This article presents the findings of research into the teaching of local industrial history in a socially deprived primary school in post-industrial north-east England. The first of the article's three substantive sections sets out the methodology and rationale. The second, drawing on qualitative data from participant observation, semi-structured…

The authors of this article take a well-known structural framework for students' thinking about the Reformation and give it a twist. Their Tudor religious rollercoaster is informed by local visits in their setting in Guernsey -- an area where the local picture was not quite the same as the national one. Their Year 8s were able to place their local…

Michael Bird and Thomas Wilson focus their attention directly on the voices of pupils, in dialogue with their teacher and with each other, as they draw inferences from differing sources about the Norman legacy in Chester. By carefully examining dialogue stimulated by these sources, Bird and Wilson demonstrate not only the role that prior knowledge…

Working alongside local history teachers to prepare for the new GCSE specifications Steve Illingworth and Emma Manners were struck that many teachers were concerned about two issues in particular: the breadth and depth of knowledge demanded and new forms of assessment, especially the historic environment paper. In this article they show how both…

Inspired by the claim that local history can be taught effectively 'Any time, any place, anywhere,' Katharine Burn and Jason Todd took up the challenge of planning Key Stage 3 enquiries related to an unusual and diverse, but frequently neglected and often despised, corner of Oxford. They sought not merely to develop the kinds of enquiry that would…

History is the most contested of curricular subjects in all western democratic states. This article begins by setting out competing models of a history curriculum highlighting the shifting trends that have taken place in different types of schools in England in recent years. The different models of a history curriculum are critiqued from the dual…

Local history, historical fiction, and one of the most significant events of the twentieth century come together in this article as Jon Grant and Dan Townsend suggest a way to enable students to produce better historical fiction and improve their understanding of the history of their own area. They develop the work on historical fiction…

During the winter of 2011-2012, Weardale, England, was the setting for an ambitious informal adult education project. In this rural area in the northeast part of the country, the local arts collective, Jack Drum Arts, established a community play project entitled "The Bonny Moorhen." This dramatic undertaking aimed to retell the story of…

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Anglican clergymen in England contributed significantly to the development of archaeology and local history as, first, subjects for polite study, but secondly as academic disciplines at the heart of the university extension and extra-mural movements. Initially working as lone antiquarian scholars,…

Having already reflected on ways of improving their students' understanding of historical diversity at Key Stage 3, Joanne Philpott and Daniel Guiney set themselves the challenge of extending this to post-14 students by means of fieldwork activities at First World War battlefields sites. In addition, they wanted to link the study of past diversity…

This paper focuses on the exclusion of black peoples from the English countryside. It particularly considers how white imaginaries of the English rural have ignored historical geographies of the black presence. Firstly the paper reflects upon the heritage of Englishness as represented in and through the rural tradition. It then presents some…

The Natural Trust in England is responsible for maintaining the village and home of Beatrix Potter (creator of Peter Rabbit). It is possible to recognize the country from the illustrations in her books. The author wonders if beauty in nature is being conserved in Japan. Miss Potters' life is outlined. (DH)

This article focuses on the teaching and learning of historical material among young children aged five to seven. It examines present practice, its underlying assumptions and what happens in the classroom, and makes some sggestions on content and methods for history instruction for this age group. (Author/SJL)

In the small ex-mining village of Langold, North Nottinghamshire, no one could have predicted the disruption a discovery of bats would cause, halting building work on the new Sure Start centre in West Bassetlaw. Further uproar ensued when it became clear that re-housing the bats would be an expensive--and, for many, a pointless--exercise. At the…

The educational aims and objectives of industrial archaeology are defined. Short descriptions of how it is used in English secondary schools are provided. (DE)