Not only do the various discussions on empathy show no signs of abating, they remain as confusing and emotionally charged as ever. On the one hand, much of the empathy argument is concerned with...

The HA has held nine regional conferences across England in London, Norwich, Leeds, Leicester, Reading, Darlington, Bristol, Birmingham and Bolton to train history teachers in ways to tackle the New Key Stage 3 Curriculum. Please find below the PowerPoint presentations that went with morning introduction>>>

The HA has compiled 3 spreadsheets that take you through the main History GCSE specifications World History, Schools History Project and the Pilot GCSE which has a compulsory examined element on Medieval England. Each spreadsheet takes you through each specification, topic by topic and is filled with links to all...

Undoubtedly, the introduction of empathy into the GCSE National Criteria for History has caused considerable problems for teachers and pupils, as debates in the national educational press have shown. It cannot be presupposed that...

David Linsell describes how the Teacher Training Agency's history working group provided history-specific examples for the new ICT initial teacher training National Curriculum. He stresses the group's ‘history first' thinking. The aim was to provide realistic examples of ICT use, through which trainee teachers might develop and ultimately demonstrate their...

Isobel Jenkins and Mike Turpin answer some of those basic questions which many history teachers are afraid to ask, like ‘What exactly is it anyway?' and ‘Is this really worth my valuable time?' They outline the internet's value as a means of improving information access and as a way of...

Level 4 Pupils show their knowledge and understanding of local, national and international history by describing some of the main events, people and periods they have studied, and by identifying where these fit within a chronological framework. They describe characteristic features of past societies and periods to identify change and...

QCA's scheme of work for history at Key Stage 3, together with similar schemes for other subjects, has been published in response to widespread requests for more guidance on curriculum planning. Heather Richardson, Subject Officer (history) at QCA explains how the scheme works. She explains some of the principles that...

Joining the debate launched in the last edition, John Dixon argues that in relation to competing subjects, history has become harder. He believes that this could be reviewed without loss of standards. He highlights what he sees as a perverse situation of conflicting trends: on the one hand, practice in...

The importance of history: Powerpoint presentation from the Regional Subject CfBT/HA ConferencesStarting point. Creating a departmental vision.The construction of any curriculum begins with questions about the purpose and philosophy of the curriculum. The new orders for history offer departments a ready made statement of history's importance and purpose.

Here in the United Kingdom, we are used to the idea of assessing pupils’ work against Levels. In fact, perhaps we are a little too used to it. Our familiarity with the Level Descriptions in the National Curriculum, and the ways they might inform our Key Stage 3 assessments, can...

Ian Davies, Geoff Hatch, Gary Martin and Tony Thorpe seek to theorise - and to support teachers in their own theorising - concerning the purpose of citizenship education and criteria for good citizenship education. They aim for a professional precision that will be helpful to teachers, getting us beyond the...

Teaching History frequently celebrates and analyses the practice of those history departments that appear to buck trends. In keeping with the Historical Association’s Campaign for History and its popular ‘Choosing History at 14’ Pack, a number of articles and Triumphs Shows in recent editions of Teaching History have celebrated the...

Planning a new Key Stage 3 Curriculum: A Powerpoint presentation from the Regional Subject CfBT/HA Conferences 3 Curriculum aims are: successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society...

Whatever shape the National Curriculum of the 21st century takes, history will have to show its relevance to major curricular areas and themes such as literacy, citizenship education and thinking skills. This ought to be easy: the critical, informed decision-making required by the modern citizen is practised in virtually every...

Ben Walsh argues that many teachers of history completely miss the point of the word processor. Criticising those who use it merely for 'typing up' he reminds us that the purpose of the word processor, as with any other resource, is to teach good history. He analyses the types of...

A head of steam for change in GCSE history has been building for some time now amongst history teachers, heads of history, advisers, teacher-trainers, researchers, consultants and all who regularly engage in debate about history teaching and learning. All those who read widely, share their practice, experience many Key Stage...