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Quixotically Generous...Economically Worthless'
Article
William Kenefick considers two views of the dockers and the dockland community in Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 'Quixotically generous and economically worthless’! But what does this mean? How does this curious descriptor help us understand the docker or the waterside community? Indeed, does it tell us...
Quixotically Generous...Economically Worthless'
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The International Journal Volume 11, Number 2
Journal
Content
Editorial
History teaching, pedagogy, curriculum and politics: dialogues and debates in regional, national, transnational, international and supranational settings Robert Guyver, University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth
Australia
Scarcely an Immaculate Conception: new professionalism encounters old politics in the formation of the Australian National History Curriculum
Tony...
The International Journal Volume 11, Number 2
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Jane Austen: a writer for all seasons
Article
Irene Collins provides a fresh assessment of the life and work of one of this country’s greatest novelists, whose own wit and charm, combined with a deep insight into human nature, is reflected in her novels. Jane Austen was not the first woman novelist in England to achieve popularity and...
Jane Austen: a writer for all seasons
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Teaching possibilities: From Plato to Nato
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Olympics historical dimension opens up a plethora of possibilities for history, projects and integrated approaches that draw upon the themes and approaches that underpin the primary school curriculum. Our top ten are:
1. Home and...
Teaching possibilities: From Plato to Nato
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Meeting the historian through the text
Teaching History article
Edna Shoham and Neomi Shiloah describe a process by which they taught their 15-year-old students to read historians’ accounts for sub-text, meaning and assumptions. In its emphasis on ‘meeting the historian’, their work overlaps with much of the thinking about teaching pupils about historical ‘interpretations’ as specifically required by the...
Meeting the historian through the text
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Suffrage, feudal, democracy, treaty... history's building blocks: learning to teach historical concepts
Teaching History article
In the UK, thoughtful history teachers have long lamented the fact that the majority of pupils emerge from their compulsory history schooling at 14 with a limited or inadequate understanding of those key historical concepts that are necessary to make sense of the world in adult life. Whilst more able...
Suffrage, feudal, democracy, treaty... history's building blocks: learning to teach historical concepts
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Every picture tells a story: Sage comme une image
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
A crucial issue in using history as a vehicle for learning is the professional development of colleagues with whom you are working. This is an activity I did with students on a PGCE...
Every picture tells a story: Sage comme une image
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Teaching History 200: Out now
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
Read Teaching History 200: Telling Histories
In his recent book on the experiences of Parisians in the years leading up to the French Revolution, Robert Darnton describes the Tree of Cracow, a large chestnut tree in the garden of the Palais-Royal in central Paris.1 ‘Nouvellistes de bouche’ (oral newsmongers) gathered...
Teaching History 200: Out now
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Young children and chronology
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
"How did you stop yourself from getting the plague?"
This quotation from a child signals some of the challenges of teaching children about chronology in the primary school. Learning about chronology involves:
Knowing the conventions of...
Young children and chronology
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Pupils as apprentice historians (4)
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Historical Association [HA] supports effective, stimulating and rewarding history teaching through its website, publications and in-service programme, particularly Primary History and its HITT [History in Initial Teacher Training Programme]. HITT provides extensive guidance on a...
Pupils as apprentice historians (4)
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History in the news: George Floyd protest in Bristol – Colston statue toppled
Primary History feature
The killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May 2020 sparked off protests against the way in which black people are treated both in America and many countries across the world. Thousands of people attended an anti-racist demonstration in Bristol. A group of the...
History in the news: George Floyd protest in Bristol – Colston statue toppled
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Doomed Youth: Using theatre to support teaching about the First World War
Teaching History article
Many history teachers will have taken their GCSE pupils to School History Scene's Hitler on Trial for a rigorous and inspirational session, using drama, in preparation for the GCSE examination. Josh Brooman has now broadened the work of School History Scene by writing a new play, Doomed Youth, aimed at...
Doomed Youth: Using theatre to support teaching about the First World War
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Eweka's story: Benin and Big Picture History
Article
The prospect of teaching Benin as a non-European Study within the time frame 900-1300 AD is challenging! Traditional oral evidence suggests that the critical event during this period in Benin's past was a transition from the Ogiso to the Eweka Dynasty, named after its first Oba, which resulted in it...
