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Polychronicon 136: Interpreting the Beatles
Teaching History feature
‘The Beatles were history-makers from the start,' proclaimed the liner notes for the band's first LP in March 1963. It was a bold claim to make on behalf of a beat combo with one charttopping single, but the Beatles' subsequent impact on 1960s culture put their historical importance (if not...
Polychronicon 136: Interpreting the Beatles
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Teaching History 185: Missing stories
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
02 Editorial (Read article for free)
03 HA Secondary News
04 HA Update
10 Teaching Britain’s ‘civil rights’ history: activism and citizenship in context – Hannah Elias and Martin Spafford (Read article)
22 Illuminating the possibilities of the past: the role of representation in A-level curriculum planning – Claire Holliss (Read article)...
Teaching History 185: Missing stories
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Primary Outstanding History Providers
Collis Primary School
What does it mean to be an outstanding provider of primary history? What does this look like? The best way to answer these questions is to see for yourself.
N.B. This unit was produced a number of years ago and shows some examples of what Ofsted considered outstanding history.
We...
Primary Outstanding History Providers
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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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Filmed Lecture: Medlicott Lecture 2024 - Professor Catherine Hall
Article
Addressing issues of the legacies of racism created by the transatlantic slave trade and the narratives of its abolition
The Medlicott Medal is awarded annually for outstanding services and contributions to history. This year the Medal went to Professor Catherine Hall, who is Emerita Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History at...
Filmed Lecture: Medlicott Lecture 2024 - Professor Catherine Hall
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Eyam: the plague village 1665-66
Historian article
Richard Stone explores the self-sacrifice of a Seventeenth Century village during an epidemic.
History shows us these ‘unprecedented times’ are not that far from previous historical experiences. Lockdown, quarantine, self-isolation, ‘second wave’, ‘third wave’, airborne disease, churches closed; the Covid-19 experience resonates with the plight of the villagers of Eyam, three-and-a-half centuries...
Eyam: the plague village 1665-66
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Year 9 - Connecting past, present and future
Teaching History article
Possible futures: using frameworks of knowledge to help Year 9 connect past, present and future
How can we help pupils integrate history into coherent ‘Big Pictures' or mental frameworks? Building on traditions of classroom research and theorising reported in earlier editions of Teaching History, Dan Nuttall reports how his department set...
Year 9 - Connecting past, present and future
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Teaching History 184: Different lenses
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
02 Editorial (Read article for free)
03 HA Secondary News
04 HA Update
08 Beyond myth and magic: Year 7 use oral traditions to make claims about the rise and fall of the Inka empire – Paula Worth (Read article)
22 They sometimes clashed, and ultimately blended: planning a more...
Teaching History 184: Different lenses
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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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Little Jack Horner and polite revolutionaries: putting the story back into history
Teaching History article
Three years ago, Séan Lang argued that narrative, which had gone rather out of fashion, needed to be brought back into our teaching. Alf Wilkinson goes further. It is not just narrative which is needed: it is story. The move away from story is not a problem confined uniquely to...
Little Jack Horner and polite revolutionaries: putting the story back into history
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Triumphs Show 123: Making sources fun
Teaching History feature
One of the biggest challenges which any history teacher faces is how to make sources fun! Source work does struggles in terms of pupil excitement, understanding and motivation when pitted against the roleplays, dramas and debates. As a history teacher, I am constantly looking for fresh and novel ways to...
Triumphs Show 123: Making sources fun
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Shropshire's Secret Olympic History
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What has a small Shropshire town got to do with the modern Olympic Games? Why is a country doctor a key figure in the development of the modern games? Why is one of the 2012 mascots...
Shropshire's Secret Olympic History
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In conversation with David Turner
Historian feature
Disabled people have always been present in Britain’s past. Yet they have often appeared only at the edge of historical narratives: as recipients of charity, as objects of medical attention, as casualties of war or work, or as figures in stories told by institutions rather than by themselves. In Disability:...
