Generated by the centenary of the First World War, there has been an increased interest in how war is commemorated in English schools. Whilst other authors have argued that the way in which remembrance is marked in schools is militarised and nationalistic, this article reports on a single school case study to provide a deeper discussion of how…

In England and Scotland, the History National Curriculum avoids the prescription of specific content; expecting schools instead to devise a curriculum appropriate to their pupils within broad guidance. This means in both countries, teachers apparently have responsibility for constructing a curriculum: selecting content, sequencing learning and…

In 2019, the Department for Education introduced the core content framework (CCF) in initial education in England. The framework, which has been criticised for being heavily shaped by research from cognitive science, has, inadvertently, become the baseline curriculum for initial teacher education. This article explores how experiential learning is…

This is a qualitative research study which investigates the curriculum decision-making of four primary school history subject-leaders in the North-West of England. A grounded theory approach was utilised. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the subject-leaders and an audit of their schools' history curriculum completed. The curriculum…

The concept of 'powerful knowledge' has become extremely influential in discussions about curriculum in England over the last ten years. However, the concept seems to have done little to revolutionise curriculum design, and in some cases it has led to curricular narrowing and a focus on an increasingly nationalistic narrative in history. Michael…

Ever since the 1970s, politicised debates have raged over the teaching of history, dubbed the 'history wars'. These debates continue to impact primary and secondary teachers' choices of history curriculum foci to this day. This research aimed to discover history teachers' understanding of how to develop diversity within their history curricula and…

The shortcomings of the current English secondary school history curriculum have been widely discussed since its inception in 2013. Less widely explored, however, are the narratives underpinning a key classroom resource: textbooks. In this paper, I review nine history textbooks currently in use in schools across the country, drawing on…

Amid a growing national debate regarding the current health and future direction of the history curriculum in Britain, there have been numerous calls for an examination of its roles and purposes, and questions have been raised as to how far it engages an increasingly diverse student body. This article examines the perceptions and attitudes of…

In this article, Jessica Phillips returns to a theme explored in the Historical Association's publication "Exploring and Teaching Medieval History in Schools"--the challenge of teaching about the medieval past in ways that acknowledge its vibrant complexity and create a genuine sense of resonance rather than condescension or blank…

The National Curriculum is a document written by the Department for Education and contains the statutory requirements all teachers in maintained schools in England must follow. This research study will examine the path primary teachers in England, those who teach 5 to 11 year olds, navigate to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum and…

Confined to his home during lockdown in 2020, teacher Josh Mellor became eager to explore the history of the physical environment on his doorstep. After reading about different approaches to using environmental history in the classroom, Mellor decided to design an enquiry to explore the changing landscape of the Fens in Cambridgeshire from 1600 to…

Value co-creation unfolds as a system of interactions in which the user and service provider play an active role in collaboratively creating values that go beyond economical and financial worth. Value co-creation is a growing trend in museums; however, little is known about how it can enhance educational activities, especially concerning digital…

Each November, commemoration of the First World War armistice (and subsequent military events and conflicts) is almost ubiquitous in UK schools and has been given increased importance during the centenary years of the First World War. Yet as seemingly isolated occasions outside the regular curriculum, school practices of remembrance, and the…

This paper brings together the ideas of three writers from the 1880s who argued for an enhanced status for history in the school curriculum. Although there is superficial agreement between the writers in calling for history to develop children's citizenship and patriotism, each conceives these values differently. Focusing on the teaching of…

The idea that the emerging global society is also the age of the 'pictorial turn' is one in which the use of visual historical sources (VHS) in the teaching and learning of History in English secondary schools is situated. Yet there has been little research conducted into how such sources are experienced by teachers and students in the classroom,…