Under pressure to increase student attainment at GCSE but hesitant about what that might look like? I'm very exciting to be running this webinar series for the @histassoc.bsky.social on improving outcomes at GCSE whilst remaining faithful to our discipline. www.history.org.uk/secondary/ca...

Under pressure to increase student attainment at GCSE but hesitant about what that might look like? I'm very exciting to be running this webinar series for the @histassoc.bsky.social on improving outcomes at GCSE whilst remaining faithful to our discipline. www.history.org.uk/secondary/ca...

Classroom Chairs, Coercion, and the Right to Concentrate This article's basic point is that classroom chairs aren’t neutral objects. This isn’t new as all artifacts can have politics, but... #Edusky open.substack.com/pub/paulkirs...

When Prior Knowledge Helps, and When It Doesn’t Which factors make prior knowledge helpful or unhelpful? And which should we consider first? efratfurst.substack.com/p/when-prior...

#historyteacher Public Health and Bristol folks @edurbin.bsky.social

And also take a look at the only GCSE spec written by SHP and that does local history properly!! teach.ocr.org.uk/switch-to-oc...

Wait, but coursework is the great saviour of young people from the unbearable pressure and stress of the evil exam system, isn't it? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Release day! The ebook & hardback are live. The first book for teachers based on *enactive* cognitive science, please consider leaving a review when you're done (it really helps). (Paperback readers: Amazon is having a glitch, so it's slightly delayed.) mybook.to/teachingmean...

Early bird booking for the @histassoc.bsky.social conference in Newcastle/Gateshead ends today. Come to our wonderful city and experience brilliant history CPD! www.haconference.com

Think it’s more depressing than that. It’s about convenience. No, I don’t want to have to help my child learn stuff at home. No, I don’t want my child upset because you put them in DT for no HWK I’ve suddenly discovered something that’s important to me, why didn’t you say something sooner?

The problem with journalists’ commentary on British education in a nutshell

Friends, Claudette Colvin—the 15-year-old who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in March 1955 & joined the federal case against bus segregation that went to the Supreme Court — died today at age 86. But there are lots of myths and mis-impressions about her. A short corrective thread:

OK. So I got interested in who exactly IS drafting the curriculum. The picture is super mixed but worrying in places - have put a few headlines below but would welcome comment from DfE! If anyone has more information to contribute I would be interested. This is based on a quick search of names /1

Catherine Howard lasts four months at the top of government eh? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

@arthurjchapman.bsky.social one for you causal reasoning in the wild - a Sierra Leonian chief reflecting on the 1898 House Tax War and using metaphor to communicate complex causation! www.jstor.org/stable/30210...

@justice2history.bsky.social have a new book coming out in collaboration with Katie Donnington and Nick Draper. It is now available for free download: discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10... #HistoryEducation #historyteacher #TeacherEducation

🚨 History teachers, we’re back! 🚨 Join us on 7 Feb 2026 for a day of workshops and a nice curry – all for £25. Ten years after the ‘knowledge turn’, we’re exploring what knowledge-rich history teaching looks like today. Presenters & link below 👇

On Yom Kippur many Jewish people in Britain have their phones off to mark the holy day. As it ends at 723pm, some will hear the tragic Manchester news for the first time. At that time, please join many of us to send a message of solidarity to British Jews.Thanks Together coalition for proposing.

The report featured in the Guardian today on the inclusion of women in hustory lessons is really important - lets make women’s voices heard and their actions remembered. www.history.org.uk/secondary/ca...

Our report in The Guardian www.theguardian.com/education/20...

In this photo are my two babies....and Rupert and Henry 😂 We're thrilled to announce that Changing Histories: Expanding Worlds c1600-c1870 is now out! Thank you to all the incredible people involved in this project and to everyone who's already ordered a copy/class set! You have impeccable taste. X

It's that time of year when we evaluate our curriculum. I would really appreciate it if anyone could have a look over ours. What are we missing? What needs changing? Does it flow properly? Does it prepare students from KS4 & 5? Any Feedback much appreciated. #historyteacher

No shade on James, who is just playing the game along with the rest of us, but the fact students need to know all *this* as well as the *history* remains bonkers. They have to spend time doing this sort of nonsense in so many subjects - surely we can examine better?

Look what’s arrived @colinmccormick.bsky.social @katieamery.bsky.social Looking forward to getting stuck in

Want a free copy of our book? Retweet or like and we'll pick the winner on Friday

In 1665 a recipe for a tea caudle created by Sir Kenelm Digby was published. All you need is to mix together two yolks, sugar, and brewed tea. Suggested for days when ‘you have not the conveniency to eat presently a competent meal’. Stuart Huel? Would that I was brave enough to try it.

