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Primary history in the 21st century: Back to the past?
Primary History article
During my teaching of history I have been amazed by the asinine questions that children and adults ask about the subject matter. For example, a child once asked, ‘Sir, if Queen Cleopatra hadn't been bitten by the asp would she still be alive today?'. This question suggests that despite comprehensive...
Primary history in the 21st century: Back to the past?
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Primary History 43: Time and Time Again
Journal
05 Editorial
06 Primary Noticeboard
09 In My View: working with historical picture books — Carole French
10 Time past: working with historical picture books — Fiona Collins (Read article)
14 ’Discovery visits’: what's new at English Heritage for schools? — Kate Whitworth
17 Think Bubble
18 How should we...
Primary History 43: Time and Time Again
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British National Curricula For History 1989-2011
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The national history curricula for Northern Ireland, England and Wales have passed through various stages since working groups were set up in England and Wales in 1989. Developments have been distinct, with Northern Ireland having quite...
British National Curricula For History 1989-2011
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Case Study: Children's questions about historical pictures
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
Pictures are an important source of evidence for children to use to find out about the past. They have an immediate impact and children of all ages and abilities find that they have...
Case Study: Children's questions about historical pictures
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Primary History 28
Journal
Planning for Diversity in the KS2 History Programme, Looking at buildings as a source to developing historical enquiries, Using artefacts and roleplay in ross-phase, cross-curricular and community partnership work, Queen Victoria, Enhancing Temporal Cognition, practical activities for the primary classroom and much more... Click the link below to read the...
Primary History 28
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Integration and cross-curricularity: History, Humanities And Social Studies
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
From the late 1960s until 1989 history was almost universally taught in primary schools as an element in integrated crosscurricular programmes, normally social studies or humanities.
The 1989/1990 National Curriculum: History radically changed this. It introduced...
Integration and cross-curricularity: History, Humanities And Social Studies
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Key Stage 1 local history through fresh eyes
Primary History article
Upon approaching this article on teaching the local history component of the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 I decided to focus on one school, to look at what they normally deliver, and to put forward suggestions that could be used to enhance their existing unit of study.
I visited Pencoys...
Key Stage 1 local history through fresh eyes
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Primary History 41: The power of a good story
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
05 Editorial
06 Primary Noticeboard
08 Creating stories for teaching primary history — Rosie Turner-Bisset (Read article)
10 In My View: using children's literature to look at bias and stereotyping — Russell Jones (Read article)
13 Stories about people: narrative, imagined biography and citizenship in the Key Stage 2 curriculum...
Primary History 41: The power of a good story
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A view from the KS1 classroom - investigating an artefact
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
In the autumn of 2009 I saw some of the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard on display at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and stood in awe at the skills of the craftsmen. Reminded so vividly of the...
A view from the KS1 classroom - investigating an artefact
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‘So why did they go into hiding?’ Anne Frank in her historical and social context
Primary History article
All too often Anne Frank becomes a symbol, used to show ‘the triumph of hope over evil’, even though she was killed during the Holocaust. Sometimes she is quoted utterly out of context to provide uplifting sentiments, or short phrases with redemptive messages.
What this lesson sets out to do...
‘So why did they go into hiding?’ Anne Frank in her historical and social context
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Case Study: Constructing women's past and gender perspective
Primary History article
Pupils as Journalists
Background of the Study
Historiography has expanded to include all social groups and identities in the community. The social historiographical approach became extremely important in the 20th century (Cooper, 2007, pp. 41-2). In parallel with social historiography and related second wave feminism, women began to write their...
Case Study: Constructing women's past and gender perspective
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History and Illustration: Quentin Blake
Primary History article
When, at your invitation, I bring together the words ‘History' and ‘Illustration', two images spring immediately to mind. One is John Leech's illustrations to The Comic History of England (1847-1848); the other is the drawings that Ronald Searle brought back from being a prisoner of war of the Japanese a hundred...
