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The Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests have given renewed impetus to campaigns against racial inequality. In education, the issue of curriculum – and particularly the history curriculum – has been at the centre of campaigns to "decolonise the curriculum". While barriers to the teaching of "diverse" British histories in England's classrooms have long been recognised, relatively little research has been done on the crucial role of history teacher educators and teacher training in developing a diverse profession, practice, and curriculum. This paper seeks to address these gaps through analysis of interviews with history teacher educators, trainee history teachers and key stakeholders. In particular, it explores the responses of history teacher educators to recent calls for curriculum reform, charts how these demands for change have influenced thinking and practice in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in history and identifies ongoing challenges to the development of more inclusive curriculum and pedagogic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the experiences of school history education and explores the impact this education has had on the development of young adults and their sense of identity in England. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study used semi-structured interviews with twenty young adults, aged 18–22, some from white backgrounds, but most from minoritized ethnic backgrounds.1 Four broad categories were identified in the data, namely 'values and value', 'identity development', 'curriculum connections' and 'narrative templates'. In the majority of cases, these young adults felt that history was important and had a role to play in addressing societal issues such as racism. However, the curriculum largely ignored the histories of minoritized ethnic groups, as the dominant narrative template favoured a white, Anglo-centric view of the world, and so served to fuel a sense of disconnection to the curriculum and to the state more generally. This paper suggests there is a need to pay closer attention to the place of history education in shaping a sense of belonging and personal identity, through a multiperspectivity approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explored the extent to which secondary school history teachers in England willingly engaged with a series of concurrent curriculum reforms, and the factors that shaped their level of agency in the process. The curriculum has been the target of sustained reform by many governments, and accountability measures are frequently used to compel teachers to engage with the process of change, as teachers are often seen as resistant to change. Data were obtained through online surveys conducted annually from 2015 to 2017, providing a large, longitudinal data set of over 1100 individual responses. Responses to closed items were analysed using SPSS to generate descriptive and inferential statistics, and qualitative responses were coded to identify key themes. Generally the teachers were reluctant to engage in the process of reform. There was some statistically significant variation between teachers in different types of school. Teachers' willingness to engage with changes was also related to their sense of subject identity. However it is evident that accountability measures dominates teachers' thinking, and even impacts on what teachers choose to do in non-examined phases of the curriculum. This appears to diminish teachers' agency when creating a curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about the purpose and content of history education in schools have been prevalent in most Westernised democratic nations over the last 30 years. Under discussion are essential questions concerning national identity/ies, competing narratives and the aims of history education. The impact of ‘history wars’ has been felt within both Australia and England, as conservative commentators – including politicians and historians – have raised concerns about the depth and effectiveness of history education and have sought to make significant changes to the history curriculum for schools. This analysis examines the history wars in Australia and England, exploring the view that history education has been in danger and/or crisis and examining the curricular implications of a move toward greater recognition of national narratives. It raises some essential tensions that remain regarding two aspects of history teaching in both nations: (1) historiography and (2) chronological understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The history of history education, past and present, often resembles a history of contestation, in which rival and polarized understandings of the meanings of 'history' and 'history education' vie for dominance (Nakou and Barca, 2010). A common polarity in debates on history curricula is the opposition between 'knowledge' and 'skill', an opposition that has had considerable currency in recent curriculum reform processes in England which have emphasised 'core knowledge' (DfE, 2013). Drawing on examples of classroom practice (Chapman, 2003; Woodcock, 2005; Buxton, 2003) and on systematic research and theorizing (Shemilt, 1983; Lee and Shemilt, 2009) this paper aims to destabilize such binary talk and to explore the ways in which 'first order' knowledge and understanding about the past and 'second order' or metahistorical knowledge and understanding of how the discipline of history works are both logically inter-related and inseparable in practical terms. The notion of historical 'enquiry' (Counsell, 2011) is explored as a pedagogic tool for the simultaneous development of these inter-related dimensions of historical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings from two large-scale national online surveys carried out in 2009 and 2010, which explored the state of history teaching in English secondary schools. Large variation in provision was identified within comprehensive schools in response to national policy decisions and initiatives. Using the data from the surveys and school-level data that are publicly available, this study examines situated factors, particularly the nature of the school intake, the numbers of pupils with special educational needs and the socio-economic status of the area surrounding the school, and the impact these have on the provision of history education. The findings show that there is a growing divide between those students that have access to the ‘powerful knowledge' provided by subjects like history, and those that do not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 7 out of 10 pupils in England choose to exercise their right to drop history as a school subject as soon as they are able to do so (at the age of 13 or 14). However, this 30% overall take‐up rate conceals massive variations between schools, with over 80% of pupils continuing to study the subject in some schools, and under 5% in others. The study which was funded by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority sought to gain greater insight into the factors influencing post‐compulsory take‐up of history, with a complex range of factors emerging as influencing these figures. The findings should be of interest to those involved in history education in high schools and for those involved with other subjects that are similarly affected by the freeing up of the post‐14 curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a roundtable discussion sponsored by the journal on the study of 20th century British history in Western Europe. The article features scholars from France and Germany including Martina Steber of the German Historical Institute in London, England, Antoine Capet of the Université de Rouen, and Laura Lee Downs of the Ecole des Hautes en Sciences Sociales.