#HAConf25 was a blast. Thanks to @jacobolivey.bsky.social @mrsthorne.bsky.social @catherinepriggs.bsky.social @egcarr.bsky.social @davidjhibbert.bsky.social @e-nicholson.bsky.social and @michaeldoron.bsky.social for terrific workshops - and to the @histassoc.bsky.social team for organising!

Evidence-based, ‘balanced’ history like this is conducive to national cohesion in modern Britain. Far right denialism & justification of colonialism is not.

@sathnam.bsky.social thanks for the inspiration. Sums up our aims. Book for schools out next week

Thinking about your teaching of the History A-level? I will be running a series of webinars with @histassoc.bsky.social between the 12th June and the 3rd July! Details are included in the link below, but feel free to ask me any questions about the course. www.history.org.uk/secondary/ca...

Interested in a direct approach to history teaching? 'Lean lessons' with booklets, whole-class reading, explanation, and lots of questions? @jacobolivey.bsky.social and I are leading a webinar series for @histassoc.bsky.social in June – and it's cheap! Just £50 for all six webinars. Link below! 👇

A British right wing culture war magazine, The Critic, has published an attack on me for the objections I make to historical misinformation. Here’s my response: alanlester.co.uk/blog/a-lesse...

Funnily enough, I've been working on historic 'Buy British' campaigns recently. Some thoughts in the monster (!) thread 👇 Tl;dr: BB is a moralised demand on consumers that currently loses out to rivals - but only because of geopolitics. I.e. this is not destiny. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Women's and gender history is thriving in HE, but very little of this new work appears in schools history. Mid-way through the gov't's curriculum review, Natasha Hodgson considers the barriers to the take up of new work in schools, and how she seeks to overcome these bit.ly/4lf0Xm4 1/2 #Skystorians

A lovely start to the weekend to receive the latest Teaching History in the post. I'm grateful to @histassoc.bsky.social for the opportunity to share my assessment journey in an article in this edition.

Today I will be playing the role of Cassandra. I've posted my responses to the Ofsted consultation on my blog in case they're helpful to others. Feel free to make use of them or ignore as you see fit, but make sure you respond. occamshairdryer.wordpress.com/2025/03/08/m...

Yup. My advice is DON'T. DON'T make a progression model for history's second-order concepts. Instead, build a strong disciplinary curriculum: have pupils tackle a growing variety of types of historical Q in each area, and let each inform the next, but...

Planning some A-Level lessons on court faction in the 1540s and, I know I know this isn't actually right, but it's hard not to conceptualise it as the jocks (the conservatives) vs. the nerds (reformers) The ur-jock, Nicholas Carew:

Just four places left on the 2025 Experienced Teacher Programme starting this Wednesday, 26th February: CPD pitched at the level of expertise, designed to refresh and reenergise great history teaching. Bag your spot here: www.history.org.uk/secondary/ca...

www.tes.com/jobs/vacancy... Come and work with me!! Teach in a dept with an ace HOD (*not* me!), representative history, fab pupils, in a welcoming community & stunning location. Please RT NW folks @carmelbones.bsky.social @mrbajkowski.bsky.social @histassoc.bsky.social @1972shp.bsky.social

A very exciting opportunity to come and join the History team at Sawston Village College. We have recently been awarded Gold Quality Mark status by the Historical Association and our GCSE results are top 1% value added (+1.6)... ce0976li.webitrent.com/ce0976li_web...

Retirement of Thomas, the last of the 2012 generation of British riders to still be doing it at a high level - coming on the heels of Discovery hiking the price to watch cycling in the UK to £370 pa and ITV cutting back tour coverage - probably signals the end of the UK cycling thing ☹️

I've been thinking a lot about AI the past year or so and I am growing increasingly firm in my belief that I basically hate it. I do not want to read an AI-written email newsletter or use an AI-generated summary. Education is a human domain and there is something so inhuman about generative AI.

People, places and a pinch of discipline. Here's my slides from #soane25 if that floats your boat. The script is below each slide. drive.google.com/file/d/18CWg...

Well #Soane25 did not disappoint! Huge thanks to @michaeldoron.bsky.social @jacobolivey.bsky.social and the team at Ark Soane for a wonderful day.

It's quite something when Eamon Duffy is only one highlight of a conference! Terrific day at #Soane25. Brilliant work from the history team there once again.

@michaeldoron.bsky.social doing @michaeldoron.bsky.social things #soane25