History and Illustration: Quentin Blake
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Using the back cover image: Exploring the collections of Victorian naturalists
Primary History feature
Many museums around the country house natural history collections that offer children the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of species from around the world. Using the collections of Victorian explorers and naturalists offers children a historical perspective with a cross-curricular approach which has a great appeal. Yet for...
Using the back cover image: Exploring the collections of Victorian naturalists
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Primary History 46: Editorial: History, Citizenship and the Curriculum - A Fit Purpose
Primary History article
Read Primary History 46
In AD 62 an earthquake devastated the town of Pompeii. In AD 1976 Jim Callaghan in his Ruskin speech set off a seismic shock that shook education to its foundations. Almost two decades after the 62 AD Pompeii earthquake’s warning signs the volcanic explosion of Vesuvius...
Primary History 46: Editorial: History, Citizenship and the Curriculum - A Fit Purpose
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Using museum and heritage sites to promote higher-level learning at KS2
Primary History article
The Key Stage 2 Primary History Curriculum sets ambitious challenges for pupils: "…They should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. They should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They should understand how our knowledge...
Using museum and heritage sites to promote higher-level learning at KS2
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The 2014 History National Curriculum: how to get the best from heritage
Primary History article
We all know that site visits are good for children - not least because they give a break from the normal school routine - and there are a plethora of heritage sites both local and national that are able to offer facilities for school visits. But we also know that...
The 2014 History National Curriculum: how to get the best from heritage
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Back to basics: using artefacts in the classroom
Primary History article
While most teachers recognise the importance of artefacts in history education, knowing how to use them effectively can often prove more challenging. This article suggests ways to investigate historical objects and provides a framework to support children’s observations.
Why use artefacts?
Artefacts are simply any object used by people in...
Back to basics: using artefacts in the classroom
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Using different sources to bring a topic to life: The Rebecca Riots
Primary History article
For primary school pupils a key aim of the National Curriculum for history is to understand the method of historical enquiry. Working with original sources is of course central to the whole process and provides a great way to inspire pupils’ experience of the subject. Young pupils, once they have...
Using different sources to bring a topic to life: The Rebecca Riots
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Primary History 31: The Industrial Revolution
Journal
The Industrial Revolution and the Children's Employment Act of 1842, Teaching for purpose, Revising the English Reformation, Recreating the Bristol blitz using artefacts and roleplay, Teaching and meaning: supporting historical understanding in the primary classroom and much more... Click the link below to read the full article!
Primary History 31: The Industrial Revolution
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Primary History 33
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
3 Editorial
4 Primary Noticeboard
5 In My View: Revolting subjects? – Dr Grant Bage
7 Breadth and Balance within the primary history curriculum? – John Clements
8 History co-ordinators’ dilemmas – Karin Doull
10 QCA Update – Jerome Freeman
11 Multicultural teaching in Portugal: a perspective – Manuela Carvalho...
Primary History 33
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History and the National Primary Strategy
Primary History article
The Historical Association poses a series of questions to the Director of the Primary National Strategy, Kevan Collins.
History and the National Primary Strategy
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Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s
Primary History feature
Photographs are very useful and productive documents when teaching history. They provide a snapshot of the past such as this one from just outside Selfridges on Oxford Street in London c.1962-64. Combined with further images from Heritage Explorer, clips from Pathé News, extracts from the 1911 Census, locally gathered images...
Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s
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Local railway history: using visual resources
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Before the 1960s British Rail's spider-web network of railway lines reached every town and thousands of villages. Where you live would have been within a thirty minute journey from a station; scroll down to look at...
Local railway history: using visual resources
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Primary History 24
Journal
The Odyssey: A musical land and historical journey, History and the literacy hour, How to use your local record office, Museums and primary history, Reading and learning from difficult and challenging texts, Stories to extend and support the study of life in Victorian times, Twist in the tales, Using school...
Primary History 24
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The Standing Stone
Article
‘The Standing Stone’ story and the activities around it developed from several different starting-points. One was the requirement in the 2014 National Curriculum for history at Key Stage 2 for children to be taught prehistory, specifically about ‘changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age’, with Bronze...
The Standing Stone
