History texts
In preparation for the start of the course it would be good to read from these lists they are designed to ‘fire’ you up about the subject, to get you thinking about several aspects about history teaching as well as helping you to build up your subject knowledge.
Very good history teachers are well read, and they carry on reading throughout their careers. Through this reading they seek to challenge their own perspectives with fresh texts and new ideas. We suspect that you are already well read and what we are encouraging you to do in the tasks below is to carry on this process and really begin to think about the teaching of history inside the classroom.
We would recommend that you join the Historical Association in preparation for beginning the course. The HA journal ‘Teaching History’ will become a core reference point during the training year. In addition, they host webinars and podcasts and resources to support your subject knowledge enhancement. You may also find it interesting to begin looking at their ‘One Big History Department’ site which hosts conversations and resources shared by the history teaching community.
This list includes some key texts for developing your history teaching. In the Education
Resources section of the library there are pupil textbooks for KS3, KS4 and KS5 History, they are also available on most book websites. Consider accessing student revision guides (GCP, Oxford, and Pearson Revise) depending on the exam boards used at your placement schools. Use them to help to develop your subject knowledge and to give you ideas for planning teaching and learning.
History Teaching
A book that you might find useful as you think about history teaching in the classroom is Terry Hadyn’s Learning to Teach History in the Secondary School (Routledge, 2021). This book will be a helpful practical companion text for use throughout the PGCE. Chapter two in particular is useful to understand the purpose of history education.
I would strongly recommend reading at least the first two chapters of R. Harris, K. Burn and M. Woolley, The Guided Reader to Teaching and Learning in History, (Routledge, 2014). This is an excellent book drawing together current debate around teaching and learning in history by encouraging the reader to critically reflect on recent research.
In addition, we recommend engaging with Katharine Burn and Arthur Chapman Christine Counsell, MasterClass in History Education, (Bloomsbury, 2016), to begin preparing your thinking around the ways in which pupils develop their understanding of the second order concepts which underpin historical study.
You might also get hold of a copy of Ian Phillips book, Teaching History: Developing as a Reflective Secondary Teacher, (Sage Publications, 2008). There is also a website that has support material that is worth looking at – the address is contained in the book.
Finally, Knowing History in Schools: Powerful knowledge and the powers of knowledge, edited by Arthur Chapman is available for free download from UCL Press. It explores some big ideas currently being debated in history education, themes we will investigate at various points on the course.
Subject Knowledge
In general, secondary school history covers the broad sweep of history from c.600 (Anglo Saxons) to 2000, and some secondary schools still cover the Romans too. This is a challenge for all history teachers (whether modern history graduates or graduates from allied disciplines). There is no ‘cannon’ of knowledge as academies do not have to follow the KS3 National Curriculum, rather they must provide a broad and balanced curriculum. The Holocaust is the only statutory curriculum topic.
Read at least one of the following:
- Sathnam Sanghera (2021) Empireland
- Akala (2019) Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire
- David Olusoga (2021) Black and British: A Forgotten History
- William Dalrymple (2020) The Anarchy
- Emma Griffin (2014) Liberty’s Dawn
These all reflect developments in history that will help to broaden your understanding of history.
The Key Stage 3 curriculum is still worth engaging with as most schools do pay reference to it to some degree.
It is a good idea to spend some time gaining a secure sense of the key periods, for example medieval, early modern, modern and some of the key events of history that frequently dominate the English curriculum.
The OUP Very Short Introduction series of books is very good for getting a quick reference point for a range of periods and substantive historical areas.
The One Big History Department site hosts a number of really helpful reference lists for developing your substantive and disciplinary knowledge: