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The importance of history teaching
Primary History article
Introduction: The White Paper
The recent Schools' White Paper, The Importance of Teaching, emphasises ‘that the most important factor in determining how well children do is the quality of teachers and teaching' (DfE, 2010:9).
White Paper recommendations include:
1. raising the quality of new entrants to the teaching profession;
2....
The importance of history teaching
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Leave a legacy
Supporting the HA
Anyone can include a legacy to the Historical Association in their will and it does not have to be for a lot of money.
Some people leave us specific gifts of money, while others choose to leave us the residue of their estate once family and friends have been looked...
Leave a legacy
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A knowledge-rich approach to introducing China’s history to Year 9
Teaching History article
Freya George was wondering how best to integrate more Asian histories into her school’s curriculum when a conversation among history teachers on social media led her to Jung Chang’s Wild Swans: three daughters of China. George then planned two enquiries, one introducing twentieth-century China, and one focusing entirely on Chang’s work. George styles...
A knowledge-rich approach to introducing China’s history to Year 9
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Develop your whole school history provision
New and improved features
Corporate membership offers a comprehensive package of support. It delivers all the benefits of individual membership plus an enhanced tier of resources and CPD access to boost the development of your teaching staff and delivery of your whole school history provision.
Enhanced benefits include:
Exclusive access to guides in the...
Develop your whole school history provision
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Planning for history - the coordinator's perspective
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial note: Cathie's paper can be used as a checklist of action points for the planning of Programmes of Study incorporating history.
Starting points
If you are responsible for leading teaching and learning in history, there...
Planning for history - the coordinator's perspective
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A modest proposal for change in Canadian history education
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Peter Seixas recounts the development of a history education reform project in Canada. Like all good histories, it is a complex story and a matter of unanticipated consequences and ironic narrative twists.
Seixas' history is,...
A modest proposal for change in Canadian history education
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Writing Letchworth's war: developing a sense of the local within historical fiction through primary sources
Teaching History article
Writing Letchworth's war: developing a sense of the local within historical fiction through primary sources
Local history, historical fiction, and one of the most significant events of the twentieth century come together in this article as Jon Grant and Dan Townsend suggest a way to enable students to produce better...
Writing Letchworth's war: developing a sense of the local within historical fiction through primary sources
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Using some more unusual sources in the primary classroom
Primary History article
In this article Tim Lomas illustrates how it is valid and creative to go beyond some of the most popular sources used by primary history teachers. He looks at a number of historical enquiries and questions that might be considered as a theme and some sources that might be used....
Using some more unusual sources in the primary classroom
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Campaign: Make an impact and history
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What is the role of history in the curriculum? Is it to give a traditional education or because history is a powerful teacher that we all can learn from? In my view well-taught history doesn't leave...
Campaign: Make an impact and history
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Is There A Future In History? Your Questions Answered!
Student Guides
Q: What use is history to me? It's all about the past - how will it help me get a job?
History IS both interesting AND useful!
As a history student, you will never experience the events that you study; instead you have to build up a picture from the...
Is There A Future In History? Your Questions Answered!
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Pull-out Posters: Primary History 76
Posters: Communication and Sutton Hoo helmet
1. Communication Across the Ages; 2. The British Museum's Sutton Hoo Helmet
Pull-out Posters: Primary History 76
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Primary History 51
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
04 Editorial
06 In my view: Bringing the past to life – Julian Richards (Read article)
07 In my view: The true end of archaeology? – Don Henson (Read article)
08 in my view: Our heritage: use it or lose it – Mike Corbishley (Read article)
10 Think Bubble: Instant Archaeology –...
Primary History 51
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What can rituals reveal about power in the medieval world? Teaching Year 7 pupils to apply interdisciplinary approaches
Teaching History article
Much has been written in recent years about how historical scholarship can be used to shape practice in the classroom. As an historian of the medieval period now working as an history teacher, Dhwani Patel offers a fresh perspective on these debates. During her PGCE year, Patel found herself reflecting...
What can rituals reveal about power in the medieval world? Teaching Year 7 pupils to apply interdisciplinary approaches
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My Favourite History Place: Waterloo Station
Historian feature
Waterloo station may not be an obvious choice for a favourite history place. It is big. It is busy. It’s a place that people pass through rather than linger. Yet its story is interesting. If time permits, an hour spent exploring is a rewarding experience.
Passengers first used Waterloo in...
