidiary KQ: – what counts as a fact in History? – Can the “facts” be separated from interpretation?

3. Evidence: official sources School calendar: records official school events Head of VI Form: – a reliable source of information – A good authority – First-hand experience

4. Evidence: SAH interview

5. Evidence: unofficial records Speaking to the students in the summer term

7. YourlocalGuardian, Wed 7 th May 2008 On Tuesday, boys at King's College School took part in "muck up day", an event in which sixth formers finishing their time at the school play pranks and tricks. Around 50 of them donned boiler suits to take part in activities including pelting each other with eggs and water bombs on the school fields, rearranging furniture in the buildings and blocking staircases with hundreds of cups of water. One pupil set off a homemade smoke bomb on the playing field. One sixth form pupil, who asked to remain anonymous, described the school's approach as "militant" and said: "They have gone overboard in their response. We were mild compared with other years."

8. Conflicting perspectives – Article from Wimbledon Guardian 2008 – Clearly reflected the unofficial (=boys’)perspective – Their judgments embedded in their language, which was prominent in the article – This judgment not challenged, as the other perspective wasn’t voiced.

9. Knowledge Issue: Language Language doesn’t just describe historical events: it transmits judgments on them These judgments are not always explicit: they may be deeply embedded in the terms used Thus readers may adopt these judgments without realising.

10. Why does this matter? Language shapes thought Thought shapes action – what is appropriate on “Muck-up Day? – What is appropriate on a normal school day? Contexts for judgment – Previous “Muck-up Days”? – Ordinary school days?

11. YourlocalGuardian, Wed 7 th May 2008 On Tuesday, boys at King's College School took part in "muck up day", an event in which sixth formers finishing their time at the school play pranks and tricks. Around 50 of them donned boiler suits to take part in activities including pelting each other with eggs and water bombs on the school fields, rearranging furniture in the buildings and blocking staircases with hundreds of cups of water. One pupil set off a homemade smoke bomb on the playing field. One sixth form pupil, who asked to remain anonymous, described the school's approach as "militant" and said: "They have gone overboard in their response. We were mild compared with other years."

12. To apply this back to our original situation: Knowledge Question: How objective is our knowledge in History? subsidiary KQ: – what counts as a fact in History? – Can the “facts” be separated from interpretation?

13. EH Carr: What is History? 'the belief in a hard core of historical facts existing objectively independent of the interpretation of the historian is a preposterous fallacy'. 'the facts speak only when the historian calls on them'. EHCarr, What is History? Ch.1: The Historian and his Facts

14. …and also to other situations:

15. The Battle of the Bogside The Battle of the Bogside was a battle in a rhetorical sense. In reality, it was a very large communal riot between the mostly unarmed residents of the Bogside area of Derry city in Northern Ireland and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The rioting took place in Derry, Northern Ireland, 12 August-14 August 1969, after the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) attempted to disperse nationalists who were protesting a loyalist Apprentice Boys of Derry parade along the city walls, past the nationalist Bogside area of the city. The inhabitants declared the area "Free Derry" after the police had been successfully repulsed.

17. Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday (Irish: Domhnach na Fola)— sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which 26 civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army. Taken from the Wikipedia article on Bloody Sunday, accessed 2 nd Oct 2014