Key stage 4 history

Welcome to our section for teaching GCSE history. With the advent of the new GCSE syllabi a few years ago, the number of options suddenly mushroomed.

As we pride ourselves on producing high quality lessons based on outstanding practice seen in classrooms, rather than just producing resources, we have been faced with the dilemma as to what to focus on. In the short term, we have decided to prioritise the following:

1. Migration  2. Elizabethan England 3.  The First Crusade  4. Viking expansion 5. Spanish conquest of Americas

You will find that there is a wealth of advice on all aspects of leading history. Because I have spent so much of my professional life improving schools’ GCSE history results I have accumulated considerable knowledge of what works, which I want to pass on.

The 25 history departments I worked with recently showed an average improvement of half a GCSE grade for every student compared to the results two years previously. As you might expect, therefore, the sections on raising attainment and using data have had a massive influence on those departments that have already acted on the advice.

Colleagues I have worked with have kindly contributed short case studies describing how they managed to bring about rapid and substantial improvement. You can’t find this sort of material elsewhere.

Many of you reading this will be subject leaders. You are well-catered for especially in the area of monitoring. You are given shrewd advice on classroom observation, feeding back to colleagues, carrying out pupil interviews and how to conduct an effective work scrutiny. When there is just so much to do when leading a history team, you will be grateful for the excellent advice on prioritisation and forward planning – advice that really works.Likewise with monitoring. The incredibly useful advice on conducting student, interviews and work scrutiny will prove every bit as helpful as the very practical advice on classroom observation and feeding back to colleagues. If you are looking for guidance on prioritising and forward planning you will find not only advice but an element of interactivity.For many of you, the site will simply prove to be a source of inspiration. You may choose to visit the very popular 100 great teaching ideas, or the equally influential imaginative learning activities, all of which have been tried and tested by many teachers.