Demystifying Mental Health in History 1050-1900

Alex Fairlamb is an Education Consultant and has experiences as a Trust T&L Network Lead and Senior Leader in charge of T&L and Professional Development.  Alex is an Honorary Fellow of the Historical Association and a member of the Secondary Committee. @lamb_heart_ tea and Alex Fairlamb Consultancy – Today, attitudes towards mental health are thankfully changing.  As part of this change and with the aim … Continue reading Demystifying Mental Health in History 1050-1900

Historical Stories to support GCSE History

Pete Jackson from Ryedale School in North Yorkshire and Ben Bassett from Villiers School in London have been working on writing historical stories to support the GCSE Curriculum. Here is their findings and examples of their work The thinking behind the project Inspired by the growing momentum around historical storytelling in the classroom, we’ve spent the past year crafting narrative-rich resources to support the OCR … Continue reading Historical Stories to support GCSE History

GCSEs, Neurodiversity and what exam boards can do to help

Written by Fergus, a Year 11 student from a grammar school in Gloucestershire The symptoms started immediately. I felt sick; alarm bells bonged in my head. I also experienced what can only be described as extreme writer’s block. I would not set pen to paper – or rather, fingers to keyboard – until an excruciating hour and a half later. Thankfully this was a mock … Continue reading GCSEs, Neurodiversity and what exam boards can do to help

Using the iPad in the History Classroom

Article written by Kirstie Murray from Cambourne Village College, Cambridgeshire Speaking as a pen-and-paper girl rather than a digital native, the use of technology has always seemed more like an addition within the classroom than a tool capable of developing teaching and learning. This blog isn’t intended to present a sweeping argument about the utility or otherwise of technology in the classroom, but rather hopefully … Continue reading Using the iPad in the History Classroom

Curriculum Review 2024

In September 2024 the Department for Education launched a consultation on the curriculum asking for students, parents, teachers, employers, leaders and experts to share their thoughts on the current model and what a future curriculum could look like. The Historical Association is preparing a response and we wanted to ask you for your help in enabling your students to give their feedback to us on … Continue reading Curriculum Review 2024

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

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.

What’s the point of studying history? How can the past make any difference to the present?

This blogpost is for all those of us who find ourselves having conversations with sceptical parents and students. It especially addresses the need to persuade people that studying history can contribute to a career. Dr Katharine Burn, Honorary Secretary of the HA and history teacher educator at the University of Oxford, shares with us some quotations about the impact of historical research taken from the … Continue reading What’s the point of studying history? How can the past make any difference to the present?

Support for GCSE history revision this year

Sally Burnham (@salwilson11) of Carre’s Grammar School, shares plans for GCSE revision plans. Sally is determined to keep her pupils learning more history and not just regurgitating practice questions. She wants them to feel confident and well-prepared for the exams by focusing on their historical knowledge. I am going to start with a caveat… I usually write a blog for OBHD when I have tried … Continue reading Support for GCSE history revision this year

See the sites: how to get more of the historic environment into your classroom.

  Thanks to Hugh Richards, Head of History at Huntington School in York and member of Secondary Committee for this blogpost! What do I mean by the ‘Historic Environment?’ At Huntington, we do the OCR B (SHP) GCSE. This includes our choice of historic environment, known as History Around Us, for which we teach a sequence of enquiries that totals about 20 lessons. This has … Continue reading See the sites: how to get more of the historic environment into your classroom.