At Oxford University Press, we are always thinking of ways to improve the way we deliver different topics. We want to offer the best resources that we can – and we feel it’s important to revisit each topic to ensure we’ve taken current thinking, the latest interpretations and up-to-date research into account. When OUP decided [...] The post Reconsidering the way we present the Holocaust appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

I had a brilliant Humanities teacher at the comprehensive I attended in the 1990s. Teaching in a poorly heated prefabricated hut and clad in a chalk dust-coated corduroy jacket, Mr Wilkins opened vistas far beyond the boundaries of our small provincial town. Gesturing towards his Peter’s Projection map of the world, he forced us to [...] The post Behind the scenes: Working on the new edition of the Oxford AQA History for A Level: British Empire c1857–1967 Student Book appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

One of the unexpected benefits of the first lockdown in March 2020 was that many academic or professional development lectures and seminars that would once have been held in person, were instead delivered online – making them much more accessible for teachers across the country. In early 2020 I had been aware of the need to inject greater diversity into our KS3 curriculum, and [...] The post Diversifying history at KS3: The Kingdom of Benin appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

As a teacher, I am keen to ensure that the lessons and enquiries I plan for KS3, 4 and 5 measure up to emerging standards for the most representative History curriculum possible. Like many teachers, I use Twitter as a resource for keeping up to date with teaching ideas, and the #MeToo movement – along [...] The post How can we use women’s history to re-frame the curriculum? appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

On Friday 20th March, it was announced that all UK schools would close to staff and most pupils in a bid to tackle the spread of Covid-19. Immediately teachers started to do what teachers do best – they began the tricky job of ensuring that both the students who would be at home for the [...] The post Getting back to the History classroom appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

The History community – in fact, the teaching world in general – seems to have gone ‘knowledge-rich’ mad over the past year or so. Social media platforms and discussion groups seem to be awash with knowledge organisers and knowledge workbooks, and lots of techniques and strategies to recall, retain, retrieve and then write about knowledge. [...] The post What does knowledge-rich really mean for the history teacher? appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

As part of making the judgement about the quality of education, inspectors will consider the extent to which schools are equipping pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Our understanding of ‘knowledge and cultural capital’ is derived from the following wording in the national curriculum: ‘It is the essential [...] The post How to boost cultural capital as a History teacher appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

Reading the works of professional historians is one of the most rewarding ways of broadening students’ thinking about History. However, this can be a problematic undertaking! Historians will often present differing views on the same topic, leaving the reader bewildered as to what to believe. Nevertheless, thinking about seemingly differing arguments can be an enriching [...] The post How should students evaluate historians’ arguments? appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

It’s been almost a month since the Historical Association Conference, and I am still feeling as high as a kite. I arrived in Chester on the Friday afternoon and after a walk round the Cathedral my daughter and I headed to the conference to have a nosy. I could not believe how many people were [...] The post Reflection on HA conference 2019 appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more

A new Ofsted inspection framework will be used with schools from September 2019. The four key inspection elements will be: quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management. Notably, the ‘outcomes’ element has gone and there is a clear shift in focus towards the way a school designs and implements its [...] The post Your KS3 history curriculum and Ofsted’s 2019 Framework appeared first on Oxford Education Blog ..read more