Do you teach about the Holocaust in an English secondary school?

Do you teach about the Holocaust in an English secondary school? If yes, please take part in this national survey.

The UCL Centre for Holocaust Education is conducting an exciting new study to explore teaching about the Holocaust in English secondary schools. The research will explore the current landscape of Holocaust education in England, finding out more about teachers’ aims, definitions, content, pedagogy, assessment, knowledge, understanding and curriculum planning.

If you work in an English secondary school and teach about the Holocaust you are invited to complete the survey. It is vital that we have as wide a response as possible to enable an accurate picture of what is happening nationally to be created.

We appreciate that completing the survey asks teachers for their time. In recognition, the Centre is  giving respondents the opportunity to enter a free prize draw for two chances to win £100 worth of Waterstones’ vouchers.

The survey can be accessed here: https://www.holocausteducation.org.uk/research/teaching-holocaust-english-secondary-schools-201819-study/

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Research and Practice in Citizenship, History and Religious Education

UCL Institute of Education, 9th July 2018, 5.30-7.30pm

Are you interested in Citizenship, History and / or Religious Education in schools, museums, NGOs or other educational settings?

If yes, join us for an evening celebrating research and practice in Citizenship, History and Religious Education at the UCL Institute of Education.

The event is FREE and will consist of:

• Short presentations by students on our Humanities Education MA on their classroom research in Citizenship, History and Religious Education;
• Contributions from staff who teach on our programme; and
• Opportunities to network and to find out about our programme.

Refreshments will be provided. Registration is essential (please follow this link).

 

Small Cards, Big Picture: Constructing students’ narrative frameworks

A HIESIG Open Seminar, Monday 9th April 2018, UCL Institute of Education, 5.30-7.30pm

Dr. Lindsay Gibson, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta

Most history teachers agree that one of the purposes of learning history should be to develop students’ ability to construct narratives and synoptic “big picture” overviews of the past. Despite this commonly held belief, many students leave school with fragments of historical knowledge and narratives, but few can assemble the knowledge accumulated throughout their school history career into coherent narratives, and those who can often produce narratives that are formulaic, simplistic, and naïve.

Few empirical studies have investigated the degree to which historical thinking pedagogy and resources designed to strengthen students’ frameworks of knowledge have any impact on facilitating and accelerating students’ ability to construct narratives that are coherent and purposeful, include accurate historical details, are comprehensive in terms of the inclusion of significant events from the history of Canada, and include perspectives of different historical individuals and groups.

In this presentation I discuss the theoretical background, research design, methodological approaches, research instruments, data collection and analysis procedures, and results of a small-scale (n=~22) pilot study that investigated the extent to which historical thinking pedagogy and the use of historical event cards improved students’ ability to construct high quality narratives about the history of Canada.

To register for this free seminar, please follow this link.

Using the Past in Education. Free Day symposium (11.30am-7.00pm), Thu 22 March 2018

Organised by the International Centre for Historical Research in Education (ICHRE) and the London History in Education Special Interest Group (HiESIG), this free event will focus on the ‘uses’ of the past in educational settings – in schools, colleges and universities; in public commemorations; in popular literature and entertainment; and through political activity.

Both within and beyond formal education, the past has the power to shape citizens and their view of themselves and their communities. Curricula, textbooks and official publications and proclamations have all sought to bring history in the service of citizen-building and in the creation of desired societies.

This symposium will critically examine the purposes and outcomes of educational uses of the past, contextualising its function in a range of educational settings.

The event is free and takes place between 11.30am and 7.00pm at NCVO, 8 All Saints Street, London N1 9RL. To register please go to this link. Registration closes the 16th March.

Speakers include Peter Yeandle (University of Loughborough), Arthur Chapman, Maria Georgiou, Mary Woolley (Canterbury Christ Church University) Chris Edwards, Qianyun Yu, Alice Pettigrew (UCL Centre for Holocaust Education) and Simon Bendry (First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme).

The TeachFirst / Harris History / UCL Institute of Education London History Teachmeet 19th March

An opportunity for all History teachers of varying experience to share great ideas, passions and insight for effective learning. A fun, free and informal event joinly organised by TeachFirst and their History ambassadors, history consultants from the Harris Federation and History educators at the UCL Institute of Education..

Schedule: 18:00 -20:00

Location: Room 802, UCL Institute of Education

Registration (Free): Eventbrite link

Key note: Dr Arthur Chapman, UCL Institute of Education: Teaching historical interpretations

Key note: Dr. Christopher Dillon, King’s College London: Supporting post 16 students in their understanding of interpretations.

The Terrible Tale of Alphonse the Camel and Frank the Camel-killer, re-animated

Arthur Chapman has produced an animated version of his ‘Alphonse the Camel’ story, first published in Teaching History 112 in 2003. It is available on Youtube at the link below.

The original article, Camels, Diamonds and Counter-factuals: A model for teaching causal reasoning, is available on the Historical Association’s website at this link and on Arthur Chapman’s academia.edu site at this link.

Characterising curricular goals for secondary students’ written historical arguments

Jim Carroll, History Teacher, Esher College and PhD candidate, University of Cambridge

UCL Institute of Education, 14th November 2017, 5.30-7.30pm.

 Abstract/Event Summary

In this seminar, I will outline trends in history education regarding approaches to teaching secondary students how to construct extended written arguments. While since the early 1990s history education stakeholders have largely agreed extended writing is vitally important, recurring themes in resourcing have been wastage, incoordination and replication. Exemplifying these trends, two concurrent but largely disconnected discourses have developed and promulgated influential initiatives: ‘genre theorists’ and the ‘history teachers’ extended writing movement’. Despite certain goals held in common the participants in the two discourses have tended to talk past one another with concomitant issues in resourcing. I will argue that more communication between the representatives of the discourses will be necessary but insufficient in terms of avoiding further reinvention of square wheels. Unresolved and fundamental differences in how different stakeholders perceive the relationship between ‘academic’ and ‘school’ history also need to be addressed. These tensions matter because they have led to confusion regarding what the curricular goals for students’ extended historical writing should be. Without an alignment of goals, the recommendations of the representatives of both discourses risk being destined to appeal to only limited audiences. Finally, I will discuss my preliminary research into how such curriculum goals might be characterised.

Relevant Reading

Carroll, J. E. (2016) ‘The whole point of the thing: how nominalisation might develop students’ written causal arguments’ Teaching History 162, 16-24

Carroll, J.E. (2017). ‘From divergent evolution to witting cross-fertilisation: the need for more awareness of potential inter-discursive communication regarding students’ extended historical writing’ Curriculum Journal 28(4), 504-523.

 

Booking

This seminar is free and open to all. Booking is essential via this link.