@benarscott.bsky.social
Their lives allow you to cover stories about the Civil Rights march, the campaign in the UK, terrorist/liberation symbolism, the brutal realities of sectarian violence and re-radicalisation. Probably a project for next year.
July 8, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Their lives allow you to cover stories about the Civil Rights march, the campaign in the UK, terrorist/liberation symbolism, the brutal realities of sectarian violence and re-radicalisation. Probably a project for next year.
I don't yet, but I think I've just come up with a question that could unlock it: What do the Price sisters reveal about the Troubles? I used to teach the troubles at GCSE and have wanted to find a way in to teach it at KS3. Then I heard about the Price sisters on @empirepoduk.bsky.social
July 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I don't yet, but I think I've just come up with a question that could unlock it: What do the Price sisters reveal about the Troubles? I used to teach the troubles at GCSE and have wanted to find a way in to teach it at KS3. Then I heard about the Price sisters on @empirepoduk.bsky.social
Be definitely great to discuss all of this in person. I'm currently a maybe on the HA. I'm hoping to but have to sort out a clash with work first.
April 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Be definitely great to discuss all of this in person. I'm currently a maybe on the HA. I'm hoping to but have to sort out a clash with work first.
Totally. I guess sometimes I think it is a future enquiry that might make pupils critically reflect on a narrative that was used in a earlier enquiry. For example when an enquiry scale-switches, it can be used to make pupils question the incompleteness of an earlier narrative.
April 6, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Totally. I guess sometimes I think it is a future enquiry that might make pupils critically reflect on a narrative that was used in a earlier enquiry. For example when an enquiry scale-switches, it can be used to make pupils question the incompleteness of an earlier narrative.
Finally, I also completely take on board your point about the problems of treating narrative solely as a tool for knowledge transmission. That wasn't an intended message or the article as I also think getting pupils to recognise the limited or contested nature of some stories is crucial. 7/
April 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Finally, I also completely take on board your point about the problems of treating narrative solely as a tool for knowledge transmission. That wasn't an intended message or the article as I also think getting pupils to recognise the limited or contested nature of some stories is crucial. 7/
...more successful when I've been pretty prescriptive about what substantive knowledge I wanted to emphasise. However, I don't think this has to be the case for every enquiry. 6/
April 5, 2025 at 6:54 PM
...more successful when I've been pretty prescriptive about what substantive knowledge I wanted to emphasise. However, I don't think this has to be the case for every enquiry. 6/
I wonder if an area of disagreement is the extent to which the teacher should be curating the substantive knowledge "journey" that pupils undertake. I've predominantly been working with KS2 and KS3 and with those phases I've found the process of inducting pupils into disciplinary debates... 5/
April 5, 2025 at 6:52 PM
I wonder if an area of disagreement is the extent to which the teacher should be curating the substantive knowledge "journey" that pupils undertake. I've predominantly been working with KS2 and KS3 and with those phases I've found the process of inducting pupils into disciplinary debates... 5/
I think all three could be legitimate formulations of enquiry questions, however often the maze-like questions might get the balance right between rigour and sense of achievable challenge (with the caveat that the maze would need to have multiple end points). 4/
April 5, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I think all three could be legitimate formulations of enquiry questions, however often the maze-like questions might get the balance right between rigour and sense of achievable challenge (with the caveat that the maze would need to have multiple end points). 4/
Since writing the first draft of that TH article I've been exploring in training how the maze and jungle path metaphors could also sit alongside an open field metaphor, i.e. a question which provides a much looser sense of puzzle but allows pupils to go in many different directions. 3/
April 5, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Since writing the first draft of that TH article I've been exploring in training how the maze and jungle path metaphors could also sit alongside an open field metaphor, i.e. a question which provides a much looser sense of puzzle but allows pupils to go in many different directions. 3/
I definitely don't think there should ever only be one end goal and agree that would treating historical enquiry as a kind of simulation for pupils rather than a genuine intellectual process where pupils are wrestling with the disciplinary dimensions of the question. 2/
April 5, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I definitely don't think there should ever only be one end goal and agree that would treating historical enquiry as a kind of simulation for pupils rather than a genuine intellectual process where pupils are wrestling with the disciplinary dimensions of the question. 2/
Thanks for engaging with the article so thoroughly Alex. I think you make a good point about the inadequacies of the maze metaphor in terms of what it implies about putting limits on the journeys pupils could pursue within an enquiry and assuming there is only one legitimate end goal. 1/
April 5, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Thanks for engaging with the article so thoroughly Alex. I think you make a good point about the inadequacies of the maze metaphor in terms of what it implies about putting limits on the journeys pupils could pursue within an enquiry and assuming there is only one legitimate end goal. 1/
Very much looking forward to reading your article too!
