-
Beyond the classroom: developing student teachers' work with museums and historic sites
Teaching History article
Working visits to historical sites for the purposes of developing pupils’ historical understanding can be extremely useful. As part of their training, student teachers need to acquire understanding and skills in the planning and management of worthwhile ‘fieldwork’. This work can be very powerful indeed if it emerges from co-operation...
Beyond the classroom: developing student teachers' work with museums and historic sites
-
Were industrial towns 'death-traps'? Year 9 learn to question generalisations and to challenge their preconceptions about the 'boring' 19th century
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Kimberley Anthony and her history colleagues were troubled by Year 9's assumption that World War II was the only interesting thing that they were going to do in Year 9. Nineteenth-century industrialisation, even their own...
Were industrial towns 'death-traps'? Year 9 learn to question generalisations and to challenge their preconceptions about the 'boring' 19th century
-
Maybe they haven't decided yet what is right: English and Spanish perspectives on teaching historical significance
Teaching History article
Historians and history teachers understand well that students, when they ‘answer’ questions, are creating their own interpretation. We take account of this in our teaching too: we do not pretend that, beyond the level of the simplest closed questioning, there is ever a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer approach to history....
Maybe they haven't decided yet what is right: English and Spanish perspectives on teaching historical significance
-
Think Bubble 60: Writing from experience
Primary History article
The business of ‘experiencing' history is in as healthy state as it is possible to imagine. In a recent straw poll of primary GTP trainees in the Oxford-Bucks partnership over 80% cited drama, role play or similar inter-active experience as being the most memorable feature of learning history in the...
Think Bubble 60: Writing from experience
-
Late Medieval Taxation Records
Historian article
There are more than 23,000 medieval taxation records from England and Wales in the Public Record Office alone. For many years the vast majority of them have lain undisturbed in their archive boxes, but recent work is showing the true value of some of these as historical sources and making...
Late Medieval Taxation Records
-
The Reign of Edward VI: An Historiographical Survey
Article
The modern historiography of this critical and disturbed six year period begins with the work of W.K. Jordan. Jordan was already a well established authority on the history of English philanthropy in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, when he turned his attention specifically to Edward VI in the mid-1960s.
The Reign of Edward VI: An Historiographical Survey
-
History and language
Primary History article
Literacy was at the heart of the Nuffield Primary History Project. The paper below summarises the eight linguistic areas which were a major focus. Here there is considerable congruence with the proposed 2014 NC for English and Literacy with its language across the curriculum focus...
History and language
-
Move Me On 94: Struggling to find questioning style to develop pupils' thinking
The problem page for history mentors
This Issue's Problem: William Cuffay, PGCE student, is struggling to find a questioning style which will develop pupils' thinking.
Problem:
William Cuffay is half way through the second term of his PGCE course and is showing considerable promise. He is thorough in his lesson preparation, and has a clear sense...
Move Me On 94: Struggling to find questioning style to develop pupils' thinking
-
King Charles II
Classic Pamphlet
The conclusions of historians change over the years, not only as a result of the discovery of new evidence, but as a result of the changing times in which historians themselves live and work. We have become familiar with the notion that each generation of historians may have its own...
King Charles II
-
Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the kingdom of England
Primary History Article
The Vikings will be familiar territory to many primary teachers. For many, therefore, this section of the history curriculum should cause fewer headaches than others. This does not mean, however, that it is all straightforward. This article contains a number of elements that teachers might welcome including a timeline of...
Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the kingdom of England
-
Women in the Tramway Industry 1914-1919
Article
Rosemary Thacker writes about one unusual area of expansion of war-time work for women in the Great War.
Women in the Tramway Industry 1914-1919
-
Move Me On 92: Having problems teaching causation
The problem page for history mentors
This Issue's Problem: Melville Miles, student history teacher, is in Term 3 of his PGCE year. Melville has taught a number of excellent lessons in which he enabled pupils to reach high levels of historical understanding. His diagnostic assessment of pupils' work is unusually sophisticated for a PGCE student. Melville's...
Move Me On 92: Having problems teaching causation
-
Saint Robert and the Deer
Article
It is almost a commonplace that there is an affinity between a holy man and the creatures of the wild. The archetype is St. Francis of Assisi but the phenomenon was well marked both before and after his time. I would like to consider briefly an episode in the life...
