How an encounter with a historian and her interpretation enriched Year 8 pupils’ thinking about interpretations of the past

As an Early Career Teacher, Eleri Hedley-Carter set out to make the history she teaches in school more reflective of her undergraduate study of history – a discipline that strives to uncover a diverse past through various lenses and historical methods. In addition to expanding her school’s curriculum to include an enquiry that centred on African women’s history, Hedley-Carter set out to bring an historian’s work into her classroom in a meaningful way. Here she reflects on how that process made interpretations of the past meaningful, interesting and important to her Year 8 pupils.