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Weighing a century with a website: teaching Year 9 to be critical
Teaching History article
Two years ago the history department at Hampstead School was one of two history departments chosen to model very effective use of IT in history for a BECTA research study. Two years on, what has the department been up to? All of the factors identified in that study -an ICT...
Weighing a century with a website: teaching Year 9 to be critical
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Celebrating Success: Quality Mark
London Fields Primary School achieves Gold Award Quality Mark
London Fields is a larger than average primary school situated in Hackney, east London. The school was rated Outstanding by Ofsted in 2011 and again in 2015. The school has a challenging context with free school meals, minority ethnic groups and English as an Additional Language all far in excess...
Celebrating Success: Quality Mark
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‘Zulu’ and the end of Empire
Historian article
In this article, Nicolas Kinloch examines the 1964 film Zulu. He suggests what it might tell us about the reality of the British Empire and asks if it has anything to say about the era in which the film was made.
One of the most successful British films of 1964...
‘Zulu’ and the end of Empire
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Out and about in Tamworth
Historian feature
Trevor James introduces the wider context in which Tamworth’s history has developed.
Modern-day visitors to Tamworth immediately observe its very extensive out-of-town shopping areas and industrial estates and then, in stark parallel, notice that the signage is welcoming them to the capital of historic Mercia. Investigating this conundrum is the...
Out and about in Tamworth
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Assessment and Progression without levels
Primary History article
The new (2014) Primary History National Curriculum is finally upon us. The first thing you might notice is that the level descriptions have gone. These were first introduced in 1995 and became the mainstay for assessing pupil progression and attainment in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 across schools in...
Assessment and Progression without levels
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Time for a story
Using stories in the Early Years and Foundation Stage
Stories are an important part of a young child’s way of making sense of their world. Hilary Cooper’s excellent article ‘Why Stories?’ explores some of the reasons why stories are important to young children and their growing ‘understanding of the world’. This article is going to explore some recommended stories...
Time for a story
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Inclusion, diversity and the national curriculum: Are things better than they were?
Article
Introduction - the role of history
It is an interesting question as to whether history teaching has developed a greater understanding of inclusion and diversity since the start of the National Curriculum. The first version of the National Curriculum required teachers to consider a balance of political, economic, social and...
Inclusion, diversity and the national curriculum: Are things better than they were?
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The Coronation of King Charles III
Historian feature
2023 will see the first coronation of a British monarch for 70 years. Only those now in their 70s or above will remember the last one. The UK is the only country in Europe still to carry out a coronation, a ceremony that has its roots in traditions over a...
The Coronation of King Charles III
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Ancient Athenian inscriptions in public and private UK collections
Historian article
Peter Liddel introduces us to a rich source of historical information and encourages us to make some purposeful visits to museums.
From the seventeenth to the mid nineteenth century, travellers from the UK explored the Mediterranean lands of ancient civilisations in search of trophies that demonstrated the achievements of the classical world. Highly...
Ancient Athenian inscriptions in public and private UK collections
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The Indian Mutiny - Pamphlet
Classic Pamphlet
Harrison's booklet takes an evaluative look, at not just the effects of the Indian Mutiny on Indo-British history, but at the reporting of this event over the years. He begins with a look at the prejudices of British writers and British historians' attitude towards the mutiny, highlighting the flawed confidence western...
The Indian Mutiny - Pamphlet
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An Introduction to our Pamphlets
Information
Over the last 100 years the Historical Association has published pamphlets on every historical topic, theme, period and subject you can think of. Over the last 15 years we have begun the process of making these pamphlets available as digital downloads.
Access our classic pamphlets series here
If there is...
An Introduction to our Pamphlets
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Case Study 6: Bristol Blitz - Writing in an interactive environment
Primary History case study
Introduction - Educational Visits
Educational visits are often the most memorable parts of primary schooling, and those that as teachers of primary history we hope provide rich, thought provoking experiences of educational worth. Often, it is these trips that are capable of providing a sphere for the immersive, explorative teaching...
Case Study 6: Bristol Blitz - Writing in an interactive environment
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Who is in charge?
Primary History article
Children are introduced from the start of their lives to the idea that someone is in charge. Helen Crawford and Karin Doull explore how the question ‘Who is in charge?’ can be used with EYFS children to develop ideas of power, authority and agency. The article looks at its relevance...
Who is in charge?
