A new year means hundreds of PGCE history trainees and history Early Career Teachers setting out on professional learning journeys. It is always an exciting time.

However, our current (& future) ITE system, rooted in the ECF and CCF means many get very limited subject specific input. See my thoughts on this issue HERE.

This year I’m using a Schools History Project (SHP) lens to explore the core things I wish every new history teacher knew at the beginning of their teaching career to enable them to thrive in the long term. In my view there has never been a more important time to keep principles at the heart of history teaching. You can find out more about the SHP Principles HERE or see the summary below. 

This has primarily been written from my experiences as a secondary teacher and teacher trainer, however much will also apply in primary too. Indeed, the new National Curriculum puts many of the same demands on teachers of history from Key Stages 1 to 5.

I will be adding new blogs each week initially. This page will be a landing page to see all of them in one place. I hope they are useful to anyone setting out on this journey, or indeed anyone responsible for training or mentoring a new history teacher. 

As ever please do leave comments or questions below, or get in touch with me on Twitter @apf102.

Things I wish every history teacher knew...

• 12 September: Why do we need to think about how we learn as teaching professionals?
• 19 September:  Why do we teach history at all?
• 26 September: How do we help young people understand how history works?
• 3 October: What does 'developing knowledge' look like in history?

The rise of Twitter threads has meant I actually spend a lot less time wrestling with the Weebly Blog system that I used to. For that reason I am using this as a page to put Twitter threads which are actually more like blogs. I hope this is helpful (and an acceptable compromise Vic!).


Diversifying and Decolonizing the Curriculum