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Guidance for would-be history teacher trainees
An interview with history NQTs
Are you considering history teaching as a career option? Knowing where to start, what to expect from teaching and whether teacher training is right for you can feel like a leap into the unknown. We spoke to three recently qualified teachers, Ben Kirby, Liam Frondigoun and Alex Schmidt, all based...
Guidance for would-be history teacher trainees
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History, citizenship and Oliver Stone
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
When is a work of art a work of history? How can we get our students to appreciate the difference without ignoring the overlap? How should we ask our students to approach the historical film...
History, citizenship and Oliver Stone
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Year 12 write Zambia's history for Zambian students
Teaching History article
Peter Gray explains how his Year 12 students came to research and write a resource on the history of Zambia, for history teachers in Zambia. The construction of the resource stretched the Year 12 students in new ways: the Internet was useless and there were no easy digests in A-Level...
Year 12 write Zambia's history for Zambian students
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My Favourite History Place: Sawley Abbey
Historian feature
Steve Illingworth highlights the importance of a remote Lancashire ruin which might have changed the course of history.
Sawley Abbey in east Lancashire can appear to be an unassuming and insignificant place at first sight. Its main attraction appears to be aesthetic, with the Cistercian abbey being surrounded by fields and hills...
My Favourite History Place: Sawley Abbey
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Primary History 58: The Olympics
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
THE OLYMPICS: TEACHING HISTORY TODAY
04 Editorial: Nelson Mandela, Apartheid and the Olympics
05 Think Bubble: What ever happened to the Standing Long Jump? - Peter Vass
06 Public celebration of the 1864 Olympian Festival - Dominic Wallis
PLANNING FOR THE OLYMPICS
08 Primary History and planning for teaching the...
Primary History 58: The Olympics
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Employment, employability and history
Teaching History article
Employment, employability and history: helping students to see the connection
Five years ago, in Teaching History 132, Harris and Haydn drew attention to the fact that while the vast majority of Key Stage 3 students claimed to enjoy history and even to regard it as a useful subject, relatively few...
Employment, employability and history
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Pull-out posters: Primary History 90
Timeline of Queen Elizabeth II; Queen and Commonwealth
Timeline of Queen Elizabeth II
Queen and Commonwealth
Pull-out posters: Primary History 90
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Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Branch History
Branch History
History of the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Branch of the Historical AssociationThe Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole branch of the HA was founded in December 1922 and has been in existence ever since. Its history can be followed in the annual reports sent to HQ, in the complete set of committee...
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Branch History
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Children's Thinking: Developmental psychology and history education
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial note: Hilary Cooper outlines the main features of historical thinking. These ideas are embedded in the government's current requirements for teaching National Curriculum History [England]
Introduction
It is important that children develop a coherent, chronological...
Children's Thinking: Developmental psychology and history education
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Ideas for assemblies: significant women in history
Primary History feature
For this edition we have chosen an overarching theme of significant women in history to link your assemblies. We have also looked for a link between the women to the month in which your assembly is being delivered. A common approach when introducing each of the women could be to...
Ideas for assemblies: significant women in history
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Cunning Plan 140: bringing history to life
Teaching History feature
Whether you are have been inspired to emulate the achievements of the Living History group described in this issue's Triumphs Show, or are simply seeking to create some ‘authentic' props for an intriguing starter, or exploratory role-play, Jonathan Davies here explains how you can find out more about historical re-enactment...
Cunning Plan 140: bringing history to life
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Report on the Historical Association Tour of Cardiff and its environs
31st August 2018
Twenty-three people met in the comfortable Clayton Hotel in central Cardiff in June to attempt to assimilate two thousand years of Welsh history in a week. We were blessed with a heatwave, a bustling city environment, and a lot to see. We started on the eastern edge of South Wales...
Report on the Historical Association Tour of Cardiff and its environs
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Birmingham Branch History
Branch History
The Branch was founded in May 1907, a few months after the Historical Association was established. The founding Branch President was Professor John Masterman, Professor of History (1902-09) in the University of Birmingham's Department of Commerce, as it was designated in those days. He was one of several historians in...
