-
The Maya: a 4,000-year-old civilisation in the Americas
Primary History article
Obscured by the fame of the Aztec empire or shrouded by a veil of mystery, the cultural history of the Maya has generally been misunderstood by the British public. Maya civilisation developed in a territory the size of Germany and Denmark together (nearly 400,000 km2). This vast territory shows three...
The Maya: a 4,000-year-old civilisation in the Americas
-
Recorded Webinar: Britain's eighteenth-century tradition of popular riot and protest
Article
Eighteenth-century Britons were ruled by a restricted oligarchy of landowners and plutocrats. Yet the wider population had a proud tradition of assertiveness and readiness to protest. ‘Britons never will be slaves!’ as the chorus of 'Rule Britannia' (1740) announced pointedly (if somewhat ironically, in view of Britain’s role in the...
Recorded Webinar: Britain's eighteenth-century tradition of popular riot and protest
-
What sort of history should school history be? Debate Podcast
Debate Podcast
On July 18 2011 the Historical Association hosted a public debate chaired by Professor Simon Schama at the Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London.
With the history curriculum being the focus of intense interest the following series of podcasts from the debate examine what that curriculum might look like. Joining Simon Schama was five...
What sort of history should school history be? Debate Podcast
-
Film: Rome in the world/the world in Rome with Dr Lucy Donkin
Article
In-person tickets to HA Annual Conference 2023 are now limited but you can still book for an incredible virtual programme. To give you a taster of the fantastic sessions on offer, we've published one of the sessions from last year's HA Conference on Rome in the world/the world in Rome with...
Film: Rome in the world/the world in Rome with Dr Lucy Donkin
-
Film: “The Talk Should Not Be Broadcast”: Homosexuality and the BBC before 1967
Virtual Branch
In the centenary year of the BBC, this Virtual Branch talk from Marcus Collins relates the strange tale of how the BBC did and did not broadcast about homosexuality in the 1950s and 1960s and what it tells us about sexuality, broadcasting and the origins of permissiveness in mid-twentieth century Britain.
Marcus Collins...
Film: “The Talk Should Not Be Broadcast”: Homosexuality and the BBC before 1967
-
Building St James's spire: Louth's guilds and popular piety in the later middle ages
Virtual Branch Lecture Recording
Medieval historian Dr Claire Kennan continued our Virtual Branch series with a local history talk on the building of St James's spire, Louth.
In her talk Kennan traces the important role that Louth's major guilds of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Holy Trinity played in the building of the St James’s spire. Throughout the...
Building St James's spire: Louth's guilds and popular piety in the later middle ages
-
Film: 'Mayflower Lives: building a New Jerusalem in the New World'
Article
Historian and author Martyn Whittock recently gave a lecture for the HA Virtual Branch on 'Mayflower Lives: building a New Jerusalem in the New World'. In 1620, 102 ill-prepared asylum seekers landed two months later than planned, in the wrong place on the eastern coast of North America. By the next summer, half of...
Film: 'Mayflower Lives: building a New Jerusalem in the New World'
-
History in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1
E-CPD
N.B. This unit was produced before the 2014 curriculum and therefore while much of the advice is still useful, there may be some out of date references or links.
Much has been written about the benefits of teaching history in the primary school. A sense of history provides identity.
Understanding history...
History in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1
-
Studying The Tudors: Britain and the wider world in Tudor times
E-CPD
The following unit gives some ideas to teachers on how to:a) improve subject knowledge;b) find useful contemporary sources (from Tudor times);c) link sources with the curriculum and with appropriate activities.
Please note: this guide was written before the 2014 National Curriculum and some of the advice may no longer be relevant.
Studying The Tudors: Britain and the wider world in Tudor times
-
Film: Primary History at greater depth
Primary History Workshop Annual Conference 2019
This primary workshop took place at at the Historical Association Annual Conference, Chester, May 2019.
In this session, Stuart explored the principles of how working at greater depth can be applied into history units of work to allow the most able of learners to excel and fully reach their potential in history...
Film: Primary History at greater depth
-
Beyond Multiple Choice: Questions and Answers, Pedagogy and Technology in the History classroom
E-CPD
*This unit was produced a number of years ago and whilst still relevant from the pedagogy side of things many of the ICT aspects are outdated.
Interactivity: A Grail-like QuestIn recent years the buzzword in many sectors, whether it be business, communications, entertainment or education, has been interactivity. One of...
Beyond Multiple Choice: Questions and Answers, Pedagogy and Technology in the History classroom
-
A creative Egyptian project
Primary History article
Ideally when teaching history, teachers will look to deliver projects that will engage and motivate, hopefully making the hard work of being creative stimulating and rewarding, based upon questioning, enquiry, investigation of sources and reaching conclusions grounded in the evidence.Ancient Egypt is one of those history topics which, because it...