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New, Novice or Nervous? 149: Getting pupils to argue about causes
Teaching History feature
Every problem you're wrestling with in the history classroom, other history teachers have wrestled with too. This page is for all those new to the published writings of history teachers in Teaching History. It shows how to make a start in understanding how others have explored and discussed common and...
New, Novice or Nervous? 149: Getting pupils to argue about causes
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Building the Habit of Evidential Thinking
Teaching History article
Anna Aiken and her history colleagues had been reflecting on the stubborn problem of students failing to tackle GCSE questions about sources with adequate thought or understanding of evidence. Teaching them the typical requirements of the GCSE examination even appeared to make things worse, encouraging superficiality and failing to bring about secure responses. Aiken and her colleagues noted that the problems...
Building the Habit of Evidential Thinking
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Women in British Coal Mining
Historian article
With the final closure of Britain’s deep coal mines, Chris Wrigley examines the long-standing involvement of women in and around this challenging and dangerous form of work.
With the closure in 2015 of Thoresby and Kellingley mines, the last two working deep coal mines in Britain, leaving only open-cast coal...
Women in British Coal Mining
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Move Me On 195: trainee has not been given any scope to learn to plan
Teaching History feature
Move Me On is designed to build critical, informed debate about the character of teacher training, teacher education and professional development. It is also designed to offer practical help to all involved in training new history teachers. Each issue presents a situation in initial teacher education/training with an emphasis upon...
Move Me On 195: trainee has not been given any scope to learn to plan
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Visual literacy: Look, talk, write - Using a picture to extend vocabulary
Primary History article
Editorial note: Primary History's theme edition on Visual Literacy, PH 49, Summer 2008, addressed the role of visual literacy in developing pupil language: spoken, enacted and written.
Introduction - words for pictures
Stimulus - child engagement
Some years ago, a friend's eight year old daughter arrived with a pack of...
Visual literacy: Look, talk, write - Using a picture to extend vocabulary
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Extending Primary Children's thinking through artefacts
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
A research project was carried out with Maltese primary school children at San Andrea Infant and Middle school to see if learning strategies could accelerate pupils' cognitive development. The research involved a range of historical sources:...
Extending Primary Children's thinking through artefacts
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M&S brings over 130 years of archives into your classroom
Article
There is something really magical about making your own discoveries. Investigating something sparked by your own curiosity and using your own skills of observation and deduction to find out more is exciting. Human beings have always wanted to find out about our history and our place in the world –...
M&S brings over 130 years of archives into your classroom
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Is There a Place for The Holocaust in the Primary Curriculum?
Article
The Holocaust – the murder of approximately six million Jewish men, women and children by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War – is possibly the most difficult event that any history teacher will ever have to teach. Most obviously, it can be deeply upsetting, for educators...
Is There a Place for The Holocaust in the Primary Curriculum?
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New, Novice or Nervous? 167: Confidence with substantive knowledge
Teaching History feature
This page is for those new to the published writings of history teachers. Each problem you wrestle with, other teachers have wrestled with too...
History is a complex enterprise. In order to produce sophisticated arguments, pupils need firm foundations. One foundation is knowledge of the argumentative structures that historians...
New, Novice or Nervous? 167: Confidence with substantive knowledge
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Causation maps: emphasising chronology in causation exercises
Teaching History article
Analogies for teaching about causation abound. Rick Rogers is alert, however, to the risks inherent in drawing on everyday ideas to explain historical processes.
What most often gets lost is the importance of the chronological dimension; both the length of time during which some contributory causes may have been present,...
Causation maps: emphasising chronology in causation exercises
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Triumphs Show: ‘The Strands of Memory’
Teaching History feature
In 2014, a group of French pupils from Lycée Léopold Sédar Senghor in Évreux was due to meet a British Second World War veteran, Eric Rackham, to hear him talk about his war experiences. Sadly, he passed away before the planned meeting. Paradoxically, this failed meeting led to the development...
Triumphs Show: ‘The Strands of Memory’
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Out and About in Oxford
Historian feature
The Sheffield Branch of the Historical Association is a very active one. In addition to our monthly meetings we organise a range of study visits, from one-day trips to longer residential tours in the UK and occasionally in mainland Europe. In recent years, these have included visits to Portsmouth, Lincoln and Newark, Newcastle and Northumberland, and the battlefields of Waterloo....
Out and About in Oxford
