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Who was Paul Downing and what can his life tell us about trans history?
Teaching History article
Among the ‘ordinary people’ in the past, who constitute the focus of this issue of Teaching History, will be many who have not conformed to the gender norms of their own time. For Black trans artist Remi Graves, encountering one such individual – Paul Downing – in the London Archives was...
Who was Paul Downing and what can his life tell us about trans history?
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Primary History 15
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
4 Rorke's Drift - Patrick Wood
8 Spicing Up the National Curriculum - Elizabeth Newman & Dick Turpin
10 What was it like when you were at school? - Jill Watson & Penelope Harnett
12 Tales from the River Bank - Martin Richardson
14 Y3 and the Roman Road in Tower Hamlets...
Primary History 15
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Putting black into the Union Jack: weaving Black history into the Year 7 to 9 curriculum
Teaching History article
Making a passionate case for teaching Black British history in the secondary school curriculum, Hannah shares here the personal journey she has travelled in planning for Black British history in her curriculum. She cites her inspirations and offers striking examples to illustrate her rationale and approach to teaching this history....
Putting black into the Union Jack: weaving Black history into the Year 7 to 9 curriculum
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Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s
Primary History feature
Photographs are very useful and productive documents when teaching history. They provide a snapshot of the past such as this one from just outside Selfridges on Oxford Street in London c.1962-64. Combined with further images from Heritage Explorer, clips from Pathé News, extracts from the 1911 Census, locally gathered images...
Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s
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Film: What's the wisdom on... Extended Writing (Primary)
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 brand-new and already popular feature in our secondary journal Teaching History and provides the perfect stimulus for a...
Film: What's the wisdom on... Extended Writing (Primary)
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HA Annual Conference 2026: call for papers
Workshop proposals open until 7 November
The HA Annual Conference will be held in Newcastle in 2026. This two-day conference on 15-16 May is a leading highlight of the history community's year. It brings together all those working in and who have an active interest in history and heritage. With top-level academics, pedagogical sessions and discussion panels, the conference is...
HA Annual Conference 2026: call for papers
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What is a Synoptic Essay and How Do I Write One?
Student Guides
This resource is free to everyone. For access to a wealth of other online resources from podcasts to articles and publications, plus support and advice though our “How To”, examination and transition to university guides and careers resources, join the Historical Association today
Part of the A-Level History course now...
What is a Synoptic Essay and How Do I Write One?
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Whose past is it anyway? Telling Russian and Soviet history through diverse Jewish voices
Teaching History article
When Alistair Dickins came to teach A-level Russian and Soviet history (1855–1964) he was rather surprised by the very limited references to Jewish history within the exam board specification. His own detailed knowledge in this area (a ‘little side-project’ from his doctorate on the Russian Revolution), led to a revision of the course. This article...
Whose past is it anyway? Telling Russian and Soviet history through diverse Jewish voices
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The Aztecs & Spanish Conquest for GCSE
Briefing Pack
Ian Mursell set up Mexicolore in 1980 with his Mexican partner Graciela Sánchez and has worked since then with a wide variety of heritage and academic partners specialising in Aztec and Maya history. With the Aztecs now becoming a study unit on the OCR 2016 GCSE specification B, the Historical...
The Aztecs & Spanish Conquest for GCSE
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The Standing Stone
Article
‘The Standing Stone’ story and the activities around it developed from several different starting-points. One was the requirement in the 2014 National Curriculum for history at Key Stage 2 for children to be taught prehistory, specifically about ‘changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age’, with Bronze...
The Standing Stone
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Developing independent learning with Year 7
Teaching History article
Jaya Carrier’s decision to focus on developing a more independent approach to learning in history at Key Stage 3 was prompted by concerns about her A-level students. In seeking to establish secure foundations for students’ own historical research, Carrier first examined the assumptions of her colleagues and her students. She...
Developing independent learning with Year 7
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Primary History 11
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
4 Farming in the 30s - Patrick Wood
6 The Living History Experience - Karen Player
8 Do Vikings Eat Chocolate? - Meryl Hargreaves
10 Village History - Kathleen Byrne
12 ''We've Done That Miss" - Four Warwickshire teachers
14 History Comes To Life - Shirley Davies
15 News
16...
Primary History 11
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Local railway history: using visual resources
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Before the 1960s British Rail's spider-web network of railway lines reached every town and thousands of villages. Where you live would have been within a thirty minute journey from a station; scroll down to look at...
