Planning enquiries: five rules of thumb

Thanks to Mike Hill, Head of History, Ark Soane Academy, and a member of HA Secondary Committee, for this blogpost to help with the planning of enquiries. Over the last term, I planned seven new enquiries and I am currently working on an eighth. I feel out of breath typing this. Planning these enquiries has sometimes felt like trial by ordeal, but it’s also been … Continue reading Planning enquiries: five rules of thumb

You might want to rethink your teaching of 1381!

Thanks to the teachers and academics of the HA Fellowship ‘The People of 1381’, the resources have now started to go ‘live’. Here is a short introduction and links to the resources. Downloadable classroom resources with teacher guidance Support for teacher knowledge, curriculum and teaching ideas The importance of The People of 1381 Why make time for the people of 1381 in a crowded curriculum? … Continue reading You might want to rethink your teaching of 1381!

A Ukrainian perspective on history teaching about Ukraine in the UK

This document contains the final draft of the conclusions made for a research project undertaken by our Ukrainian friend and history teaching colleague, Irina Kostyuk. She has been part of a project with other Ukrainian history teaching colleagues looking at how history textbooks in Germany, France, UK, Poland and Russia present the Ukrainian past. This detailed work was nearing completion and they hoped to put … Continue reading A Ukrainian perspective on history teaching about Ukraine in the UK

We mustn’t wait to regret a failure to face up to teaching climate change!

Thanks to Peter Langdon (@langdonhistory) for writing this blogpost to share further his work on teaching climate change in history. Peter makes a persuasive case and provides support to help us act to do our part, as history teachers, to tackle the climate crisis. This blogpost also contains details of how to join the growing network of history teachers working to do this. In the … Continue reading We mustn’t wait to regret a failure to face up to teaching climate change!

Decolonising Source Analysis and Introducing Sikh Female History to Year 9

Many thanks to Dr Danielle Donaldson, Head of Department, Concord College, Shrewsbury for this blogpost sharing her department’s work to extend the range of sources used in class and to teach the history of Sikh women. The curriculum intent & context We have been working on decolonising and integrating more representative history in our schemes of work at Concord College. Our enquiries are aimed to … Continue reading Decolonising Source Analysis and Introducing Sikh Female History to Year 9

Using archives to enthuse and engage

Thanks to Anne Hooper, member of HA Secondary Committee, for this article explaining how her department refreshed their GCSE course by delving into the archives. Anne explains how using full texts with original images really engages students and helps develop their evidential understanding. She generously shares the resources at the end. Using archive sources is not new to us as history teachers but sometimes it’s … Continue reading Using archives to enthuse and engage

Empire blogpost 3: the thorny issue of literacy when teaching the British Empire

Thanks to Richard Kennett for continuing his series of blogposts about teaching the British Empire… The difficulty of literacy and the teaching of the British Empire Teaching any historical topic is hard as it requires a lot of disciplinary vocabulary. Those pesky words that enlighten a subject, bring it to life and really allow you to get your teeth in. Revolution, peasant, autocratic, industrial, agricultural, … Continue reading Empire blogpost 3: the thorny issue of literacy when teaching the British Empire

Amazing archives: working with local history at GCSE and beyond

Heather Sherman (@HeatherLaws88) teaches history at York College. In this blogpost, Heather persuades us to use local archives to improve our teaching of GCSE topics and to prepare students for further study. Heather argues that local archives challenge, diversify and humanise broader narratives, she explains how to go about contacting your local archives, she generously gives a link to a workbook you can take and … Continue reading Amazing archives: working with local history at GCSE and beyond

Using the wisdom on… developing a sequence as an NQT

Thanks to Vicky Bettney of York High School for this blogpost. Vicky reflects on her NQT experience of re-planning part of the school’s KS3 curriculum and how she drew on the wider history community and her learning from her PGCE to do this. She talks about her priorities and how she juggled these different priorities to develop a sequence that is, as ever, work in … Continue reading Using the wisdom on… developing a sequence as an NQT

Ringing the changes: the power of enquiry questions that both chime and resonate

Enquiry questions – the back story! Editors’ note: Thanks to Hugh Richards for organising all of us and co-ordinating this post. His lovely tables had to be posted as screen-shots. The Word Doc of the same material is here: Enquiry Questions Continue reading Ringing the changes: the power of enquiry questions that both chime and resonate