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Teaching and learning through personal, family and local history
E-CPD
N.B. This unit was produced before the 2014 curriculum and therefore while much of the advice is still useful, there may be some out of date references or links.
This unit is concerned with the way that primary age pupils can make use of their own personal, family and local history...
Teaching and learning through personal, family and local history
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HA Blog Watch
Selected history education blogs
We've collated some of the best history education blogs here. The list isn't exhaustive so if there is a great history education blog out there that is not on this list – let us know!
One Big History Department
HA Secondary Committee blog
One Big History Department (OBHD) has been...
HA Blog Watch
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The Norman Conquest: why did it matter?
Annual Conference 2013 Podcast
Keynote Speech from the Historical Association 2013 Annual Conference - Podcast
Dr Marc Morris - Historian, author and television presenter
1066 is the most famous date in English history. Everyone remembers the story, depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, of William the Conqueror's successful invasion, and poor King Harold being felled...
The Norman Conquest: why did it matter?
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Trade – lifeblood of the empire: how trade affected life in Roman Britain
Primary History article
The Ofsted Research Review: History highlights the importance of developing children’s understanding of key substantive concepts, ideas that are woven through historical content such as settlement, invasion, power. Children’s understanding grows more complex as they encounter these ideas in different contexts, enabling children to grow increasingly sophisticated schemas that support future...
Trade – lifeblood of the empire: how trade affected life in Roman Britain
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Film series: Power and authority in Germany, 1871-1991
Germany 1871-1945: Introduction
The rise and fall of Germany in the 20th Century is one of the major political arcs of the modern period, and one that many feel familiar with – from the unification of the Germanic states, the defeat of the Kaiser in 1918, revolution, a weak Weimar Republic all the...
Film series: Power and authority in Germany, 1871-1991
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Britain from the Iron Age to Robin Hood
Primary History article
‘...if children are to ever fully appreciate history the development of historical time has to be central to our teaching methodologies'
This lesson aims to provide an overview of this period, developing pupils' sense of chronology and their understanding of cause and consequence. The context for these ideas comes from...
Britain from the Iron Age to Robin Hood
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Film: A Jewish Divorce Case in Medieval England
Virtual Branch
In 1242, the prominent thirteenth-century Jewish financier David of Oxford attempted to divorce his wife, Muriel. In the process, he met with a number of obstacles which seriously hampered his efforts and had far-reaching implications for the Jewish community as a whole. In the end, David had to appeal directly...
Film: A Jewish Divorce Case in Medieval England
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Making the most of a census
Primary History article
This article looks at how children can utilise and manipulate mathematical data to make sense of a historic past. The focus is on helping children see the numbers as a resource for understanding the experiences of those that lived in this place.
Aim: Understand historical concepts such as continuity and...
Making the most of a census
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Recorded webinar: Exploring representations and attitudes to disability across history
Webinar
This webinar was presented by Richard Rieser, who is a campaigner and champion for disability rights and the coordinator of UK Disability History Month.
His presentation is part of our ongoing work to explore disability history and the arguments and representations of it and ensure that people from disability groups...
Recorded webinar: Exploring representations and attitudes to disability across history
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Visits and Museums
Primary History article
Introduction
In February (2012) Michael Gove announced that he was awarding English Heritage £2.7m to encourage children to explore local heritage sites. Who could disagree with his view that ‘local historic environments can be used to inspire pupils by bringing history alive'? However, why stop there? Any visit to a...
Visits and Museums
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Success with primary history: overcoming the challenges
Article
Primary history seems to be a curious mixture of the successful and successful. On the one hand most children seem to love it and many teachers claim to enjoy teaching it. There is certainly no shortage of good practice in many schools and exciting and stimulating resources are plentiful. On...
Success with primary history: overcoming the challenges
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Recorded webinar: Avoiding confusion with chronology and change in primary history
Webinar series: Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
Webinar series: Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
Session 1: Avoiding confusion with chronology and change in primary history
This practical webinar will identify what confuses pupils in the teaching of chronology and the disciplinary concept of change and continuity and will show how such confusion and misconceptions...
Recorded webinar: Avoiding confusion with chronology and change in primary history
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A creative Egyptian project
Primary History article
Ideally when teaching history, teachers will look to deliver projects that will engage and motivate, hopefully making the hard work of being creative stimulating and rewarding, based upon questioning, enquiry, investigation of sources and reaching conclusions grounded in the evidence.Ancient Egypt is one of those history topics which, because it...
A creative Egyptian project
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Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 History (Early Years)
Primary History article
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
History education needs to be placed in a wider pattern of curriculum development. Part I of this paper looks at general issues linking History with citizenship education and the early years. Part 2...
Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 History (Early Years)
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How significant is the tragic story of the SS Mendi?
Primary History article
Historical anniversaries and events are often in the news, commemorated locally and nationally. I have found that getting the children involved in topics relating to these can really help them feel the importance of their learning, help them to appreciate the past and feel a sense of responsibility – a...
How significant is the tragic story of the SS Mendi?
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Global Learning & Critical Thinking
Article
Critical thinking
GLP-E aims: Young people will also develop the skills to interpret that knowledge in order to make judgements about global poverty. In this way they will be able to:
think critically about global issues.
The GLP has a strong focus on developing young people's knowledge and understanding of...
Global Learning & Critical Thinking
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Global Learning & Critical Thinking
Article
Critical thinkingGLP-E aims: Young people will also develop the skills to interpret that knowledge in order to make judgements about global poverty. In this way they will be able to:think critically about global issues.The GLP has a strong focus on developing young people's knowledge and understanding of development, and in...
Global Learning & Critical Thinking
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Local history: young children using written, printed and multimodal sources
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial note: Jo Barkham shows how creative, challenging and stimulating teaching can engage even the youngest pupils in the reading of written and printed text and multi-modal sources. She continues her account in the next edition...
Local history: young children using written, printed and multimodal sources
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Using Folktales, Myths and Legends
Global Learning
This resource was commissioned by the Historical Association to offer teachers an entry point into the new primary History curriculum using stories: folktales, myths and legends from the civilisations, communities and cultures of the statutory programmes of study.
In this resource, pupils are encouraged to recall and retell stories orally,...
Using Folktales, Myths and Legends
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Why did you write it like a story rather than just saying the information?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Six-year-old Rebecca asked me this question when I visited her classroom to share a book which I had written with her and her classmates. It seemed to me at the time that Rebecca was identifying a...
Why did you write it like a story rather than just saying the information?
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Ancient Egypt
Reference guide for primary
This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of teachers and subject leaders, join the Historical Association today
Please note: this guide was written before the new National Curriculum...
Ancient Egypt
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Pupils as apprentice historians (2)
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
"Without knowing how the history we receive was arrived at, we can only take it as a series of mysterious assertions, which can only be learned in the sense of learning off by heart. Rote-learned history...
Pupils as apprentice historians (2)
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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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The 1789 French Revolution – not just a revolution in France
HA short course, October–December 2025
Book Now
(Registration is via Cademy which opens in a new window. Please read the course terms and conditions before registering)
What does the course cover?
The French Revolution 1789–99 was not just a turning point in French history but also for the other nations of Europe and beyond. The...
The 1789 French Revolution – not just a revolution in France
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Opportunities for making use of your local park
Primary History article
Local parks are important local amenities that both enhance our wellbeing and provide an important contribution to the environment, especially in urban areas. This article identifies ways in which you can explore your local park, an amenity that, is familiar to most children, within its historical perspective. It considers resources...
Opportunities for making use of your local park
