The HA firmly believes in History for All. To help counter the current trend in some schools to prevent students who will achieve less than a GCSE ‘C' studying history, we have, along with ASDAN, developed a history course that is accessible, yet challenging. This new course is now available to centres for teaching. ASDAN style ‘challenges' fit closely with the HA's vision of history as ‘enquiry' and provide genuine opportunities for students to ‘do' history and, as a part of a full CoPE award, offers a viable alternative to GCSE or entry level as well as working as a stand alone unit to offer those students who may not have continued their study of history with the opportunity to do so in an accessible way.

The History Short Course consists of six modules, designed to complement each other and present a coherent view of history. Each challenge is linked to one or more of the History Concepts of the National Curriculum.

Module 1: Local History

Module 2: ‘Our Island Story'

Module 3:  Britain and Empire

Module 4: ‘History from Below'

Module 5: European History

Module 6: World History

Sample teaching challenges and full tutor support notes are available on the HA website. As promised, the authors of the course have produced some support materials to help teachers. These support materials are available here. More will be added in due course.

To register for the ASDAN course, or to obtain a free copy of the students booklet, go to: www.asdan.org.uk/history