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Teaching 20th-Century History Resources
Article
We hope you enjoyed reading Exploring and Teaching Twentieth-Century History. To help you explore the topic further we’ve put together a selection of just a few additional 20th-century history and teaching resources below.
All these resources are available free to HA Secondary Members – find out more about Secondary Membership.
20th-century history podcast series
We have recorded...
Teaching 20th-Century History Resources
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Film: Teaching history in the time of Covid
Experiences at KS5 and University
The Covid-19 pandemic hit universities and university students hard, especially those making the transition from 6th form study. In addition to all the usual transitional concerns, lecturers and students had to navigate changed teaching and assessment practices. The remote learning that many students over the last 2 academic years have...
Film: Teaching history in the time of Covid
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Branch Programmes
Information
The local branches of the HA organise their own programmes of speaker and activities each year. Lectures cover anything from the centenary of the Magna Carta, Marine research, First World War and Magic. Leading historians, specialists and researchers are all on the HA lectures list with new people and topics...
Branch Programmes
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The Christian Kingdoms of Nubia and Ethiopia
Historian article
Adam Simmons draws our attention to the need for further research into the relationship between the medieval Kingdoms of Ethiopia and Nubia – a fascinating time and place in African history which is neglected in the historical archive and about which, so far, there are only limited sources.
The kingdoms of Ethiopia...
The Christian Kingdoms of Nubia and Ethiopia
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Multi Academy Trust History Leads Network
Open to all MAT history leads
Multi Academy Trust History Leads Network
The HA has teamed up with a group of history leads across different Multi Academy Trusts to re-ignite a network group dedicated to those leading history across a trust. The network will meet 3 times per year, twice online and once in-person, and meetings will focus...
Multi Academy Trust History Leads Network
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Move Me On 182: thinks that substantive knowledge is all that matters
Teaching History feature
Lina Power has interpreted an emphasis on knowledge organisers and factual knowledge tests to mean that substantive knowledge is all that matters.
Move Me On is designed to build critical, informed debate about the character of teacher training, teacher education and professional development. It is also designed to offer practical...
Move Me On 182: thinks that substantive knowledge is all that matters
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My Favourite History Place: Petra
Historian feature
Ghislaine Headland-Vanni visits the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan.
When you hear the word ‘Petra’ what images does the word conjure up for you? Maybe you have visited and know it already; if not, then like me you may not fully comprehend its size. I naively thought I could...
My Favourite History Place: Petra
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The Wolfson History Prize 2023
29th November 2023
On 13 November 2023 some of the HA team were fortunate enough to be in a glorious room at Claridge’s in Mayfair, London to hear the announcement of the winner of the prestigious Wolfson History Prize.
To a full room it was announced that the winner was independent historian Halik...
The Wolfson History Prize 2023
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Teaching Year 9 to take on the challenge of structure in narrative
Teaching History article
Reflecting on challenges that had surfaced in their own and others’ efforts to get pupils to write historical narratives, Rachel Foster and Kath Goudie went back to the drawing board to consider the disciplinary purposes of narrative. They used both historical scholarship and theoretical works by historians on narrative construction....
Teaching Year 9 to take on the challenge of structure in narrative
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Having 'Great Expectations' of Year 9
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What scope does studying a classic novel in both English and history provide for meaningful cross-curricular work and how might engaging with historical fiction help pupils engage more effectively with the realities of the past?...
Having 'Great Expectations' of Year 9
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'...trying to count the stars': using the story of Bergen-Belsen to teach the Holocaust
Teaching History article
Maria Osowiecki's search for the right questions to frame her students' study of the Holocaust was driven initially by the proximity of her school to the site of Bergen-Belsen, and the particular interests and concerns of her students as members of British Forces families. But, as this article richly demonstrates,...
'...trying to count the stars': using the story of Bergen-Belsen to teach the Holocaust
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The Great Debate 2026 – host a regional heat
The HA's public speaking competition open to school years 10–13
We are now looking for schools and venues across the country to host a regional heat in November, December 2025 or January 2026. If you are interested in hosting a heat, please fill out the form below.
