The role of oral evidence
Oral evidence is a vivid and immediate historical source which is particularly suited to the primary classroom. Oral evidence can be used to
- make incidents and aspects of the past real for children. Hearing about an event from a person who can say ‘I was there’ makes the past believable
- give children access to information that is almost impossible to obtain elsewhere. People’s memories carry far more information than is often written down about an event: for example, an account of the day of an all-Ireland hurling match from a player (or even a spectator) will have far more detail than a newspaper report. Very often this information will be intensely personal and have a local dimension, for example the excitement of the bus journey from home to the match and the welcome on return to the local village
- ensure that the past is examined from a range of perspectives. The life experiences of the vast majority of people, particularly of many social, ethnic and cultural groups, are often under-represented in documentary evidence. Oral evidence gives us access to the experiences of a much broader range of people
- allow us to share in the feelings of participants in events in the past
- help older children, especially, to examine how a person’s perspective can affect their memories of the past
- help develop children’s sense of time. Some educationalists now argue that children’s lack of prolonged, regular contact with grandparents and members of the extended family has had a detrimental effect on their sense of the past and of their own relationship to it.
EXEMPLAR 10 - Interviewing an older person (all classes)