The British Empire

Outstanding KS3 history lessons on the British Empire

The requirement to teach about the British Empire at Key Stage 3 presents us with a range of challenges. We need to make the topic relevant and interesting. We also need to be balanced in our approach, given the empire-bashing that has surrounded the 150th anniversary of the Indian Mutiny (or should I say First War of Independence?) and the bicentenary of the abolition of Britain’s involvement in the Transatlantic Slave trade. We also need to be aware of the sensitivities of teaching this topic in a multicultural society. But you know all this! What you want are some interesting approaches.

Teaching the British Empire KS3

british empire
In a recent article for the Telegraph, journalist and writer Jeremy Paxman made the following case for teaching the history of the British Empire:
[It] explains so much about who we are now… Imperial history explains both why Britain has a seat on the UN Security...
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The Empire strikes back! SMART TASK KS3

Having previously investigated the criticism of empire, students now set about defending it.  After studying a contemporary Indian view of Empire, which they critique in terms of usefulness, students explore a range of possible achievements of the empire, some using a structured sheet, others are...
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Smart Tasks: End of Empire: Why did it all end so quickly?

Empire
This SMART task ask pupils to classify a number of different smaller reasons why The Empire declined and fell, under four bigger headings.  But they are not told what these headings are.  This they must work out for themselves.  In searching for their own method...
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