My Favourite History Place: Waterloo Station
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Cunning Plan… for using the story of Eunice Foote to bring environmental history into the curriculum
Teaching History feature
It was during a rainy Tuesday breaktime that I realised why I was so flippant about including environmental history in my curriculum. ‘The climate, you see,’ I said to my colleague Tamsin as I double-boiled the staffroom kettle, ‘can’t challenge you when you don’t include it.’
Kate Hawkey’s book History and the Climate...
Cunning Plan… for using the story of Eunice Foote to bring environmental history into the curriculum
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Beyond the bolt-on: placing local history at the heart of a diverse and decolonial curriculum
Teaching History article
Students’ rapt response to a filmed interview with a former miner now working as part of the school’s premises team convinced Fred Oxby of the power of local stories. This was not simply because they captured students’ attention, nor even because such stories enabled them to see that history was not...
Beyond the bolt-on: placing local history at the heart of a diverse and decolonial curriculum
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Teaching local history in primary schools: learning about effective practice
Primary History article
Rachel Bruce and Susannah Russell were two of the six primary teachers on the recent Local History Teacher Fellowship. Here they outline the activities they were engaged in and how they produced two very different local history enquiries – one based in York and the other in Wrecclesham, Surrey. They...
Teaching local history in primary schools: learning about effective practice
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Leading Primary History
Leading Primary History
Please note: this guide was written before the 2014 National Curriculum and some of the advice may no longer be relevant. For more up-to-date guidance visit our Primary Subject Leader area (available to Corporate Primary Members) or see:
Progression and assessment without levels
Progression from EYFS to KS3
Tracking pupil progress
Assessment and...
Leading Primary History
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Teaching History 149: In Search of the Question
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
02 Editorial
03 HA Secondary News
04 HA Update
08 Ed Podesta - Helping Year 7 put some flesh on Roman bones (Read article)
18 Diana Laffin - Marr: magpie or marsh harrier? The quest for the common characteristics of the genus ‘historian' with 16- to 19-year-olds (Read article)
26 Cunning...
Teaching History 149: In Search of the Question
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Parliament, people or privilege: Do we need a better understanding of constitutional history?
Historical Association conference 2017: round table discussion
Join our panel, including Dr Alix Green, Professor Tony Badger and Professor Justin Champion as they discuss how recent polls and election results have confounded many pundits. Do calls to ‘give us our country back’ or ‘return our sovereignty’ suggest that many people in liberal democracies need a better understanding of...
Parliament, people or privilege: Do we need a better understanding of constitutional history?
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One of my favourite history places: Hadrian's Wall
Article
Choosing Hadrian’s Wall as one of my favourite places is a bit of a cheat really as it is a 73-mile-long (80 Roman miles) wall punctuated with a whole range of 20 individual sites each worth a visit; from mile castles and forts to desolate sections with fabulous views or...
One of my favourite history places: Hadrian's Wall
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What’s important about...? Sources and evidence
Primary History article
In this timely article, Ailsa Fidler and Chris Russell explore the use of sources and evidence in the teaching of primary history. Referring to Ofsted’s history subject report (July 2023), Ailsa and Chris explore how sources can be used effectively in the classroom and how children’s understanding of the role...
What’s important about...? Sources and evidence
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My Favourite History Place: Hadrian’s Wall
Historian article
Choosing Hadrian’s Wall as one of my favourite places is a bit of a cheat, really, as it is a 73-mile-long (80 Roman miles) wall punctuated with a whole range of 20 individual sites each worth a visit; from mile castles and forts to desolate sections with fabulous views or...
My Favourite History Place: Hadrian’s Wall
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Cunning Plan 191: diving deep into ‘history from below’ with Year 8
Article
Can the ‘subaltern’ speak, Year 8s?
When the Indian scholar and literary theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak asked this question in 1988, she wasn’t asking Year 8s on a Monday morning. What she wanted to explore was whether those marginalised people written out of the archive – ‘the subaltern’ – could...
Cunning Plan 191: diving deep into ‘history from below’ with Year 8
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Doing history: The Old Poor Law in a Regency York Parish 1795–1847
Historian feature
In this regular feature called Doing History, history enthusiasts describe a piece of research they have undertaken and how it sheds light on aspects of local and national history. Here Steve Barrett shows how his exploration of archives in York provided interesting insights into the controversial issue of poor relief, with a focus...
Doing history: The Old Poor Law in a Regency York Parish 1795–1847
