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History through children’s voices
Primary History article
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In this article, we explore examples of children’s writing, from...
History through children’s voices
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Stephen Lawrence Day 2021
Learning about the legacy of Stephen Lawrence
22 April is Stephen Lawrence Day, marking the anniversary of his murder in 1993. The killing of Stephen Lawrence by a group of young men simply because he was Black was a horrific crime, but the failure to correctly pursue the killers because of the Metropolitan Police’s own racism was an appalling...
Stephen Lawrence Day 2021
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Joseph Priestley's American Dream
Historian article
Joseph Priestley ended his days in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. This is one of the most delightful spots in the eastern United States. It is situated at the confluence of the North Western and North Eastern branches of the Susquehanna, one of the great rivers of North America, which winds its way...
Joseph Priestley's American Dream
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The Historian 21
The magazine of the Historical Association
3 Feature: Sick people, health and doctors in Georgian England - Roy Porter
7 Portfolio: The life and death of Colonel Blimp - Kevin Jefferys
10 Update: The French Revolution - Norman Hampson
24 Education Forum: Pushing for the past - Nicholas Reeves
The Historian 21
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Cartoons and the historian
Historian article
Many historical books contain cartoons, but in most cases these are little more than a relief from the text, and do not make any point of substance which is not made elsewhere. Political cartoons should be regarded as much more than that. They are an important historical source which often...
Cartoons and the historian
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How can there be a true history?
Historian article
"How can there be a true history, when we see no man living is able to write truly the history of the last week?" (Thomas Shadwell)
Indeed! Once when I had to give a talk in Spain, I found this quotation by looking up ‘history' in the Oxford English Dictionary....
How can there be a true history?
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Polychronicon 147: Witchcraft, history and children
Teaching History feature
Witchcraft is serious history. 1612 marks the 400th anniversary of England's biggest peacetime witch trial, that of the Lancashire witches: 20 witches from the Forest of Pendle were imprisoned, ten were hanged in Lancaster, and another in York. As a result of some imaginative commemorative programmes, a number of schools...
Polychronicon 147: Witchcraft, history and children
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The Great Debate 2025: Speeches
Multipage Article
The final was held at the Vicar’s Hall at Windsor Castle on 29 March 2025, and attended by 20 finalists from across the UK. This year, each finalist needed to have taken part in a regional competition and one of three semi-final stages.
The competition question for this year was: How...
The Great Debate 2025: Speeches
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Edward III: Foreign Relations and the Hundred Years War
Medieval British History
In this podcast Professor Mark Ormrod discusses the impact of Edward III reign on foreign relations, relations between England and Scotland and the origins of the Hundred Years War.
Edward III: Foreign Relations and the Hundred Years War
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Out and about in the Trent Valley
Historian feature
In the muddy corner of a field fringing Biddulph Moor in North Staffordshire, a small fenced enclosure surrounds Trent Head, ‘official' source of the River Trent (SJ905 579). In truth, any of a handful of springs that rise nearby might serve. Pilgrims are well advised to equip themselves with Wellington...
Out and about in the Trent Valley
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Why stories?
Primary History article
Please note: this article was written before the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and references may no longer be relevant.
During the Early Years and Foundation Stage children should listen to stories, ask how and why and talk about the past (DfE 2012). Young children are comfortable with stories. Through...
Why stories?
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Young Quills Awards 2014
Multipage Article
Read all the reviews of this year's books via the links at the bottom of this page.
‘Young Quills' Award for Historical Fiction recognises the powerful role that fiction can have for introducing, informing and exciting young people about historical events, characters and places. The competition has two categories -...
Young Quills Awards 2014
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The Great Debate 2024: Speeches
Multipage Article
The final was held at the Vicars' Hall at Windsor Castle on 23 March 2024 and attended by 22 finalists from across the UK. This year each finalist needed to have taken part in a regional competition and one of three semi-final stages.
The competition question for this year was:...
The Great Debate 2024: Speeches
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What is APP?
