History, it often seems to me, isn’t essentially about the past. In so many ways, it’s about the present and the future – the afterlife in records, interpretation, and impact on thought. In current news, I’m struck by what lives on from bygone days in three seemingly unlike examples: a controversial law (Poland), yet another […]
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This month marks one-hundred years since The Representation of the Peoples Act was passed which, for the first time, gave some women the right to vote. To celebrate we have created this interactive timeline which shows some of the key dates and events which contributed to women gaining the right to vote in Britain. Taken […]
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In the AQA GCSE History specification, the Historic Environment element is integrated with the British Depth Study. This means that as students develop an in-depth knowledge of a British period, their understanding of that period would in turn help them to understand the historic site. It is useful to approach the study of a historic […]
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Teachers are telling us they are most concerned about getting to grips with KS3 Assessment in light of the new GCSE specifications, so you might like to watch Aaron Wilkes and Steve Day’s expert webinar on KS3 Assessment. In the webinar, Aaron and Steve share best practice about KS3 History assessment, and discuss what OUP’s […]
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The Reformation is of great significance in British and European history and is a topic that students will likely come across multiple times during their study of History. This year marks 500 years since the start of the Reformation with the publication of Martin Luther’s ‘95 Theses’ in 1517. Martin Luther’s attack on the Church […]
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Assessing progress at KS3 It’s the issue in KS3 that won’t seem to go away – how do we accurately (and simply) assess what students know and can do at KS3, and what does ‘progression’ look like in History? I know for a fact that teachers have tirelessly grappled with these questions, and probably tried […]
Read more The Franklin Expedition just gets better and better. The present narration, I mean, not the actual expedition in the 19th century. No, that was a wreck in the icy north, costing the lives of all the men! But it’s a splendid example for Theory of Knowledge of the way the past can be reframed by […]
Read more It’s easy to miss the point entirely when treating Indigenous Knowledge in TOK. It’s not a special “category” of knowledge, even though it is listed in our syllabus in parallel with other areas of knowledge. Clustering up indigenous groups across the world to look at their knowledge does not enable us to treat that knowledge […]
Read moreDiffering perspectives are easiest to see when they come into conflict. As a result, it’s tempting for Theory of Knowledge students to seize on conflicts as topics for presentations — and for us as teachers to use them as class examples to illustrate differences in perspectives. As I’m about to do here! I worry a […]
Read more “Civilians Attacked by Chemical Weapons!” Few headlines spark as much outrage. If a TOK class engages students in the questions of knowledge connected with this kind of horrendous event, it can help them feel the importance of the intellectual tools that the course provides for probing into – and reacting to – such events. A reflective piece in the current edition […]
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