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My essays could go on forever: using Key Stage 3 to improve performance at GCSE
Teaching History article
History teachers are waking up to the fact that you cannot raise standards in GCSE by very much if you leave this work until Year 10. To leave it that late is to resort to surface, tactical moves rather than to address the deep reasons why so many pupils find...
My essays could go on forever: using Key Stage 3 to improve performance at GCSE
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History, citizenship and Oliver Stone
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
When is a work of art a work of history? How can we get our students to appreciate the difference without ignoring the overlap? How should we ask our students to approach the historical film...
History, citizenship and Oliver Stone
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Primary History 102: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 102
As the days lengthen and the first signs of spring begin to appear, there is a renewed sense of energy in our classrooms. Spring always feels like an invitation: to open the doors, to step outside, and to think differently about where and how history learning...
Primary History 102: Out now
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Cunning Plan 99: 'a world study after 1900'
Teaching History feature
This unit could still become a trawl through two World Wars and then the Cold War (if you don't run out of time). So, when reviewing your planning why not take advantage of being at the turn of a century? Ask pupils what will the twentieth century be remembered for?...
Cunning Plan 99: 'a world study after 1900'
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Primary History 101: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 101
When we were discussing editing issue 101, our minds immediately went to Dalmatians – the book and the film! As a result, there may be more references to animals than usual in this edition. Kate Rigby’s article draws out the ways in which animals have helped us, in...
Primary History 101: Out now
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Primary History 100: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 100
We are proud to present you with the hundredth edition of Primary History journal. It is a publication that has developed and changed over the intervening years, adjusting and amending as the curriculum and teaching approaches have varied. At its heart, however, has always been the...
Primary History 100: Out now
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On-demand webinar series: Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
On-demand webinar series for primary teachers and history subject leaders
What does this series cover?
This practical series of webinars will identify what confuses pupils in primary history and how such confusion and misconceptions can be avoided and challenged. Through examples of careful planning and activities it will show how pupils can develop an accurate and nuanced understanding of chronology...
On-demand webinar series: Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
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Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
HA policies
As a membership charity our purpose is to promote the study, teaching and enjoyment of history to the widest possible audience. We want everyone, regardless of background, to be able to engage with, debate, examine and shape history. As part of our ethos on diversity and inclusion we will not...
Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
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Primary History 99: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 99
Welcome to Primary History 99! As the countdown to our 100th edition begins, it is pleasing to read the findings of the 2024 Primary History Survey, which shows that children (and teachers) continue to love learning about the past. We know that history is a diverse and inclusive subject,...
Primary History 99: Out now
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Primary History 98: Out now
Article
Read Primary History 98
This edition goes to print when the post-election landscape in still hazy, especially regarding the role of history in the primary curriculum. We can remain optimistic that history will be a key part of a broad and balanced curriculum. As we patiently await future changes (it...
Primary History 98: Out now
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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
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Move Me On 91: work with historical sources lacks focus
The problem page for history mentors
Problem: Mike Jones, student history teacher, is half-way through his PGCE year. He is making unusually good progress in his knowledge, understanding and practice with regard to the use of sources in history. He also appears to have no difficulty with classroom management and relationships with pupils. He easily creates...
Move Me On 91: work with historical sources lacks focus
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Primary History 96: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 96: Climate and Environment
This edition of Primary History Journal is a special edition. It focuses on the challenge of climate change and the need for sustainability, a challenge that is becoming increasingly urgent. It is a joint project with Teaching History, our secondary counterpart, to which...
Primary History 96: Out now
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Duffy's devices: teaching Year 13 to read and write
Teaching History article
Rachel Ward’s intriguing title seems a little out of place in an edition on teaching the most able. The point she makes, though, is that even our very brightest post-16 students need to be encouraged both to engage with the historiography surrounding their course and to learn to write with...
Duffy's devices: teaching Year 13 to read and write
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Primary History 95: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 95
Welcome to Primary History 95! We are now well into the first term of the new school year, and it is heartening to know that children around the country will have been rediscovering the joy of history once again.
As historians we are privileged to explore the treasures...
Primary History 95: Out now
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Primary History 94: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 94
It may be tempting to imagine that a stream of good authors send in a range of articles and all that is needed is to tidy them up a bit and publish. If this were the case there would be no need for an editorial board....
Primary History 94: Out now
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CPD events terms and conditions
Information
Please read these terms and conditions carefully before booking onto any of the Historical Association's [HA] CPD events. You should understand that by booking any of our CPD Events, you agree to adhere to these terms and conditions.
Please note that these terms and conditions are only applicable to the...
CPD events terms and conditions
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Helping Year 9 evaluate explanations for the Holocaust
Teaching History article
‘It made my brain hurt, but in a good way': helping Year 9 learn to make and to evaluate explanations for the Holocaust
Why genocides occur is a perplexing and complex question. Leanne Judson reports a strategy designed to help students think about perpetration and evaluate and propose explanations for...
Helping Year 9 evaluate explanations for the Holocaust
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Triumphs Show 148.1: collaborating to commemorate Olaudah Equiano
Teaching History feature
How a drink in the bar at the SHP conference - and discovery of a shared interest in ICT - led to the campaign for a Blue Plaque for an eighteenth-century abolitionist.
What do the 1970 Brazil World Cup-winning team, Charles Darwin and Vanilla Ice all have in common? This...
Triumphs Show 148.1: collaborating to commemorate Olaudah Equiano
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Cunning Plan 102.1: teaching decolonisation and the end of apartheid
Article
Cunning Plan for teaching decolonisation and the end of apartheid to 13 and 14 year-olds. The rationale behind this teaching unit is manifold: first, it takes away the idea in the children’s minds that all that happened in the twentieth century is world war. Second, it is designed to appeal...
Cunning Plan 102.1: teaching decolonisation and the end of apartheid
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JFK: the medium, the message and the myth
Teaching History article
Dale Banham and Russell Hall present a multi-faceted rationale for an in-depth study of the 1991 film, JFK. They treat it as an ‘interpretation’ in the National Curriculum sense, constructing a varied and meticulous learning journey towards its analysis. By the end of that journey pupils had examined the central...
JFK: the medium, the message and the myth
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Teaching primary history through concepts
Article
Teaching history in schools is quite new (it’s only been in the National Curriculum for English state schools since 1991), but the discipline of history as a subject is very ancient.
Thinking and writing in a recognisably historical way can be traced back to the ancient Greeks. Herodotus, an ancient...
Teaching primary history through concepts
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Do we need another hero? Rorke's Drift
Teaching History article
Do we need another hero? Year 8 get to grips with the heroic myth of the Defence of Rorke's Drift in 1879
Mike Murray shares a lesson sequence in which his students examined changing interpretations of the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879. Building on earlier work on teaching interpretations...
Do we need another hero? Rorke's Drift
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Teaching the Wars of the Roses in primary history
Primary History article
The Tudors is a relatively popular topic for those Key Stage 2 teachers looking at a theme extending beyond 1066. In this article Matthew Sossick argues that there is a large gap in understanding if pupils understand nothing of how the Tudors emerged as such a dominant dynasty. This means...
Teaching the Wars of the Roses in primary history
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The Sasanian Empire
Podcast
The Sasanian Empire (224–651 AD) represents one of the high points in the history of Iranian civilisation, with Sasanian cultural influence spreading far beyond the territory that it controlled, influencing regions as distant as Western Europe, Eastern Africa, China and India.
Following the defeat of the Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD), Ardashir I of the House of Sasan established an...
The Sasanian Empire
