Controversial issues

History is not an easy subject as it is full of contradictions and challenging situations. It requires children to look at how people responded to complicated dilemmas. It also requires them to consider motivation. Looking at what people did in the past children to make links with present events. It requires children to evaluate the history of their own country and how it has interacted with other people. Read more

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  • Campaign: Make an impact and history

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. What is the role of history in the curriculum? Is it to give a traditional education or because history is a powerful teacher that we all can learn from? In my view well-taught history doesn't leave...

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  • Pride in place: What does historical geographical and social understanding look like?

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. ‘Some primary schools are like the High Street in many of our towns. I can predict what I will see before I go through the door. What I want to see is something that gives me...

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  • Primary history and the curriculum: a South African perspective

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. The issues surrounding the construction of a post-conflict history curriculum are complex. At its most basic level, the memory choice for a country emerging from mass violence is between remembering and forgetting, with...

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  • TEACH Statement

    4th March 2008

    The TEACH report outlines the sort of good practice in teaching sensitive topics which is available for teachers to share, not least through the Historical Association's programme of subject-specific training. The Historical Association is disturbed to learn that false and misleading claims about the teaching of the Holocaust are being...

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  • The T.E.A.C.H. Project

    Article

    The report look at approaches that enable teachers to tackle these issues in ordinary lessons through rigorous and engaging teaching while at the same time challenging discrimination and prejudice.

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  • The T.E.A.C.H. Report

    Article

    The TEACH report outlines the sort of good practice in teaching sensitive topics which is available for teachers to share, not least through the Historical Association's programme of subject-specific training.

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  • History, citizenship and controversy

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Y4 question their MP about nuclear waste policy; Y6 survey people in their community and school about a proposed casino in their town, and feed back the information to the local council; children decide to...

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  • Engaging with controversial issues through drama

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. The idea of children actively participating in their own education continues to be central to drama education. This same idea is also fundamental to the underlying ethos of citizenship education.There is a side to drama...

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  • 'I could change the world if I put my mind to it!' Teaching Controversial Issues and Citizenship Through a Project on heroes and heroines

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Rye Oak School is in its second year of ‘Fresh Start’ status and there are many issues in the school, including poorly motivated children and behavioural problems. Many of the children in the school were...

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  • Teaching about racism, fairness and justice through key people

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Our school has no uniform. You can’t predict what most children or teachers will wear from one day to the next. So the children were rather surprised one day in July 1996 when most of...

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  • As a primary school teacher have you taught about the Holocaust?

    Article

    Teaching the Holocaust at primary level can be incredibly rewarding and result in pupils broadening their historical understanding as well as encouraging them to consider other issues. The importance of challenging prejudice, ignorance and racism, the importance of not being a bystander and valuing life are just a few of...

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  • Using children's literature to look at bias and stereotyping

    Article

    We have come to understand that modern children's literature often provides a way of examining a range of social and moral issues, affording educators the opportunity to discuss issues such as bias and stereotyping. Many adults have seen the possibilities here to contextualise classroom incidents differently, or to explore themes...

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  • In My View: Migration - the search for a better life

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. Migration is not new. The movement of people has been part of defining cultures throughout history. Asylum seekers could be seen as the thin (contemporary) end of this historical wedge. But is the...

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