The form will close on Sunday 15 June 2025. Successful applicants will be...
The Great Debate 2026 – host a regional heat
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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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The importance of history teaching
Primary History article
Introduction: The White Paper
The recent Schools' White Paper, The Importance of Teaching, emphasises ‘that the most important factor in determining how well children do is the quality of teachers and teaching' (DfE, 2010:9).
White Paper recommendations include:
1. raising the quality of new entrants to the teaching profession;
2....
The importance of history teaching
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History in the early years
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Early years history should provide opportunities to expand the children's knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past and develop children's investigative and interpretive skills. Children should focus on:
Questioning
Observation
Generating thoughts...
History in the early years
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Urban spaces near you
Primary History article
The public spaces in built up areas contain a rich collection of historical clues about our identity - the way in which the past has framed the present. Such spaces are available for all pupils to study in all areas. Jacqui introduces this fascinating and valuable aspect of our historical...
Urban spaces near you
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Whose history is it anyway?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The main goals of educating children are meeting their educational and achievement needs. Herein is the challenge. Our classrooms are a cornucopia of diversity. The most prominent or acknowledged being gender, class, religion and ethnicity. Some...
Whose history is it anyway?
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HA Awards Evening 2019
17th July 2019
On a hot afternoon in July key figures of the history world came together to celebrate history in all its diversity. Throughout the year, across the UK individuals with a passion for history work to educate, inform, entertain and excite those around them about the past. The Historical Association awards...
HA Awards Evening 2019
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My Favourite History Place: Keswick
Historian feature
Adventure is a buzz word in the tourist trade and this old market town with under 5,000 residents advertises that it is the Lake District’s Adventure Capital. There is plenty to justify the title – the challenges of mountaineering on foot, bicycle or climbing-rope, swimming, canoeing, sailing, dragon-boat racing, hang-gliding and...
My Favourite History Place: Keswick
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Historical Association Cookies Policy
Information
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What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files that are sent to your computer or mobile phone from a website's server and stored on your device's hard drive. Most websites you visit will use cookies in...
Historical Association Cookies Policy
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Henry V in the cinema
Historian article
Public attitudes to Henry V are very much influenced by WilliamShakespeare's interpretation. Richard Inverne discusses howShakespeare's version has been translated into cinematic form byLaurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh.
Shakespeare indulges himself considerably with his own relatively recent history - Richards II and III, Henrys IV, V and VI, for example....
Henry V in the cinema
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Cornwall Branch History
Branch History
The earliest information we have about the HA in Cornwall is an Annual General Meeting minute book showing that the branch was re-formed in 1963 by schoolteachers. Lecture meetings were held in various schools and these were probably all in the Truro area. The branch always appears to have been...
Cornwall Branch History
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On-demand webinar: Teaching disciplinary knowledge directly: sources
Webinar series: Direct history teaching
Webinar series: Direct history teaching
Session 5: Teaching disciplinary knowledge directly: sources
In this fifth session, Jacob and Mike will argue that 'source work' often doesn’t work. They will suggest that common classroom approaches to sources are often ineffective and inaccessible. Instead, they will share examples of lessons that teach pupils very...
On-demand webinar: Teaching disciplinary knowledge directly: sources
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Couching counterfactuals in knowledge when explaining the Salem witch trials with Year 13
Teaching History journal article
Puzzled by the shrugs and unimaginative responses of his students when asked certain counterfactual questions, James Edward Carroll set out to explore what types of counterfactual questions would elicit sophisticated causal explanations. During his pursuit of the ‘gold standard’ of counterfactual reasoning, Carroll drew upon theories of academic history in...
Couching counterfactuals in knowledge when explaining the Salem witch trials with Year 13
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Raising the profile of history in your school
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
All too often, primary schools allow English and mathematics to steal the limelight, unwittingly pushing other subjects to one side. Now is the time to steal some of the limelight back. Whether you are a new subject leader or you have been leading the subject for years, you have a...
Raising the profile of history in your school
