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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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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AQA has released its examiner reports for the AQA A Level History exams which took place in the summer. The reports overall have been really positive, with students generally performing well. We have summarized the key issues that the examiners found students needed to improve, and collated some free content that address these issues to […]
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The last four years have seen a variety of events, projects and memorials to mark the centenary of the First World War. As we head into the autumn term, thoughts turn to how we as historians can commemorate the Armistice of 1918, a key turning point in ending the conflict. Although the war did not […]
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As teacher educators, working with PGCE trainees in many different History departments, we knew that a workshop which focused on supporting struggling GCSE students would draw people in when we presented it at the Historical Association Annual Conference. All new exam specifications create huge anxieties for teachers, but the sense of pressure associated with the […]
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