A creative Egyptian project
-
On-demand webinar: Creating curriculum pathways: Civilisation
Primary webinar recording release for 2023–24
Webinar series: Creating curriculum pathways through primary history at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
Session 7: Civilisation
An overview will be given of the development of historic civilisations including references to the Bronze and Iron Ages, ancient civilisations, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. This will include links...
On-demand webinar: Creating curriculum pathways: Civilisation
-
On-demand webinar: Creating curriculum pathways: Religion
Primary webinar recording release for 2023–24
Webinar series: Creating curriculum pathways through primary history at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
Session 4: Religion
An overview will be given of the development of religions and interactions between them from the Stone Age onwards, taking in ancient civilisations, ancient Greece, The Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings and...
On-demand webinar: Creating curriculum pathways: Religion
-
On-demand webinar: Creating curriculum pathways: Empire
Primary webinar recording release for 2023–24
Webinar series: Creating curriculum pathways through primary history at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
Session 3: Empire
An overview will be given of the development of empires over time taking in those that developed in ancient civilisations such as Egypt, colonisation by Greek city states and the empire...
On-demand webinar: Creating curriculum pathways: Empire
-
On-demand webinar: Creating curriculum pathways: Monarchy
Primary webinar recording release for 2023–24
Webinar series: Creating curriculum pathways through primary history at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
Session 2: MonarchyPlease note this webinar was recorded in May 2022, before the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Reference will be made to the study of possible significant individuals at Key Stage 1 such...
On-demand webinar: Creating curriculum pathways: Monarchy
-
Virtual Branch: Shylock's Venice
The remarkable history of Venice’s Jews and the Ghetto
This is the story of the Venice Ghetto, the corner of the city where Jews were exiled; free to walk the streets by day, locked behind gates and walls at night. Yet, gates and walls notwithstanding, from its establishment in 1516 until the fall of Venice in 1798, the ghetto...
Virtual Branch: Shylock's Venice
-
Local History through Drama (Bursary Project)
The Women Chain Makers Strike Of 1910
A Campaign Project For Primary Schools Focusing On The Women Chain Makers Strike Of 1910.
The Historical Association was left a legacy by Joan Lewin which became the Joan Lewin Education Bursary Fund. Each year, applicants apply for grants for education projects surrounding aspects of teaching and learning, resources, or...
Local History through Drama (Bursary Project)
-
Webinar series: Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
HA webinar series for primary teachers and history subject leaders
We know that substantive knowledge in history is the substance ('the stuff') we teach: the facts which we are sure about and which all have to know, the names and places, the events, and well-known stories. But experts in a subject, such as historians, have different types of question they ask of that substance....
Webinar series: Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
-
Recorded webinar: Avoiding confusion with chronology and change in primary history
Webinar series: Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
This practical webinar identifies what confuses pupils in the teaching of chronology and the disciplinary concept of change and continuity and shows how such confusion and misconceptions can be avoided and challenged. Examples of careful planning and activities are given so that pupils can develop an accurate and nuanced understanding of...
Recorded webinar: Avoiding confusion with chronology and change in primary history
-
Recorded Webinar: New Approaches to Classical Sparta
Article
This webinar starts with a basic overview of the city-states of Classical Greece (roughly 500 to 350 BC) and Sparta’s place within their geography and history. It then looks at some common myths about the nature of Spartan society and politics, focusing on areas where recent research has transformed our...
Recorded Webinar: New Approaches to Classical Sparta
-
Round Table Discussion: Does Content Matter?
Annual Conference 2010
This round table discussion took place on Saturday 15th May 2010. The panel includes: Dr Katharine Burn (Editor of Teaching History), Dr Michael Riley (Director of the Schools History Project.); Colin Jones (President of the Royal Historical Society and Professor of History at Queen Mary, London); David Evans (Former Head of Eton).
Round Table Discussion: Does Content Matter?
-
Virtual Branch: From Pirates to Princes Normans in Eleventh Century Europe
Article
Normandy originated from a grant of land to Rollo, a Viking leader, in the early tenth century. By the end of that century Normans were to be found in southern Italy, then in Britain and, at the end of the eleventh century, in the near East on the First Crusade....
Virtual Branch: From Pirates to Princes Normans in Eleventh Century Europe
-
Recorded Webinar: African economic development in historical perspective
Article
Popular discussions of Africa often focus on the region’s relative poverty, and ask what role historical events like colonialism and the slave trade have played in shaping its development over time. For a long time, the absence of systematic data on African economies before c. 1960 meant these discussions were...
Recorded Webinar: African economic development in historical perspective
-
Recorded Webinar: Peopling London, 47AD–1960
Article
This webinar explores themes around the causes of migration over time and look at practical outcomes in the classroom. It focuses on migration over time in London from the Saxons to the Windrush, through sources and stories, though the themes and ideas used are relevant to schools beyond London. Topics...
Recorded Webinar: Peopling London, 47AD–1960
