Why I think it’s important to teach history:
A personal view

Written in 2021, this article looks back on over 40 years of involvement in history education, discussing what students can learn about their world and their lives from studying history.

Aims for teaching medieval history at KS3

What can teaching about the Middle Ages contribute to our aims for history teaching? Aims are needed for each unit, not just for a KS3 course in general.

What do history students learn about people and the experience of living?

A very specific aspect of the aims for teaching history – can history help students reflect on their own experience of living?

An introduction to ‘Takeaways’:
And their central role in planning at KS3

I found identifying the ‘takeaways’ – the specific knowledge and understandings I wanted students to remember – fundamentally important in planning lessons, units of works, across KS3 as a whole and at exam level. This article lays out the basic ideas.

The crucial importance of identifying students’ misconceptions

This article 'The assumptions that strangle students’ understanding of the Middle Ages' explains why it’s essential to identify misconceptions and plan teaching to challenge them – one of the most important steps in improving students historical learning about all topics and periods.

The most important questions to ask history students of all ages:
identifying students’ metanarratives and preconceptions

This is more practical than it may sound!

It’s intended primarily for Early Careers Teachers and is concerned with the core importance of establishing what ideas students have about crucial aspects of learning History so that misconceptions can be addressed and re-thought.

Choosing content to create a balanced picture of historical periods

This article discusses one aspect of selecting takeaways – the importance of using takeaways to balance students’ views on periods, particularly to avoid the deeply negative portrayals that can be the result of too much focus on war, disease and other problems.

What Do We Want Students to Understand About the Process of ‘Doing History’?

One major problem over the last 40 years has been the atomisation of teaching about ‘doing history’ – students learn about evidence, causation etc individually but how can we help them see the big picture of the process of studying history - and what is that big picture?

An Under-Estimated Concept?
The centrality of Uncertainty in studying History

A discussion of the importance of helping students become comfortable with uncertainty in their work in History, something which goes against the grain of their conception of History as a fact-based discipline full of ‘right’ answers.

What sense do students make of using scholarship in the classroom?
Contextual questions for early careers teachers

Some questions and context which may help students get more out of their encounters with scholarship in the classroom.

From ‘Sense of Period’ to modelling history at KS3

From Teaching History in 2009, exploring how the components of courses can link together.

Teaching themes across KS3

One of the problems students have is seeing coherence in their work across KS3 – how does what they do in Y9 relate to Y7 and Y8? Following thematic stories across time makes a major contribution to the coherence of KS3 courses. This section of the site contains a series of discussions covering planning issues (e.g. linking depth and outline, integrating British and world history) and individual themes – everyday life, empires, warfare, migration, power and democracy etc.

Building explicit understanding of historical periods into KS3 planning

Do students study periods – or just the events within them? This article argues that study of how periods are interpreted helps give coherence to courses, helps students develop essential historical vocabulary and realise that periods are constructs created by historians.

Creating overview enquiries for individual periods of history

You can’t teach about every major event you’d like to teach about so what’s the alternative? Simply miss some out? This article explains how I created a Big Story enquiry covering many major events in the Middle Ages – an outline of 500 years – in just one textbook chapter and a scripted drama.

Planning and teaching the story of power and democracy at KS3

This article, from Teaching History in 2008, explains the main arguments for building and integrating themes across KS3, exemplifying this through the story of power and democracy across time both in Britain and overseas.

Approaches to Fieldwork: Guidelines for planning and reviewing fieldwork

An introduction to some of the issues involved in planning effective fieldwork, whether at KS2, KS3 or with older students, together with a case-study on Goodrich castle.

Fieldwork in history teaching and learning in universities

Published in The practice of university history teaching, ed. Alan Booth and
Paul Hyland, MUP, 2000

Fun through time – a theme for KS2

How to plan and teach the topic of ‘fun’ – how people had fun through time, from the Romans to the present day. This article was published in Primary History in 2017.

When was it best to live in …? A local history unit

A series of lessons that create an overview of the history of Portsmouth, taught and written by Dan Kneller. This is a great model for planning studies of wherever your locality may be.

Music in the History Classroom

Neil Bates explains, with examples, how and why he uses music in his classroom

The problem of 1066

Not so much a discussion of 1066 as of the broader changes that can be missed by over-concentration on Hastings et al.

The Luttrell Psalter: An Introduction for Teachers

We’ve all seen illustrations from the psalter but, after looking through a complete facsimile, I set out to pass onto teachers what I’d discovered.

Teaching about 1381

What would we like students to remember about the events of 1381?

Urban Bodies by Carole Rawcliffe – Teaching about medieval public health

Urban Bodies: Communal Health in Late Medieval English Towns and Cities

A brilliant book, one of my all-time favourites! Here I tried to summarise some of the main arguments and how it can help teaching about late medieval public health.

The Paston Letters: An Introduction for Teachers

I love reading the Paston Letters and wrote this because I wanted to tell teachers about the family and their letters and pass on ideas for using them in the classroom.

Teaching the Civil War at KS3

Placing the Civil War in the context of your locality, what’s important to remember about the Civil war and where does it fit into the big story of power and democracy?

What would we like students to remember about the Industrial Revolution?

Discussion of possible takeaways - the long-term significance of the Industrial Revolution, the overall story and what it was like to live through this immense change – it was not always negative.

More on teaching about the Industrial Revolution HERE …

"Liberty’s Dawn" and the Industrial Revolution

Liberty’s Dawn by Professor Emma Griffin is not just highly enjoyable but prompted these reflections on approaches to teaching the Industrial Revolution at KS3.

Identity, Nationality and the History of Britain
Thinking about objectives and teaching activities

Published in the EuroClio Bulletin in 2008.

Wales and Edward I – finding a purpose and an approach

Published in The Welsh Historian in 1996

The re-appearance of a Cheshire Cat – teaching the history of Britain at KS3

Published in Teaching History in 1995