Reading the works of professional historians is one of the most rewarding ways of broadening students’ thinking about History. However, this can be a problematic undertaking! Historians will often present differing views on the same topic, leaving the reader bewildered as to what to believe. Nevertheless, thinking about seemingly differing arguments can be an enriching […]
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By Gemma Bott At last the final half term of the year has arrived. The time of year when you can get caught up with all of those jobs you’ve been putting off or just not had time to do. For secondary school teachers, exam classes have left, hopefully leaving extra PPA time in the […]
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Andy Chandler-Grevatt Back to School. The end of the summer break and the new term. New students, new timetable, new you? What will you do differently this school year? An often neglected part of our ambitions, planning and targets is looking after ourselves. How are you going to look after yourself this year? Teachers are […]
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Professor Chris Kyriacou I have spent more than 30 years teaching about and doing research on what constitutes ‘effective’ teaching. Over the years I have become more and more convinced that the key to being a successful teacher, both in terms of the quality of learning you promote, and in terms of maintaining your own […]
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It’s been almost a month since the Historical Association Conference, and I am still feeling as high as a kite. I arrived in Chester on the Friday afternoon and after a walk round the Cathedral my daughter and I headed to the conference to have a nosy. I could not believe how many people were […]
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A new Ofsted inspection framework will be used with schools from September 2019. The four key inspection elements will be: quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management. Notably, the ‘outcomes’ element has gone and there is a clear shift in focus towards the way a school designs and implements its […]
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This year, the 6th June marks the 75th anniversary since the D-Day landings in 1944. Operation Overlord is one of those events in history which many students will have at least an understanding of what it was, but may not know the full picture. The 75th anniversary also gives us the opportunity to reflect on […]
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May brings lots of exciting opportunities, but the highlight of the calendar for me has to be the Historical Association Conference . This year it is taking place on the 17th-18th May in Chester – a city steeped in History, which should inspire your teaching from Key Stage 1 through to A Level. Every year, I doubt that the […]
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In 2018 we surveyed over 1,300 primary and secondary school teachers about their experiences of the Word Gap in schools and collated our findings in the Oxford Language Report . The report found evidence of a significant word gap in UK schools, an increasing problem which is holding back children’s learning. Following on from this research, we partnered […]
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The way AQA have included the Historic Environment (HE) study in their specification is an absolute gift to students and teachers. Rather than having an extra paper to think about, the HE is embedded seamlessly into the highly engaging British Depth Study units. Our department ‘sells’ this section of the course to our budding historians […]
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