Birmingham Branch History
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Dialogue, engagement and generative interaction in the history classroom
Teaching History article
Michael Bird has a long-standing interest in the power of classroom dialogue, not only as a means of elicting students’ prior knowledge or checking their understanding of new ideas and information, but also as a powerful tool for generating new knowledge through a collective process of meaning-making. In this article, he...
Dialogue, engagement and generative interaction in the history classroom
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One of my favourite history places: Luxor, Egypt
Primary History feature
History teacher in Cairo; oh, my word! Living in Cairo for the past four years enabled me to explore the country to a degree not possible as a visitor. Based in Maadi to the south of the old Islamic city, I live about 20 minutes’ walk from the Nile. A...
One of my favourite history places: Luxor, Egypt
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My Favourite History Place: the Berlin Wall
Historian feature
Military history enthusiast David Wilson writes about why the Berlin Wall is still such an important symbol and reminder.
I first visited Berlin in the mid 1980s when I was stationed in Germany as part of the British Army. It was an interesting place to go because until then the Cold...
My Favourite History Place: the Berlin Wall
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Teaching pre-history outside the classroom
Primary History article
From a visit to a local museum or heritage site, to using bushcraft skills to give pupils first-hand experience of what it might have been like to live in ancient times, teaching prehistory outside the classroom can really give this area of the curriculum the wow factor. The inclusion of...
Teaching pre-history outside the classroom
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HA Update: History for all – a wider view
Teaching History feature
In this update, I plan to share ideas and practice from colleagues who lead and teach history in special schools in the northeast of England. Ten years have passed since the publication of History for All and this therefore seems a good moment for reflection. By 2011, in many of England’s schools,...
HA Update: History for all – a wider view
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Pupil-led historical enquiry: what might this actually be?
Teaching History article
The current National Curriculum for history requires pupils to ‘identify and investigate specific historical questions, making and testing hypotheses for themselves'.
While Kate Hammond relished the encouragement that this gave to her pupils to engage in the process of historical enquiry, she was keen to develop a much clearer sense...
Pupil-led historical enquiry: what might this actually be?
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‘Power to the people’? Disputed presidential elections in US history
Historian article
Michael Dunne reveals the complex background to the modern elaborate constitutional process of electing a United States President.
On Wednesday, 20 January 2021, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States of America. In years to come these simple words may seem prosaic and...
‘Power to the people’? Disputed presidential elections in US history
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History, Citizenship & Controversy
Primary History
Y4 question their MP about nuclear waste policy; Y6 survey people in their community and school about a proposed casino in their town, and feed back the information to the local council; children decide to buy their Christmas presents and ask for their own presents to come from a Fair-trade...
History, Citizenship & Controversy
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Drama: Ancient Egypt - Akhenaten
Exemplar
This exemplar outlines a lesson John Fines taught to a class of Year 3 children. He was visiting them for the first time to do some drama work. The children already knew a great deal about the Ancient Egyptians and were also used to learning through drama. John writes:After a...
Drama: Ancient Egypt - Akhenaten
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Great Debate Final 2025
14th April 2025
Winner:
Quinn Scott – Chesterton Community College, Cambridge
Runners up:
Anya Bensouiah – Kendrick School, Reading
Fred Bosley – The King’s School, Canterbury
Aimee Nelson – Bablake School, Coventry
Finalists:
Emily Tweddle, Earlston High School, Scottish Borders
Hannah Brearton, Upton Hall, Oxford
Rosie Thomson, The Maynard School, Exeter
Isabella Passarelli, Torquay Girls Grammar School,...
Great Debate Final 2025
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Write Your Own Historical Fiction 2020 – Winners Announced
HA competitions news
This has been one of our best years for entries ever!
With children stuck at home needing a little extra something to do we decided to extend the competition to accommodate home learning, as well as a new age category for pupils in years 10-13. We received well over a...
Write Your Own Historical Fiction 2020 – Winners Announced
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History Abridged: Salt mines in Eastern Europe
Historian feature
History Abridged: This feature seeks to take a person, event or period and abridge, or focus on, an important event or detail that can get lost in the big picture. See all History Abridged articles
Towards the end of the Bronze Age, the climate across Europe began to warm. This...
History Abridged: Salt mines in Eastern Europe