Local railway history: using visual resources
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Liaising with Others - Quick Links
List of Articles
Liasing with Others (Links)
Liaising with an historian:
‘Miss, did this really happen here?' Exploring big overviews through local depthLiaising with the community:
Teaching the very recent past: ‘Miriam's Vision' and the London bombingsLiaising with the academy:
Using time-lines in assessmentLiaising with an historian:
Taking new historical research into the...
Liaising with Others - Quick Links
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Teaching History 103: Puzzling History
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
This edition looks at two types of puzzles: first, those we tackle as historians, puzzles about the past and, second, those puzzles that occured for people living in the past, puzzles form their perspectives - dilemmas, decisions and judgements that require us to imagine ourselves into their situation in a...
Teaching History 103: Puzzling History
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Primary History 14
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
4 Not Henry VIII! - Ann Darrant
6 History Through the Streets - Robin Coulthard
8 We Plough the Fields - Patrick Wood & Norma Bell
10 Digging for Victory - Erica Pounce
15 An Active Approach to Ancient History: the Greeks - Harriet Martin
18 Grace Darling and Reception Children...
Primary History 14
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Young Historian Awards 2025 – the winners
4th September 2025
Spirit of Normandy Trust SeniorAvani De Santis [Guildford Grammar School, Western Australia]Kyle Luk [Loughborough Grammar School] Caspar Wright [Wells Cathedral School]
Spirit of Normandy Trust Key Stage 3 Anne Andrews [St Mary’s Menston Catholic Voluntary Academy, Leeds]Rafferty Ludlow-Maisey [Crypt Grammar School, Gloucester]Robert Moczynski [Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield]
Spirit of...
Young Historian Awards 2025 – the winners
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‘Man, people in the past were indeed stupid’
Teaching History journal article
In this article, which is based on Huijgen’s PhD dissertation Balancing between the past and the present, Tim Huijgen and Paul Holthuis present the results of an experimental method of teaching 14–16-year-old students to contextualise their historical studies in a different way. In the four lessons described, students’ initial reactions...
‘Man, people in the past were indeed stupid’
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Teaching Robin Hood at Key Stage 1
Primary History article
The stories of Robin Hood, which date from the Middle Ages, are integral to an understanding of British history. Although historians have not been able to identify a single historical figure that can be called Robin Hood, rooted in evidence, the myth or legend of Robin Hood has had a...
Teaching Robin Hood at Key Stage 1
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Significant anniversaries: the infamous Beeching Report 1963
Primary History article
March 2023 sees the anniversary of a report that had profound significance on social history and which affected many parts of the United Kingdom. There is every chance that it had an effect close to your school especially if you are in a more rural or coastal area.
The Beeching...
Significant anniversaries: the infamous Beeching Report 1963
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The National Curriculum for History from September 2014: the view from Ofsted
Article
IntroductionWith the publication on 11 September 2013 of the final version of the revised National Curriculum for September 2014, subject leaders and classroom teachers could start to consider the implications of the proposed changes. For history at Key Stages 1 and 2, some parts of the programmes of study are...
The National Curriculum for History from September 2014: the view from Ofsted
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Thinking through history: assessment and learning for the gifted young historian
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Historical enquiry requires reasoning. Even historical imagination depends on being able to evaluate a number of possible responses to an hypothesis and mastery of detail and argument. The high levels of thinking in history of...
Thinking through history: assessment and learning for the gifted young historian
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Using 'Development Matters' in the Foundation stage
Primary History article
Using ‘Development Matters' to plan learning for history in the Foundation stage
You won't find the term history in the Early Years curriculum framework at all. That being so, it can be difficult to know how best to support our Nursery and Reception colleagues when developing historical understanding within the...
Using 'Development Matters' in the Foundation stage
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Teaching History 70
The HA's journal for history teachers
9 Change and Continuity: Some Reflections on the First Year's Implementation of Key Stage 3 History in the National Curriculum - Robert Phillips
13 Implementing the National Curriculum, Term 1 - Ruth Watts
17 History Tasks at Key Stage 3: A Survey from Five Schools - Peter D. John
20...
Teaching History 70
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Primary History 12
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
5 Towards a Philosophy of Primary History - John Fines
Quarry Bank Mill
6 The Apprentice House - Vivienne Woods
7 Who Carried the Can? - Keith Robinson
9 A Dark Satanic Mill - Pauline Milk
10 The Fiction of History - Ian Fell
Ironbridge Gorge Museum
12 The Museum...
Primary History 12