Saint Robert and the Deer
-
Teaching History 197: Public History
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
03 Editorial (Read article)
04 HA Secondary News
06 HA Update: Talk more to write better
08 Beyond and behind the ‘quiet bus lady’: tracing the popular memory of Rosa Parks with Year 9 – Ed Durbin (Read article)
16 Who inherits the house? Using heritage to shape pupils’ thinking about...
Teaching History 197: Public History
-
Cunning Plan 114: building overview understanding of 19th-century social history
Teaching History feature
This five-lesson sequence gradually builds overview understanding of aspects of 19th century social history through a depth study of the campaigner and reformer, Josephine Butler. Through the sequence, pupils build on earlier work on historical significance, first, by reviewing their understanding of the huge range of reasons why things get...
Cunning Plan 114: building overview understanding of 19th-century social history
-
Raising the profile of history in your school
Primary History article
All too often, with increasing pressure to obtain the ‘best’ results, primary schools allow English and mathematics to steal the limelight, unwittingly pushing other subjects to one side. As a consequence, these ‘other’ subjects are squeezed into vehicles to teach English or maths – barely recognisable under the guise of...
Raising the profile of history in your school
-
Move Me On 156: Assessment for Learning
Teaching History feature
This issue's problem: Fred North treats ‘Assessment for Learning' as though it is a bolt-on extra unconnected to his learning objectives
Fred is an enthusiastic trainee who has generally made a good impression on students and colleagues over the course of his first term. He has been determined to establish a...
Move Me On 156: Assessment for Learning
-
Making the most of a visit to the Museum of London Docklands
Primary History article
In this article Susie Townsend explores one of her favourite museums, the Museum of London Docklands, and explains why it has a real value and interest far beyond the locality. As well as covering the benefits of a visit, she also provides ideas for teaching activities across the primary age range....
Making the most of a visit to the Museum of London Docklands
-
The Voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot
Classic Pamphlet
Historians have debated the voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot who first discovered North America under the reign of Henry VII. The primary question was who [John or Sebastian] was responsible for the successful discovery. A 1516 account stated Sebastian Cabot sailed from Bristol to Cathay, in the service of...
The Voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot
-
Move Me On 99: Struggling with just about everything
Teaching History feature
This Issue's Problem: Sophie Scholl, PGCE Student. is experiencing very seious difficulties...in just about everything.
Problem:
Sophie is approaching the end of her second school placement. It was clear from her first placement report that she was finding the process of learning to teach extremely difficult, but she displayed a...
Move Me On 99: Struggling with just about everything
-
One of my favourite history places: The Holy Island of Lindisfarne
Primary History feature
The Holy Island of Lindisfarne is a special place, not just for its stunning scenery and rich bird life, but also for its unique history and medieval religious heritage. This article visits a few of the many places of historical interest on the island and considers ideas for exploring different...
One of my favourite history places: The Holy Island of Lindisfarne
-
As a primary school teacher have you taught about the Holocaust?
Primary History 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...
As a primary school teacher have you taught about the Holocaust?
-
The Spice of Life? Ensuring variety when teaching about the Treaty of Versailles
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Much has been said and written about different learning styles in recent years. Some people have responded with evangelical enthusiasm, others exercise a more cautious approach, whilst a few disregard it completely. Certainly, there are...
The Spice of Life? Ensuring variety when teaching about the Treaty of Versailles
-
Cunning Plan 98: Britain 1750-1900
Teaching History feature
Isaac Newton: ‘For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction'. Learning that results from action and reaction deepens pupils' understanding of historical content and use of key study skills. It forces them to understand, to wrestle, to articulate, to challenge, to question. Getting pupils to act and react...
Cunning Plan 98: Britain 1750-1900
-
Right up my street: the knowledge needed to plan a local history enquiry
Journal article
Inspired by the claim that local history can be taught effectively ‘Any time, any place, anywhere’, Katharine Burn and Jason Todd took up the challenge of planning Key Stage 3 enquiries related to an unusual and diverse, but frequently neglected and often despised, corner of Oxford. They sought not merely...
Right up my street: the knowledge needed to plan a local history enquiry
