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British National Curricula For History 1989-2011
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The national history curricula for Northern Ireland, England and Wales have passed through various stages since working groups were set up in England and Wales in 1989. Developments have been distinct, with Northern Ireland having quite...
British National Curricula For History 1989-2011
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David Cannadine Interview about his book: The Right Kind of History
Cannadine Interview
Sir David Cannadine has done the unthinkable he has traced the teaching of history in state schools since the beginning. In his book The Right Kind of History: Teaching the Past in Twentieth-Century England he explores the real history of history education the truth is discovered to that age old...
David Cannadine Interview about his book: The Right Kind of History
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‘So why did they go into hiding?’ Anne Frank in her historical and social context
Primary History article
All too often Anne Frank becomes a symbol, used to show ‘the triumph of hope over evil’, even though she was killed during the Holocaust. Sometimes she is quoted utterly out of context to provide uplifting sentiments, or short phrases with redemptive messages.
What this lesson sets out to do...
‘So why did they go into hiding?’ Anne Frank in her historical and social context
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Film: What's the wisdom on... Consequence
Your Virtual History Department Meeting
'What’s the wisdom on…' is a popular feature in our secondary journal Teaching History and provides the perfect stimulus for a department meeting. 'What’s the wisdom on…' provides history teachers with an overview of the ‘story so far’ of many years of practice-based professional thinking about a particular aspect of history teaching.
To...
Film: What's the wisdom on... Consequence
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Teaching History 79
The HA's journal for history teachers
5 The Revised History Order - Sue Bennett and Ian Steele
9 From Plowden to Dearing - Patrick Wood
11 Developing an Understanding of Time - Sydney Wood
15 The Development Of Temporal Concepts in Children and its Significance for History Teaching in the Senior Primary School - Cheryl-Ann Simchowitz...
Teaching History 79
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Teaching History 110: Communicating History
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
08 Narrative: an underrated skill - Seán Lang (Read article)
18 Direct teaching of paragraph cohesion - Maria Bakalis (Read article)
27 Developing conceptual understanding through talk and mapping - Jannet van Drie and Carla van Boxteland (Read article)
32 ‘You be Britain and I’ll be Germany...’ Inter-school e-mailing in...
Teaching History 110: Communicating History
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New partnership for the Great Debate 2026
15th May 2025
The Historical Association is delighted to announce Rayburn Tours as the official sponsor of the Great Debate 2026.
With over 60 years of experience in educational and group travel, Rayburn Tours is a family-run organisation dedicated to creating inspirational and enriching experiences for young people.
Rayburn Tours' commitment to education...
New partnership for the Great Debate 2026
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Circle Time in the secondary history classroom
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Circle Time is a commonly used technique in primary classrooms and is sometimes used in secondary personal and social education lessons. This open form of classroom organisation allows pupils to share opinions in a democratic...
Circle Time in the secondary history classroom
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HA Honorary Fellows 2023
5th July 2023
Each year the Historical Association awards a small number of Honorary Fellowships. These awards are to recognise and celebrate outstanding services to history and to the Historical Association. The awards cover services to the Historical Association Branches (of which there are over 45 across the country); our committees; the work...
HA Honorary Fellows 2023
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Shaping the debate: why historians matter more than ever at GCSE
Teaching History article
The question of how to prepare students to succeed in the examination while also ensuring that they are taught rigorous history remains as relevant as ever. Faced with preparing students to answer a question that seemingly precluded argument, Rachel Foster and Kath Goudie demonstrate how they used historical scholarship both to...
Shaping the debate: why historians matter more than ever at GCSE
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Teaching Year 9 about historical theories and methods
Teaching History article
Kate Hammond sets out a rationale for linking the National Curriculum requirement to study interpretations of history with her pupils’ own evidence handling skills. She makes connections with history-teacher-led debates and innovations in both areas, but particularly the work of Howells (2005). She describes and evaluates a learning sequence that...
Teaching Year 9 about historical theories and methods
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GCSE Podcast: Tackling the GCSE History Exam
Multipage Article
Please note: these resources pre-date the 2014 curriculum
In this series of podcasts Dr Tim Lomas offers some advice and suggestions for tackling the GCSE History Exam.
