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New, Novice or Nervous? 168: Local history
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...
The opportunities afforded by local history are far from parochial. The study of a neighbouring town, a local battalion, a village street or even a...
New, Novice or Nervous? 168: Local history
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Case Study: World War II evacuation project
Primary History article
Editorial note: The WOW factor. When we first received and read the World War II Evacuation Project case study we simply went WOW! It was genuinely mind-blowing. Below we publish the main sections of the report. They bring to life an invaluable, ground-breaking case-study of national significance.
The case-study involved...
Case Study: World War II evacuation project
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Managing the scope of study
Teaching History article
Anna Dickson and her department sought a solution to the challenges posed to their pupils by the expanded curricular scope of the new GCSE. In particular, they wanted to address the difficulties their pupils experienced in understanding the Cold War. Dickson outlines here how she drew on the work of...
Managing the scope of study
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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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Primary History 77
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
04 Editorial (Read article)
05 HA Primary News
08 Learning about the Past in the Early Years through the Theme of ‘People Who Help Us’ – Helen Crawford (Read article)
10 Is There a Place for The Holocaust in the Primary Curriculum? – Martin Winstone (Read article)
18 ‘It’s A Great...
Primary History 77
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Teaching History 168: Re-examining History
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
02 Editorial (Read article)
03 HA Secondary News
04 HA Update – curriculum planning questions
08 Designing end-of-year exams: trials and tribulations – Matt Stanford (Read article)
16 Learning without limits: how not to leave some learners with a thin gruel of a curriculum – Richard Kerridge (Read article)
24 From...
Teaching History 168: Re-examining History
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King James’s Book of Sports, 1617
Historian article
Forty years after his higher degree research into the history of sport, Trevor James explores the much wider context in which that research now stands.
Four hundred years ago, in 1617, James I made a decisive intervention into the simmering debate which had existed since the puritanical upsurge in Queen...
King James’s Book of Sports, 1617
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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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The end of the Roman Empire
Historian article
Guy de la Bédoyère considers whether the Roman Empire ever really fell or simply went through endless processes of change that makes it an integral presence in our lives today.
The fall of the Roman Empire is like the end of the dinosaurs. It’s one of the vast dramatic crisis moments we love...
The end of the Roman Empire
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The End of Germany’s Colonial Empire
Historian article
Daniel Steinbach asks why the loss of the German colonies in Africa was perceived as a powerful symbol of Germany’s deliberate humiliation at the end of the First World War.
Famously, Germany’s first and last shots of the First World War were fired in Africa. From its beginning to its...
The End of Germany’s Colonial Empire
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On-demand webinar: Black British history
Webinar series: Decolonising the secondary history curriculum
Webinar series: Decolonising the secondary history curriculum
Session 2: Black British history
This 90-minute recorded webinar will cover an introductory discussion about the scope and opportunities for including Black stories in British history. It will include particular references to teaching Black British History and the Second World War.
Release date: Monday 30...
On-demand webinar: Black British history
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On-demand webinar: Histories of Islamic societies
Webinar series: Decolonising the secondary history curriculum
Webinar series: Decolonising the secondary history curriculum
Session 3: Histories of Islamic societies
This 90-minute recorded webinar will cover three elements: an introductory discussion about the scope and opportunities for exploring Islamic societies; Enquiry One: Science and Knowledge in Medieval Muslim societies; Enquiry Two: Modernity and Iran in the 20th century....
On-demand webinar: Histories of Islamic societies
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The Historian 134: The End of Empire
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Reviews
5 Editorial (Read article)
6 The end of the Roman Empire – Guy de la Bédoyère (Read article)
10 My Favourite History Place: Hadrian’s Wall – Sue Temple (Read article)
11 Empire cocktails in ten tweets
12 The Aztec Empire: a surprise ending? – Matthew Restall (Read article)
19 The President’s...
The Historian 134: The End of Empire
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Triumphs Show 167: Keeping the 1960s complicated
Teaching History feature: celebrating and sharing success
During her PGCE year, it became evident to Rachel Coleman just how much pupils struggled with the complicated nature of history. They were troubled in particular by the lack of definitive answers, by the range of perspectives that might be held at the time of a particular event or development...
