What to do with mock exams – part 2

Thanks to Martyn Bajkowski, Head of History at Pleckgate High School and a member of HA Secondary Committee for continuing this series of three blogposts to help us to make the best possible use of mock exams.  Stage 2 – After their exam Standardisation After students have sat their examination it is important to get hold a range of answers but I would suggest no … Continue reading What to do with mock exams – part 2

What to do with mock exams – part 1

Thanks to Martyn Bajkowski, Head of History at Pleckgate High School and a member of HA Secondary Committee for this, the first of a series of three blogposts to help us to make the best possible use of mock exams.  The Year 11 Mock Exam Season has hit.  Whether your school does one, two or even three sittings of examinations I wanted to share what … Continue reading What to do with mock exams – part 1

The History Teachers’ Book Club

As our final blogpost of the year we are really pleased to celebrate the great initiative that is ‘The History Teachers’ Book Club’. Lots of colleagues have been enjoying the collegiality of developing their subject knowledge this way. Thanks to Simon Beale, Andrew Sweet and Anne Hooper for this ‘History of the History Teachers’ Book Club’…. Talking (book) shop It was an idea that developed … Continue reading The History Teachers’ Book Club

Spice up your sources!

This short blogpost is to draw your attention to source collections being produced by EUROCLIO on their Historiana website. The HA is a founding member of EUROCLIO – the European Network of History Educators. They exist to support and promote high quality history education in Europe and beyond. Richard Kennett and Helen Snelson are currently the HA’s reps and Rich has written a previous blogpost … Continue reading Spice up your sources!

Redressing the balance: trying to make Post-16 history a bit more representative

Thanks to Richard Kennett (@kenradical) for this post. Richard has taken up the challenge of Susanna Boyd in Teaching History 175 and been inspired by Claire Hollis (@CitoyenneClaire) to teach better history at A Level. Last year I read two articles that really made me reflect on my teaching. The first was Susanna Boyd’s superb Teaching History article  ‘How should women’s history be included at … Continue reading Redressing the balance: trying to make Post-16 history a bit more representative

An honest view of the curriculum planning process

Ruth Lingard (@YorkClio), a member of Secondary Committee and Head of History at Millthorpe School in York, gives us a refreshingly honest view on curriculum development. It can be easy to get the impression on social media that everything those who post do is marvellous. Ruth takes the long view and thinks about why her department lost track of a coherent curriculum and, at the … Continue reading An honest view of the curriculum planning process

‘Lighting fires’: Sparking conversations around the curriculum

Thanks to Alex Bottomley, Head of Humanities at Trinity Academy in Halifax for this blogpost. This work describes some of the work of the DfE pilot Curriculum Fund project, whose initial findings have just been published. The DfE originally gave £2.4 million to a selected list of 11 lead schools to test the effects of their complete curriculum programmes on reducing teacher workload and improving … Continue reading ‘Lighting fires’: Sparking conversations around the curriculum

“More of that black history stuff again?” – Yes!

The HA is very aware that black history is not a topic that should be confined to a month and is also aware of the way that Black History Month (and other Months) can help to raise awareness and create discussion of the work that needs to be done to make sure the school curriculum is representative. Thanks to Sharon Aninakwa, leader of the Convent of … Continue reading “More of that black history stuff again?” – Yes!

Process of constructing a vision statement

Thanks to Hugh Richards, Head of History at Huntington School for this blogpost. Despite this vision statements appearing across Twitter and in schools all over the country (as well as their being external CPD courses on writing them) there is little published about the thinking behind them. Here Hugh shares the process that he and his team went through to create a vision they are happy … Continue reading Process of constructing a vision statement

BHM – Medicine Through Time – African Women and the British Health Service, 1930-2000

We will be posting a series of posts about topics relating to Black History Month and promoting great resources out there. At the HA we are concerned to support history teachers as they seek to teach in a way that better represents the past. Have you got your hands on the most recent copy of Teaching History yet? In addition articles that explain inspiring practice, … Continue reading BHM – Medicine Through Time – African Women and the British Health Service, 1930-2000