The consultations led by the DfE and Ofqual concerning reform of GCSE examinations have now closed. The Historical Association consulted widely in order to respond on our members behalf.  Key points: History should remain untiered History should retain some kind of structured/guided study  Unassessed independent study is not an apporproate...

Most teachers will be aware that there are changes to GCSE History specifications.  These are in two phases: the first for teaching from September 2013 and the second for teaching from September 2015.  You will be aware that examinations are now linear rather than modular and that marks have been...

Write Your Own Historical Story Competition and the Joan Blyth Memorial Prize 2013.The competition this year has again been successful. There has been an increase in entries, mostly from Years 5 and 6. Once again the change in categories has led to an increase in the number of schools entering...

The ‘Young Quills' Award for Historical Fiction recognises the powerful role that fiction can have for introducing, informing and exciting young people about historical events, characters and places. The competition has two categories - Primary and Secondary. It is the only book award as far as we know where children...

The Darwin Correspondence Project website is now live. On this site you can read and search the full texts of more than 7,500 of Charles Darwin's letters, and find information on 7,500 more. Available here are complete transcripts of all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1869. More...

On the morning of Thursday 9th May (2013) the Secretary of State for Education delivered a speech at Brighton College entitled "What does it mean to be an educated person?" In his speech Mr Gove criticises those who have opposed his department's proposals for the new National Curriculum suggesting those...

The Historical Association - History Curriculum - We have answered On the 16 April the formal consultation to the proposed curriculum closed. The Historical Association has put in a full response, here is how the evidence was collected from history teachers and this is what they told us: Collecting the...

History teachers in secondary schools in Hampshire are supported extremely well through the county's secondary history network. By working together in an effective partnership structure, history advanced skills teachers (AST)s, leading teachers, subject leaders and teachers from across the local authority are engaged in actively and successfully supporting each other...

A passionate homage to a Victorian reformer and a mock Dragons' Den episode about a leader of the First Crusade have triumphed in the Young Historians' Podcast Competition, organised by BBC History Magazine and the Historical Association. The judges were hugely impressed by the overall standard, but in the end...

To coincide with Local History Month in May, ASDAN has produced some activity sheets to support the local history unit of their History Short Course. You can access these activities here. If you are looking for an interesting yet accessible history course for all your Key Stage 4 students then...