In conversation with David Turner
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Historical Enquiries and Interpretations
Transition Training Session 1
This is the first of 5 sessions arising from the 2005 KS2-KS3 History Transition Project:
Transition training session 1: Historical Enquiries & Interpretations
Transition training session 2: Using ICT in the teaching of history
Transition training session 3: Extended writing in history
Transition training session 4: Joan of Arc -...
Historical Enquiries and Interpretations
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Richmond & Twickenham Branch History 1964-2011
Branch History
Richmond & Twickenham Branch History 1964-2011In 1964 some members of the historical Association, mostly from the West London branch, met at Maria Grey Training College in Isleworth to set up a new branch for the Richmond & Twickenham area. A Provisional Committee was formed with George Bartle, a college lecturer, as...
Richmond & Twickenham Branch History 1964-2011
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Local History Month 2026
30th April 2026
(and some planning ahead for 2027)
May is Local and Community History month. For 2026 we are linking it to the National Year of Reading by looking at the importance of writers and local records to historians for bringing a place to life. Places change: that is inevitable and also...
Local History Month 2026
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Contribute an Article to Primary History
Initial guidelines for contributors to Primary History
To share good ideas and practice in teaching and learning history
To help develop your own ideas and thinking
Job progression: it can be reflected in your CV and also provides a step towards developing more extensive pieces of writing.
Practitioner articles can be related to further research studies such...
Contribute an Article to Primary History
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The Historical Association Response to the Initial Teacher Training Market Review Consultation
26th August 2021
On 5 July 2021 the government launched a consultation into proposals for reform of initial teacher training in England following a review of the market. The recommendations are part of wider reforms to initial teacher training.
The proposals outlined in the consultation included the extension of courses to allow for...
The Historical Association Response to the Initial Teacher Training Market Review Consultation
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On-demand webinar: Teaching disciplinary knowledge directly: interpretations
Webinar series: Direct history teaching
Webinar series: Direct history teaching
Session 4: Teaching disciplinary knowledge directly: interpretations
In this fourth session, Jacob and Mike will explore how history teachers can teach disciplinary knowledge (how we know about the past) directly – specifically, historical interpretations. They will share examples of lessons that directly teach pupils how historians (and...
On-demand webinar: Teaching disciplinary knowledge directly: interpretations
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Triumphs Show 148.2: using pupil dialogue to encourage engagement with sources
Teaching History feature
Using pupil dialogue to encourage sophisticated engagement with source material - even at GCSE!
Frustrated by the mechanistic approach that their pupils were using when working with historical sources, Tim Jenner and Paul Nightingale sought to experiment with a method of teaching sources which eschewed practice source questions in favour...
Triumphs Show 148.2: using pupil dialogue to encourage engagement with sources
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Supporting initial teacher trainees to think about chronology
Primary History article
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
As a teacher trainer I am very conscious that many prospective primary teachers' formal history education stops at the age of 14. As a consequence their knowledge and understanding of history and sense...
Supporting initial teacher trainees to think about chronology
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Working with other subject leaders
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
History has often been described as an umbrella subject. This is because the nature of history means that we must learn something about the past and this something will encapsulate learning from other subject areas. However, while the history taught in your school can be enriched by other subject areas,...
Working with other subject leaders
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The Historian 162: Environment
The magazine of the Historical Association
This edition of The Historian is open-access to all (including all linked articles). For a subscription to The Historian (published quarterly), plus access to our library of high-quality podcasts and films, free short courses and Virtual Branch talks, membership of a thriving community of history-lovers and much more, join the HA today.
4 Letters
5 Editorial (Read...
The Historian 162: Environment
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History Abridged: Language and the African continent
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. Think Horrible Histories for grownups (without the songs and music). See all History Abridged articles
Africa is a huge continent...
History Abridged: Language and the African continent
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Teaching History 35
Journal
Teaching History, February 1983 Number 35
In this issue:
Editorial, 2
History in Danger - Margaret Parker, 3
Watching the Detectives: A Critique of the Schools Council's Analogy between the Historian and the Detective - John Plowright, 6
Teaching History Competition, 9
Microcomputers and Local History Work in a Primary...
Teaching History 35