March 29, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Very much looking forward to reading your article too!
I don't have a link but I have created an adapted enquiry that I could share. If you DM your email I can send over the files.
December 12, 2024 at 7:31 AM
I don't have a link but I have created an adapted enquiry that I could share. If you DM your email I can send over the files.
Have you seen Helen Snelson the York subject community's enquiry on "What mattered to people in the seventeenth century?" We're trialling it this year and it feels like such an exciting way to explore the upheaval without overwhelming pupils with the high politics.
December 11, 2024 at 8:38 PM
Have you seen Helen Snelson the York subject community's enquiry on "What mattered to people in the seventeenth century?" We're trialling it this year and it feels like such an exciting way to explore the upheaval without overwhelming pupils with the high politics.
Ecumenical councils: the peer-review of the fourth century?
November 24, 2024 at 9:11 PM
Ecumenical councils: the peer-review of the fourth century?
This might seem obtuse, but we can teach some exam technique about how to answer source questions at GCSE. This will look more like a transferable skill, but its success will still depend on some luck without pupils having good period knowledge.
November 18, 2024 at 8:43 PM
This might seem obtuse, but we can teach some exam technique about how to answer source questions at GCSE. This will look more like a transferable skill, but its success will still depend on some luck without pupils having good period knowledge.
I think we probably can't teach a transferable skill of source analysis. We can expose pupils to lots of different types of sources in a given period and this might give pupils enough knowledge to say something sensible about an unseen source. But I think this will boil down to what they know.
November 18, 2024 at 8:41 PM
I think we probably can't teach a transferable skill of source analysis. We can expose pupils to lots of different types of sources in a given period and this might give pupils enough knowledge to say something sensible about an unseen source. But I think this will boil down to what they know.
Or maybe not articulate it as 'skills" at all? Pupils can develop knowledge of the specific source and of context of that source. Then a pupil can say intelligent things about that source. However that doesn't mean they have any transferable skill for interacting with a source from another period
November 18, 2024 at 8:33 PM
Or maybe not articulate it as 'skills" at all? Pupils can develop knowledge of the specific source and of context of that source. Then a pupil can say intelligent things about that source. However that doesn't mean they have any transferable skill for interacting with a source from another period
Wow, that graph tells a very impressive story. Well done to all involved!
November 15, 2024 at 7:57 PM
Wow, that graph tells a very impressive story. Well done to all involved!
Totally agree. Unless the metric is uniting the teaching profession. It's been a surreal experience in the last few years thinking Ofsted were mainly a force for good in highlighting the value of curriculum. It'll be reassuring to return to simpler times where we can all see them as the enemy...
November 15, 2024 at 7:39 PM
Totally agree. Unless the metric is uniting the teaching profession. It's been a surreal experience in the last few years thinking Ofsted were mainly a force for good in highlighting the value of curriculum. It'll be reassuring to return to simpler times where we can all see them as the enemy...
Me too. I've been trying to write an EYFS-friendly version of Sophia Duleep Singh's story today which has been a joy.
October 31, 2024 at 2:54 PM
Me too. I've been trying to write an EYFS-friendly version of Sophia Duleep Singh's story today which has been a joy.
This is brilliant Nikki. I think it's great how your theme of rebellious Norfolk opens up so many interesting avenues. I can also confirm Pablo Fanque is getting his own Y1 enquiry in history.
October 31, 2024 at 2:48 PM
This is brilliant Nikki. I think it's great how your theme of rebellious Norfolk opens up so many interesting avenues. I can also confirm Pablo Fanque is getting his own Y1 enquiry in history.