Briefing Packs

In this section you'll find our briefing packs. These are short, four-page guides to curriculum, subject and pedagogy issues to provide key information, key principles, offer basic guidance or help you get started.

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  • A Guide to the Key Stage 3 programme

    Multipage Article

    This unit was produced for a previous national curriculum. However, much of the advice remains useful and it provides a context to topics that continue to be very important for history teachers. Subject leaders, ITE providers and others may find it useful to consider how currently relevant topics were thought about...

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  • A guide to Assessment Reform at Key Stage 4

    Article

    Big changes in assessment at Key Stage 4 took place the last time specifications were reformed. If you want to compare the assessment approaches taken by different examination Boards, then this handy briefing guide will provide you with the introductory information you need to be able to make sense of...

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  • Approaches to the History Curriculum: Project based learning

    Article

    Rationale/Origins Project based learning has been around for decades; it is not a new idea. When we think back to the curriculum of the 1970s and early 80s, integrated Humanities was once again all the rage. As the Nuffield review of 2008 highlights "between 1975 and 1983, HMI tried to...

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  • Approaches to the History Curriculum: integrated learning models

    Article

    In 2010 an integrated curriculum was being implemented in some schools in England. This short briefing pack provides some practical examples of that process.  Is your school on the brink of curriculum innovation that involves history? Are you in the midst of such a change and feel confused and uncertain?...

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  • Approaches to the History Curriculum: skills based curriculum

    Article

    In 2010 many schools were adopting thematic or skills based curricula in England. This is one way of organising a curriculum. Some of the pros and cons of this approach are elaborated here.  There are an increasing number of schools now adopting a thematic or skills based curriculum for year...

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  • Enrichment Opportunities

    Article

    Background History can be used to enrich students' experience of education in many ways.  Everything has a history and links can be made with, and support given to most other subjects.  Opportunities can be provided to classes, whole year groups, across year groups, or to individuals. Enrichment can be as...

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  • Fact Based Quiz Ideas For Turning 3s into 4s and 5s

    Article

    Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. If you are looking to raise your 3/4 grades into 4s/5s, a big focus is going to be fact retention. This can be in the form of fact based quizzes and organisational activities,...

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  • Guidance Pack: Building a Local Teacher Network

    Information

    We know that it is difficult for teachers to get to events too far from school. As a national charity, the HA recognises the importance and need to build strong regional networks for the history teaching community. Many of these are already existing or organically growing across the country at...

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  • One Year GCSE

    Article

    Background A new development for curriculum change this year (2009) has been that many schools are now changing the pattern of GCSE/Key Stage 4 courses, following the ending of compulsory SATs for English, Maths and Science at the end of Key Stage 3. It is not yet clear how many...

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  • Progression without Levels

    Article

    "As part of our reforms to the national curriculum , the current system of ‘levels' used to report children's attainment and progress will be removed.  It will not be replaced." (DfE 2013) When National Curriculum levels were removed in 2014, it was all too easy to fall into the trap of...

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  • What Does the English Baccalaureate mean for me?

    Article

    History constitutes a key player in the new English Baccalaureate, being one of the two choices that students may opt for in the Humanities section. The English Baccalaureate is a measure of pupil progress consisting of 5 core subjects that will be reported in league tables. Students who successfully achieve ...

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