The inclusion of ‘similarity and difference’ as a second-order concept within the National Curriculum is essentially concerned with helping students to move beyond stereotypical assumptions about people in the past, to recognise and analyse the diversity of past experience.  While some degree of generalisation is essential in making claims about the past, paying attention to the extent of similarity and difference between different sorts of people – and between people within the same group – is important in helping students to appreciate the reality of past lives. This collection of resources illustrates the ways in which teachers can help students to recognise the complexity of past societies, without being overwhelmed by it, and how teachers can plan for progression in students’ analysis of the extent and nature of similarity and difference.

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You can find an introduction to key articles by history teachers about teaching pupils to analyse similarity and difference here...