GCSE Podcast: Tackling the GCSE History Exam
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The Historian 153: The Baltic
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Reviews
5 Editorial (Read article for free)
8 The Duchy of Courland and a Baltic colonial venture across the ocean – John Freeman (Read article)
12 After the revolution: did Cromwell, Washington and Bonaparte betray revolutionary principles? – Gregory Gifford (Read article)
18 From Lithuania to Lancashire: life and...
The Historian 153: The Baltic
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Free primary curriculum guidance on offer
HA Annual Conference 2023
A message from HA Assistant Vice-President Mike Maddison:
At the HA Annual Conference 2023 I will be leading a primary session entitled ‘How case studies will help you to review, refresh and renew the history curriculum’ (in-person and virtual).
The aim is to provide guidance on how you might improve your...
Free primary curriculum guidance on offer
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Cunning Plan 163.2: Developing an A-level course in medieval history
Teaching History feature
Medieval history has always been a Cinderella era for post-16 students. Some schools offer A-levels in classical civilisation, but most A-level history courses focus on the early-modern and modern periods. A few schools teach an A-level medieval module, with the Crusades being a popular choice. I was therefore excited at...
Cunning Plan 163.2: Developing an A-level course in medieval history
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GCSE Podcast: Revising for the GCSE History Exam
GCSE History Guide
Please note: these resources pre-date the 2014 curriculum
In these three podcasts Ben Walsh and Esther Arnot provide some helpful insights and suggestions to help to revise for the GCSE History Exam.
GCSE Podcast: Revising for the GCSE History Exam
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William Stubbs
Classic Pamphlet
William Stubbs was among the earliest, and is still one of the greatest of the academical English historians. His life (1825-1901) fell in a period that produced a notable succession of distinguished historians in England. He was the first of them to do his historical work as a resident teacher...
William Stubbs
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What is progress in history?
Teaching History article
Evelyn Vermeulen argues that in order for teachers to identify outcomes for the learning of history, they must think clearly about the different attributes of the discipline - its ideas, structures and processes - and the relationship between them. Here, she takes us on her own professional thinking journey. She...
What is progress in history?
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Teaching History 106: Citizens and Communities
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
This edition deals with the complex debate about whether history should be taught for intrinsic or extrinsic reasons. Balancing the rationaland the emotional in the teaching of contentious topics, Historical significance, Local historical enquiry, Citizenship, Teaching political concepts to post-16 students and much more...
‘Don’t worry, Mr. Trimble. We can...
Teaching History 106: Citizens and Communities
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On-demand webinar: Helping children build secure evidential thinking
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Session 5: Helping children build secure evidential thinking
Handling sources is something all children learn to do in Key Stage 2 history, but often that crucial distinction between ‘source’ and ‘evidence’ is confused. No archaeologist digs up ‘evidence’. And labelling sources as either...
On-demand webinar: Helping children build secure evidential thinking
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Podcast: Spain 1808 – Iraq 2003: some thoughts on the use and abuse of history
Bolton Branch Lecture Podcast by Charles Esdaile
This podcast was recorded by the Bolton Branch of the Historical Association on Monday 1 February 2010, at the Parish Hall in Bolton.
We were pleased to welcome Professor Charles Esdaile of the University of Liverpool back to the branch to speak on ‘Spain 1808 – Iraq 2003: Some Thoughts...
Podcast: Spain 1808 – Iraq 2003: some thoughts on the use and abuse of history
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Primary History 41: The power of a good story
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
05 Editorial
06 Primary Noticeboard
08 Creating stories for teaching primary history — Rosie Turner-Bisset (Read article)
10 In My View: using children's literature to look at bias and stereotyping — Russell Jones (Read article)
13 Stories about people: narrative, imagined biography and citizenship in the Key Stage 2 curriculum...
Primary History 41: The power of a good story
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Film: What's the wisdom on...Similarity and Difference
Your Virtual History Department Meeting
We’ve been talking to our secondary school members and we know how difficult life is for teachers in the current circumstances, so we wanted to lend a helping hand.
'What’s the wisdom on…' is a popular feature in our secondary journal Teaching History and provides the perfect stimulus for a virtual department meeting....
Film: What's the wisdom on...Similarity and Difference
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Triumphs Show: The BeBold Network
Teaching History feature
In April 2019, I was in a bit of a rut. My enquiry questions and lesson sequences seemed stale. I felt like I had been at my school for too long. To mix things up, I secured a new role for September at a start-up school.
Full of excitement, I...
Triumphs Show: The BeBold Network
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Film: Why does the massacre of the Armenians in the First World War still get overlooked?
Virtual Branch
Why is the term 'Armenian Genocide' controversial, with many countries still not acknowledging a genocide at all? What do we know about the event of 1915 and the plight of the Armenian community in Turkey? How can we grapple with a history that many people want to forget? In this...
Film: Why does the massacre of the Armenians in the First World War still get overlooked?
