Tag: attainment

CPD, diversity and inclusion, subject leadership, teaching history

Making History Accessible – a new initiative from the HA Secondary Committee

‘SEND’ is a vast topic that encompasses many needs. Added to that, there is a lot of general support for teachers from experts relating to specific needs. But what about specific support for teaching history? How can we make history lessons more accessible for all? The Secondary Committee has put together a new resource called ‘Making History Accessible‘ to help. Back in 2017, Richard Kerridge … Continue reading Making History Accessible – a new initiative from the HA Secondary Committee

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GCSE and A level, historical literacy, historical scholarship, speaking and listening, teaching history

How do you get A Level History students to read?

Thanks to Sally Burnham, History teacher and Lead Practitioner, Lincolnshire, and member of Secondary Committee for this blogpost drawn from her experience of a Covid change that has been worth keeping. How do you get A Level History students to read? This was an age old problem for me. I know how important it is for students to be reading historians’ work both to deepen … Continue reading How do you get A Level History students to read?

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beginning teacher, CPD, diversity and inclusion, GCSE and A level, KS3, speaking and listening, teacher knowledge, teaching and learning ideas, teaching and learning resources, teaching history, websites and publications

Active history to make history memorable and accessible

This blogpost accompanies the launch of a new webpage on the HA website. The ‘knowledge turn’ of recent years has been very welcome in many ways. There is inspiring work and success in evidence across the country in relation to developing coherent curricula. There are wonderful examples of historical enquiry and the use of historical narratives weaving disciplinary and substantive knowledge effectively. And yet, there … Continue reading Active history to make history memorable and accessible

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curriculum and planning, KS3, subject leadership, teaching history

Where do marks on KS3 assessments come from?

Thanks to Martyn Bajkowski, Head of History at Pleckgate School and member of Secondary Committee, for sharing work on assessment at Key Stage 3. Martyn shares how his department have read, thought and discussed their way to a manageable system that is focused on secure historical learning. Pupils find it engaging and it is providing the department with useful data to use to work on … Continue reading Where do marks on KS3 assessments come from?

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beginning teacher, CPD, curriculum and planning, historical literacy, KS3, speaking and listening, subject leadership

Literacy and Oracy in History – a new HA CPD guide

As we near the end of the long autumn term, subject leaders may be starting to think about preparation for INSET time at the start of January. The HA is here to help with a range of CPD guides that SLs can use to structure learning together as a department. You can find the currently available guides here. The most recent guide focuses on literacy … Continue reading Literacy and Oracy in History – a new HA CPD guide

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curriculum and planning, diversity and inclusion, speaking and listening, subject leadership, teaching history

Time to bring back oracy!

Thanks to Ruth Lingard (@YorkClio), Head of History at Millthorpe School in York for this blogpost. Ruth is laying down a challenge to us all to refocus on oracy. Our primary colleagues do this in history. Our colleagues in independent schools do this in history. How might we be short-changing our students if oracy is not at the heart of all historical learning in schools? … Continue reading Time to bring back oracy!

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beginning teacher, CPD, curriculum and planning, GCSE and A level, subject leadership

Curricular implementation at Key Stage 4: Anatomy of a GCSE History Unit.

Thanks to Hugh Richards, Head of History at Huntington School and course leader of the HA’s Subject Leader Development Programme, for this blogpost. In it Hugh walks us through the process of planning a GCSE History Unit. From that he draws out GCSE planning principles. This blogpost is useful for anyone also planning GCSE units and to discuss in departmental CPD. I have recently planned … Continue reading Curricular implementation at Key Stage 4: Anatomy of a GCSE History Unit.

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beginning teacher, curriculum and planning, KS3, subject leadership, teacher knowledge

The return to formal assessment at KS3

Richard Kennett (@richkbristol), of Gatehouse Green Trust in Bristol, shares recent rethinking of KS3 assessment in his school in response to recent discussions on history edutwitter. This may be incredibly obvious to many of you but given the number of tweets I keep seeing about assessment I thought I would share what we have been doing and thinking at my school in Bristol. I am … Continue reading The return to formal assessment at KS3

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GCSE and A level, historic environment, local history

A Medieval Holiday

We are delighted to feature a blogpost from an A Level student that offers an insight into history learning beyond the classroom and how it raises achievement… While 2021 saw other people spending their ‘staycation’ at campsites or British beaches, one pupil spent several weekends camping inside a castle and on a battlefield! Melissa started doing Living History events in 2019, as part of the … Continue reading A Medieval Holiday

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curriculum and planning, subject leadership, teaching history

New year narrative of ‘strengthening’ not ‘catching up’ and ‘building back better’ not ‘lockdown gaps’!

Thanks to Alex Fairlamb @lamb_heart_tea for this new academic year OBHD blogpost. Alex is an Assistant Headteacher (T&L), Historical Association Secondary Committee Member and National Coordinator of TMHistoryIcons. As schools start to go back this week and next, I think it’s perhaps useful to write again about reframing the narrative of ‘catch up’ and ‘lockdown gaps’.  Nationally, teachers have worked hard to ensure that students … Continue reading New year narrative of ‘strengthening’ not ‘catching up’ and ‘building back better’ not ‘lockdown gaps’!

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