Interview with Denis Shemilt, 3 July 2009

Denis Shemilt's background in statistics and social science equipped him well to act as the evaluator of the Schools Council History Project in 1976. The Project was still in its pilot stage, but the evaluation, demonstrating that children taught by the SCHP method could think in more complex ways, helped give the course increased standing. The evaluation was not without its critics (see Jon Nichol interview) but has been seen as establishing the credentials of the SCHP (see Chris Culpin interview). Shemilt here discusses the basis for the evaluation and its impact on the popularity of the course, as well as his ideas about historical thinking. He went on to be Director of the SCHP subsequently, but latterly moved into graduate training. Interviewed by Nicola Sheldon