Opinion

The chief inspector of schools at OFSTED has warned against resting hopes on the latest educational gimmicks and urged us instead to focus on getting the basics right. Amanda Spielman advised specifically against the likes of Brain Gym, a controversial programme...

As well as listing and describing, what other forms of command words can we use to make sure that pupils' thinking is likely to be historical? It may be helpful to ask yourself , When did I last ask my pupils to? I have added an example...

When the site was launched 10 years ago, our focus was on exemplifiying best practice in the harder-to-teach areas of the National Curriculum. At that stage schools had been teaching the topic of Toys quite successfully and few teachers were asking for new resources or...

Yesterday the BBC ran this interesting article on an important find at Vindolanda Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall which challenges some misconceptions about Roman attitudes to Celtic culture. You can read it here...

Rarely do we get a chance to look at how things are done in other countries. For that reason I thought that you might like to see how the Australian system have tried to exemplify national standards through annotated examples of work covering different...

One of the hardest jobs for a history subject leader in primary schools is to build up a clear idea of what it is that makes the biggest impact on standards in history. All subject leaders I know work hard and want to do their...

There has been a lot of coverage recently of OFSTED’s intention to focus more on the quality , range and impact of the curriculum, rather than simply looking at data. Sean Harford recently talked of the 3 Is: Intent, Implementation, Impact. You need to get...

The Peterloo massacre is one of the best-documented events in British history and now the subject of Mike Leigh’s recent film, which has brought it to more people’s attention. The Historical Association site has a short podcast interview with Mike himself in which he discusses...

Those of you teaching Man's First Moonlanding at KS1 but like to know that there is a cute fiction title you might want to use called They Raced to the Moon, written by F.J.Beerling and published by Fairyfaye at £5.99. It deals with serious issues...

If you're looking for an outstanding history department website you would do well to look at what Tony Hier's department has achieved ...

The masterly Ian Dawson shows how family history brings the topic of Medicine on Western Front in WW1 alive. Those of you following Edexcel will already know of his work but well worth a look if you don't....

We all know that pupils' minds wander. Some brave researchers claim that this happens, on average, as much as 50% of the time for the majority of pupils. What can you do to stop it? Mostly pupils' attention to learn is driven by 2 things:...

Canterbury Archaeological Trust have made this great animation available on their website...

Many of you are kind enough to tell us when the lessons you have taught using our material and approaches,  which you have adapted to your own circumstances, have gone down a storm. Here are just some of your favourites so you can see that...

With OFSTED's renewed focus on the curriculum many schools are re-examining the quality of their Ks3 curriculum, mostly written without knowledge of what GCSE course would follow. Few schools have gone back and re-written their 2014 KS3 courses in the light of their GCSE choices,...

A few years ago when I was working closely with the staff at Belleville school in South London, we discussed the sort of texts you might like to use when teaching Ancient Egypt at KS2. I was keen to recommend Maat’s feather a story of...

9 ways to ensure that your local history topic is successful  

1. Don’t even begin your chosen local topic unless you are sure that there are enough suitable resources.
2. Local history , of all the topics, should be the most child-centred. You and your colleagues should...

KS3 assessment revisited. Recently Sally Burnham and Geraint Brown revisited their earlier seminal paper on assessment now 10 years old and published their findings in Teaching History. In their article they attempted to offer a list of do’s and don’ts. I thought it would be helpful...

Daniel Willingham and other have long made the case for the use of story in history teaching at all keystages not just in primary history classes . And its easy to see why:   Stories are more interesting Stories are easier to comprehend Stories are easier to remember Our minds...

A recent article in the Historical Association’s magazine Primary History suggested that subject leaders need to ensure that the following aspects are covered:  

• as with other important civilisations, the water and fertile land were key to success;
• Caliph Al-Mansur set up his capital there which...

The Maya's  apparently sudden decline in the 9th century AD has long been a subject for historical debate. Now scientists have found evidence which appears to confirm the theory that the large-scale abandonment of Maya city states was precipitated by a massive drought which swept across Mexico in about 900 AD. A team...

With the weakening of the history inspectorate at OFSTED we don't see the detailed surveys that used to guide schools in working out areas to improve. the sheer scale of the surveys made them useful. How else can schools measure themsleves against any notional national...

A simple way of ensuring that your pupils are thinking historically is to focus their activities using key command words. Too many tasks at KS1 and 2 involve narrating and  describing, What other forms of command words can we use to make sure that the...