Lots of schools have been busy reviewing and improving their Key Stage 3 History curriculum. However, we should apply the same scrutiny and rigour to our GCSE curriculum. We do not have to be constrained in our curriculum thinking by the specification, in fact, going beyond the specification is the best way to build the substantive and disciplinary knowledge that students need to achieve the high-level grades at GCSE.

This three-part online series will explore the importance of going beyond the specification and the benefits it can bring. Examples will be provided from a wide range of thematic, period and depth studies that cover all three exam boards. They will primarily focus on GCSE, but many examples can be adapted for A-level use.

Course leader

Dale Banham currently teaches at a large GCSE comprehensive in Ipswich. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Schools History Project, author and editor of GCSE textbooks for Hodder Education.

Session 1: Establishing a clear rationale for your GCSE curriculum - Why is it important to go beyond the specification?

• Listening to student voice – how to build engagement and motivation
• Placing historical enquiry at the heart of everything we do
• Tackling misconceptions and avoiding narrow representations of history
• Building rich contextual understanding and a real sense of period
• Increasing opportunities for all students to see themselves reflected in the curriculum
• Giving agency to the victims of conflict
• Using the power of stories and extended texts
• Building parallel timelines - linking the personal, the local, the national and the international

Session 2: Curriculum planning at GCSE – How do you create the curriculum time to go beyond the specification?

• Avoiding a 'bolted on extra' – how to weave in the detail and depth
• Focusing on the key knowledge takeaways
• Strengthening memory – creating hooks on which to hang new knowledge
• Planning homework tasks that revisit core knowledge and give all students access to a rich variety of sources and interpretations
• Creating the goldilocks effect – carefully planned spaced practice
• Building independence and encouraging students to take responsibility for their learning
• Creating opportunities for debate and quality talk in the classroom

Session 3: Stretching higher attainers at GCSE – How do you build the complex thinking that is needed to help students achieve Grades 7-9?

• Recap: How can going beyond the specification improve outcomes at GCSE?
• Building the complex thinking that is needed to achieve Grades 7-9
• Using historians to model high-level written responses
• Closing the language gap – strategies to help students read for understanding, develop disciplinary literacy and communicate with precision and sophistication
• Helping students see links and make connections
• Improving student understanding of abstract concepts
• Increasing confidence with how to handle sources and interpretations 

How to book

This webinar series took place in Spring 2023 and we have made access to the recordings available on demand from April 2024–April 2025.

Release date: Thursday 18 April 2024
Expiry date: Monday 7 April 2025

You will need to be logged in to pay and access each webinar using the links on this page. We regret we are unable to arrange block purchases or issue invoices, but VAT receipts are available upon request. Once you have purchased each webinar, the recording will be available to view at the bottom of the relevant resource page until the stated expiry date. 

Terms and conditions

All Historical Association webinars are subject to the HA CPD terms and conditions. For any enquiries please contact events@history.org.uk.