On Wednesday 5 December 2012 Ofqual  sent Michael Gove a letter in which they outlined their concerns over Mr Gove's proposed reforms to Key Stage 4 qualifications. Mr Gove responded that despite opposition, if he felt the move to be right, he would still go ahead with his plans. This news...

The HA firmly believes in History for All. To help counter the current trend in some schools to prevent students who will achieve less than a GCSE ‘C' studying history, we have, along with ASDAN, developed a history course that is accessible, yet challenging. This new course is now available...

A little over a year ago Michael Gove announced the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). It would transform education and rid schools and young people of ‘soft subjects'. However the real impact so far has been less than impressive. Those schools that already taught history well to GCSE continued...

History in Primary Schools In June the Secretary of State announced that history would remain a compulsory part of the primary curriculum from age 5 to age 11. We welcomed that announcement but urged a note of caution regarding slimmed down programmes of study. The Survey into History in English...

As you will have seen in the media, the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove has launched a consultation on proposals for a radical reform of the examination structure for 14-16 year olds. The proposed new English Baccalaureate Certificate will encompass the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and...

Over the summer Ofqual launched a consultation on proposed reforms to A-Level examinations. We polled our members to find out what you thought of the proposals. Thank you to the nearly 900 of you who responded to our online poll. Your huge response, alongside consultation with A-Level history experts has helped us...

Last week news concerning the future of the GCSE examination was leaked to the media. Here at the HA we were as surprised by the announcements as members of Mr Gove's own party. The media has pounced on the leak and changes creating a storm of interest and further confusion....

The Historical Association Write Your Own Historical Story Competition and the Joan Blyth Memorial Prize 2012. The competition this year has again been successful. With the change in categories there was a very slight reduction in entries but this was balanced by the number of schools entering students who had...

All in all, the last few months have been rough for exam boards: allegations of leaking content of future papers, heavy criticism of mechanistic and unfit GCSE exams and now news that a senior OCR examiner has been suspended for blowing the whistle on incorrect marking of examination papers. Hundreds...

In line with its total commitment to History for All, the HA has, with ASDAN, developed a history CoPE course that is accessible, yet challenging. This new course will be available to centres for teaching from September 2012. ASDAN style ‘challenges' fit closely with the HA's vision of history as...