Triumphs Show 167: Keeping the 1960s complicated
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Inverting the telescope: investigating sources from a different perspective
Teaching History article
As historians, we are dependent on evidence, which comes in many varieties. Rosalind Stirzaker here introduces a project which she ran two years ago to encourage her students to think about artefacts in a different way. They have examined randomly preserved artefacts such as those of Pompeii, and sets of...
Inverting the telescope: investigating sources from a different perspective
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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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Ideas for Assemblies: Refugee stories
Primary History feature
Please note: this piece was written before Sir Mo Farah’s 2022 disclosure that he was trafficked to the UK as a child, so some of its content is no longer accurate.
An assembly could focus on the achievements of their lives, experiences as child refugees and migrants, and how they overcame...
Ideas for Assemblies: Refugee stories
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Did all Ancient Greek women stay at home and weave?
Primary History article
We tend to focus on the bigger picture in teaching on the Ancient Greeks – democracy; Olympic Games; architecture; theatre; myths and legends – but children love the minutiae of everyday life. And half of the population of Ancient Greece was female. So just what part in life did women play? And how different was it to that of men?...
Did all Ancient Greek women stay at home and weave?
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The gall nuts and lapis trail
Primary History article
We are used to images of monks copying out texts in a very ornate manner. Books such as the Lindisfarne Gospels still absolutely amaze us with their colour, style and appearance. It must have taken hours and hours to copy out a text like that.
But how was it done? And how did the monks make the inks they...
The gall nuts and lapis trail
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How technology has changed our lives
Primary History article
This article links teaching about Sir Tim Berners-Lee to Changes in Living Memory and Significant Individuals and makes comparisons between Caxton and the impact of earlier developments in communications technology.
It provides interesting topics for discussion about significance (pupils may be surprised by the idea that they are living through an exciting period of history at the moment). It even has the...
How technology has changed our lives
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Coherence in primary history
Primary History article
This article looks at what coherence is, how it can be mapped and ways in which classroom activities can enhance pupils’ awareness of the past in a more coherent way.
What is it?
The term ‘coherence’ has been around a fair time now. Most reincarnations of the National Curriculum have referred to the need for...
Coherence in primary history
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What to expect when you choose to study History at University
A student's guide from personal experience to challenges you may have to face
Challenges you may have to face include:
No comprehensive text
This resource is free to everyone. For access to a wealth of other online resources from podcasts to articles and publications, plus support and advice though our “How To”, examination and transition to university guides and careers resources, join the...
What to expect when you choose to study History at University
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Teaching History 167: Complicating Narratives
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
02 Editorial (Read article)
03 HA Secondary News
04 HA Update: Partition of British India
08 ‘I feel if I say this in my essay it’s not going to be as strong’: multi-voicedness, ‘oral rehearsal’ and year 13 students’ written arguments – James Edward Carroll (Read article)
18 Why are...
Teaching History 167: Complicating Narratives
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Punk, Politics and the collapse of consensus in Britain
Podcast
2012 Annual Conference LectureShot by both sides: Punk, Politics and the collapse of consensus in BritainMatthew Worley: Reader in History, University of ReadingThis paper examines the way in which organisations of the far left and far right endeavoured to appropriate elements of British youth culture to validate their analysis of...
Punk, Politics and the collapse of consensus in Britain
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Fighting a different war
Podcast
2012 Annual Conference LectureFighting a different war: contesting the place of the queer soldier in the mythology of the Second World WarEmma Vickers: Lecturer in Modern British History University of Reading In the mid-1990s, the queer soldier finally became visible. On the streets, gay rights campaigners led by Peter Tatchell...
Fighting a different war
