Quality assuring your history curriculum by listening to students

Thanks to Phil Arkinstall and Helen Snelson of HA Secondary Committee for writing up this blogpost to share the HA Young Voices project and ideas about how you can develop your own work with students to support quality assurance processes. As history teachers we are required to quality assure what we do and to develop improvement plans. How often do we check with the young … Continue reading Quality assuring your history curriculum by listening to students

Curriculum Mapping your History Department

Thanks to Philip Arkinstall, Curriculum Leader for History at Hardenhuish School, HA Secondary Committee member and Trustee for this blogpost. Phil guides us through the process of curriculum mapping in a history department. Curriculum mapping our department was one of the best things we have done as a department and we began the process in 2018. It started in a department meeting, where I used … Continue reading Curriculum Mapping your History Department

Disability and the Tudors

Thanks to Alex Fairlamb for this blogpost. Alex Fairlamb is a Senior Leader in charge of Teaching and Learning and CPD, based in the North East.  She is an SLE and an ELE.  Alex is also a member of the Historical Association Secondary Committee. Alex tweets as @lamb_heart_tea  Take two minutes to read the statement below and then reflect on the questions: “The curriculum in … Continue reading Disability and the Tudors

Rethinking the historical significance of Napoleon – the case for an interdisciplinary approach

In this blogpost Gemma Hargraves, Deputy Headteacher at The Crypt School, Gloucester, shares some thoughts about how to use an interdisciplinary approach to engage students with historical significance and to encourage them to develop informed and robust opinions about the past. Napoleon’s life and legacy is taught at various curriculum stages. For example sometimes it is taught in a year 8 scheme of work on … Continue reading Rethinking the historical significance of Napoleon – the case for an interdisciplinary approach

What are the challenges of teaching a diverse and representative history curriculum in a rural school?

Thanks to Katie Hopwood for this blogpost. Katie is an ECT at Bishop Young Academy in Leeds. Last year she did her PGCE with the University of York. When starting my second placement of PGCE year, I knew that my second school would be quite different from my first. I had moved from a large inner city religious school to a rural school. As part … Continue reading What are the challenges of teaching a diverse and representative history curriculum in a rural school?

One year of embedding climate and sustainability education in our History PGCE

Thanks to Will Bailey-Watson, leader of the Secondary PGCE programme at the University of Reading and member of Secondary Committee for this blogpost. This year will see a lot of developments in thinking about the role of history education for a sustainable future. Will kicks this off by sharing what Reading colleages have learnt so far. Have you seen the climate stripes somewhere? If you … Continue reading One year of embedding climate and sustainability education in our History PGCE

Assessment at KS3 in History

Thanks to Martyn Bajkowski of Pleckgate HS and HA Secondary Committee for this blogpost. Martyn reports on the work he, and his department, have been doing to improve their KS3 assessment. Like many of you I have carefully considered over recent years what I wanted our approach at assessment to be at KS3 in our department. Following my session at the HA Conference this May … Continue reading Assessment at KS3 in History

This blogpost isn’t for you; what your line manager needs to know about history

Thanks to Catherine Priggs, Assistant Headteacher T&L, Dr Challoner’s Grammar School and member of HA Secondary Committee for this week’s blogpost. In it Catherine explains how to work with senior leaders to ensure that they have the knowledge they need to support history teaching and subject leadership. Curriculum leadership needs our attention. In the face of non-specialist teaching due to a recruitment and retention crisis, … Continue reading This blogpost isn’t for you; what your line manager needs to know about history

Unsilencing Welsh History in Schools

This blogpost shares with OBHD readers a short article published in Public History Weekly on 8 June 2023 by Rhonwen Bruce-Roberts. Our students in our history lessons are living in the UK. Rhonwen suggests that ‘anglocentrism poses a risk of denying separate histories and separate identities that are a part of its story’. She challenges us to ‘tease out forgotten narratives through ‘multiperspectival history’’. Abstract: … Continue reading Unsilencing Welsh History in Schools

Resources for June – Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History month

This very short blogpost is to help spread the word about support and resources to help you take part in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month with your students. “Don’t teach nothing about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history or culture. Makes you feel like no one understands.” This is a quote from a yong person that you can find in the Anti-Bullying Alliances 2019 report … Continue reading Resources for June – Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History month