Eweka's story: Benin and Big Picture History
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Anne Herbert: A life in the Wars of the Roses
Historian article
May I introduce you to Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke? I'm very fond of this modern imagined portrait by Graham Turner, partly because of the colour and detail but chiefly because it conveys a respect for the people who lived in the past and especially for Anne herself. My interest...
Anne Herbert: A life in the Wars of the Roses
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Developing pupils' chronological understanding
Article
In its latest triennial history survey report, History for all, Ofsted concluded that, ‘history teaching was good or better in most primary schools' and, ‘most pupils reached the end of Key Stage 2 with detailed knowledge derived from well-taught studies of individual topics'. The report went on to note, though,...
Developing pupils' chronological understanding
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Social Studies Teachers’ Resistance to Teaching Francophone Perspectives in Alberta
IJHLTR Article
International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research [IJHLTR], Volume 15, Number 1 – Autumn/Winter 2017ISSN: 14472-9474
Abstract
It is increasingly common for social studies programs to call for the teaching of multiple perspectives on past and current issues. Within the Canadian context, the province of Alberta’s social studies program mandates...
Social Studies Teachers’ Resistance to Teaching Francophone Perspectives in Alberta
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Teaching History 92: Explanation and Argument
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
Getting ready for the Grand Prix: learning how to build a substantiated argument in Year 7 - Dale Banham (Read article)
Being ambitious with the causes of the First World War: interrogating inevitability - Gary Howells (Read article)
The ‘structured enquiry’ is not a contradiction in terms: focused teaching for...
Teaching History 92: Explanation and Argument
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Investigating the ancient Olympic games: A Case Study
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
In a 10-week unit on Ancient Greece, we gave the fourth lesson over to the ancient Olympic Games. The class was a delight: 32 enthusiastic Year 6 children in an urban county primary school.
We knew...
Investigating the ancient Olympic games: A Case Study
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Cunning Plan 105: Crusades enquiry
Teaching History feature
Jamie Byrom’s article ‘Using a concluding enquiry to reinforce and assess earlier learning’ (TH 99) offered a practical solution both to weak knowledge acquisition in Year 7 and to effective, worthwhile assessment. This enquiry follows the same model. The assumption is that pupils would be carrying out this enquiry at...
Cunning Plan 105: Crusades enquiry
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Geosong: a transition project
Primary History article
How do we engage young people with their Heritage, answer curriculum needs and make that big leap of transition from primary to secondary school that bit easier?
English Heritage's Geosong treasure hunt website went some way to providing answers. What does the website do? Using handheld GPS devices, groups must...
Geosong: a transition project
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How do we ensure really good local history in primary schools?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Primary History regularly contains articles from teachers who have taken some aspect of their locality and turned it into a really good activity. Hundreds of OFSTED reports as well, comment on really good practice in...
How do we ensure really good local history in primary schools?
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Why Gerry now likes evidential work
Teaching History article
Phil Smith resurrects the lovable Gerry who was first introduced to Teaching History readers by Ben Walsh. Gerry now pops up in another history classroom, and, sadly, has had a few terrible teachers since Ben was looking after him. Phil brings Gerry back to the path of righteousness. Through an...
Why Gerry now likes evidential work
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HA News, Autumn 2025
Welcome to the spring 2025 edition of HA News magazine
Welcome to this packed autumn edition of HA News.
Alexandra Walsham unpacks the challenges, dilemmas and opportunities of AI in her President's Letter; and Abdul Mohamud lets us in on what got him into history.
We have reports on this year's awards evening and our annual conference, along with competition updates and winners. We also remember much-missed...
HA News, Autumn 2025
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Case Study: Gifted Pupils design new children's museum galleries
Primary History case study
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
In this article I will describe a G&T museum-based project which we have just trialled with three primary schools in the Ashton Bedminster primary school cluster in Bristol. It was a joint initiative between Bristol’s...
Case Study: Gifted Pupils design new children's museum galleries
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The Historian 161: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 161: The Silk Roads
Although the term ‘the Silk Roads’ was coined over 150 years ago, it has found new resonance with historians interested in a broader, international history, part of the ‘global turn’ in the discipline. The contributions to this issue arise from a research collaboration...
The Historian 161: Out now