Article
Assessing Pupils' Progress in History
APP is a tool to view pupil progress periodically by making use of collections of day to day learning in order to ‘make periodic judgements on pupils' progress using a wide range of evidence taken from a variety of classroom contexts.'[i] QCDA is currently working...
What is APP?
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Napoleon III and the French Second Empire
Article
The French Second Empire has been variously described as a precursor of Twentieth Century Fascism and a prime example of a modernising regime. Roger Price continues recents efforts to achieve a more balanced assessment by setting the regime within its particular social and political context. The origins of the Second...
Napoleon III and the French Second Empire
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Podcast Series: An Introduction to Magna Carta
An Introduction to Magna Carta
What precedents were there to Magna Carta? Why was the charter originally drawn up and signed in 1215? Why was it reissued during the thirteenth century? Would “ordinary” people have been aware of Magna Carta? How effective was Magna Carta as means to controlling medieval kings? Why was it resurrected...
Podcast Series: An Introduction to Magna Carta
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Story, myth and legend: The Story of Atalanta
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Time and change in stories
Everyone loves a story and stories have always been at the heart of early years education. Children can relate their own experiences of time to stories in picture books about other...
Story, myth and legend: The Story of Atalanta
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The Historian 52: Napoleon III and the French Second Empire
The magazine of the Historical Association
Napoleon III - only one article of this journal remains. Open the attachment below to read the article.
The Historian 52: Napoleon III and the French Second Empire
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Teaching History 142: Experiencing History
The HA's journal for secondary history teachers
02 Editorial
03 HA Secondary News
04 Rachel Foster - Passive receivers or constructive readers? Pupils' experiences of an encounter with academic history (Read article)
14 Lindsay Cassedy, Catherine Flaherty and Michael Fordham - Seeing the historical world: exploring how students perceive the relationship between historical interpretations (Read article)
22...
Teaching History 142: Experiencing History
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Queen Victoria's visit to Wolverhampton, November 30 1866
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
When Prince Albert died in 1861 Queen Victoria went into deep mourning and ceased all public duties. By 1866 she had still not made any public appearances. Wolverhampton, like many other towns, raised a subscription to commission a statue in Albert’s memory....
Queen Victoria's visit to Wolverhampton, November 30 1866
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The Great Debate 2022: speeches
The HA's public-speaking competition for students aged 16-19
The 2022 Great Debate final was held on 26 March at the Vicars' Hall, Windsor Castle. The question for young people to address was:
“The 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II has seen global and widespread changes including in: societal infrastructure, industry, rural life, the environment and ideas. Which changes of the...
The Great Debate 2022: speeches
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The Historian 54: The handing back of Hong Kong
The magazine of the Historical Association
Featured articles:
Handing back Hong Kong: 1945 and 1997 - Andrew Whitfield (Read article)
Elizabeth I - Susan Doran
Western Dress and Ambivelence in the South Pacific - Michael Sturma (Read article)
The Middle East in WWII and the British Co-operation with the Zionist Agency - Nicholas Hammond
Painted Advertisements...
The Historian 54: The handing back of Hong Kong
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Assessment of students' uses of evidence
Teaching History article
Drawing on her research into students' evidential reasoning, Elisabeth Pickles explores the possibilities for how such reasoning might be assessed. Existing exam mark schemes focus too heavily on generic processes involved in the analysis of source material and insufficiently on the historical validity of reasoning and conclusions produced. Approaching the...
Assessment of students' uses of evidence
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1939 After Sixty Years
Article
Historians view major anniversaries with a measure of ambivalence. We know that they are artificial, that it is merely a convenient fiction to think that the passage of a round number of years provides a privileged vantage point from which to review the significance of a given event. Yet we...
1939 After Sixty Years
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Approaches to the History Curriculum: Project based learning
Briefing Pack
Rationale/Origins
Project based learning has been around for decades; it is not a new idea. When we think back to the curriculum of the 1970s and early 80s, integrated Humanities was once again all the rage. As the Nuffield review of 2008 highlights "between 1975 and 1983, HMI tried to...
Approaches to the History Curriculum: Project based learning