This paper explores the issues that secondary history teachers on an initial teacher education (ITE) programme in England encounter in attempting to incorporate more cultural and ethnic diversity into the history curriculum. It also assesses the impact that changes in their training course had on their views and pedagogical practice. Using questionnaires and scenario based interviews with three cohorts of trainee teachers, key challenges were identified, which were related to the purposes of teaching history and diversity, appropriate pedagogy and content, dealing with pupils, and teachers' personal concerns. A framework for analysing trainees' stances towards cultural and ethnic diversity based upon a confident-uncertain-uncomfortable continuum was developed. The research revealed that the course had had an impact, although this was in subtle rather than marked ways, which raises further questions about what is possible within the confines of an ITE training programme and the need for additional support beyond the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings of small-scale in-depth qualitative research into the perspectives on history amongst adolescent children of minority ethnic backgrounds living in inner-cities in England. The research aimed to elicit, first, the narratives of British history that children from minority ethnic backgrounds hold; and, second, the relationship between the history children learn from home and that learned at school. In addressing these research questions, this paper contributes to wider discourses of what history should be taught in contemporary multi-ethnic settings, as well as how teachers in classrooms can navigate the tensions between history and memory cultures. Although the research was conducted in the English context, the issues it raises are pertinent elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an examination of British World War I memorials located in Great Britain and in British colonies such as the Cenotaph in London, England and the All-India War Memorial in New Delhi, India. It discusses how war memorials serve as an effective means to teach students about the process by which objects come to hold meaning. It explores the impact that visual resources have on Generation Y students and discusses how teachers can more effectively reach these students by understanding the types of resources they connect with. It presents an outline for teaching students analytical skills.

This article discusses the experience of teaching public history at Ruskin College, Oxford since 1996 to consider debates on the role of the "historian" and "the public." Drawing on ideas of Rosenzweig and Thelen as well as Samuel, this explores approaches to public history adopted within the MA. program at the College. It develops themes raised in the collection People and their Pasts: Public History Today to consider the concept of furthering historical understanding based on common experiences and breaking down rigid distinctions between "the historian" and "the public." The article describes practical approaches adopted! in the teaching of public history and draws on other examples, such as the television program, Who Do You Think You Are? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a May 2010 conference in Rome, Italy, of the Institute for European History in Mainz, Germany, the German Historical Institute in Rome, Italy, and the German Historical Institute of London, England, which was headlined "The First Florescence of Modern European Historiography." The meeting addressed the blooming of historiography in the 1950s in Italy and England.

Background: In England, the promotion of 'national values' within the history curriculum has become an increasingly topical issue in the wake of recent debates about 'Britishness' and community cohesion. However, despite the swathe of policy statements and pronouncements, there is little empirical evidence linking young people's identities and their attitudes towards history. Purpose: Drawing on a survey of undergraduates, we explore young people's attitudes towards the history curriculum and how these relate to their ethnic, national and political identity. We anticipated that students ascribing to a strong sense of national identity may be particularly receptive to a traditional approach to teaching national values within history classes, while those with a strong sense of political identity would be receptive to a multicultural approach; and vice versa. Sample: The sample consisted of 353 undergraduates attending five universities in the North of England. The sample was composed of British citizens, the majority of whom would have recently experienced secondary education including discrete or cross-curricular teaching designed to promote 'British' national values. Design and methods: Students' attitudes towards history and their self-identity were estimated using a questionnaire survey asking respondents a series of questions about history teaching and identity. Exploratory factor analysis was used to reveal underlying patterns in students' responses to items assessing their attitudes towards history. Items gauging relevant dimensions of self-identification, such as the relative importance of their national identity, along with other individual background characteristics, were then regressed on to attitudes towards history. Results: We found that students' attitudes towards history were connected with two distinct factors: traditional/conservative and multicultural/liberal. The regression results revealed a positive relationship between a strong sense of national identity and a traditional attitude towards history, and, a negative relationship between a strong sense of national identity and a multicultural attitude towards history, even when controlling for students' background characteristics. Conclusions: Our exploratory research suggests that students' self-identity is likely to influence their attitudes towards approaches to history teaching. Educational policy-makers and practitioners must therefore pay careful attention to students' self-identity and the context in which this is formed when seeking to inculcate an inclusive national identity in history classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the School of History at the University of Leeds. It focuses on the school's reputation for promoting innovative research on the history of Northern England, and its publication of the journal "Northern History," beginning in 1966. Several contributions by faculty members to the study of Northern English history are described, including John Chartres' research on licorice and gin, and Malcolm Chases' studies of the Labour movement. Interdisciplinary initiatives which link aspects of local English history to broader demographic studies are also noted.

Urban history as a sub-discipline within history began to emerge in Britain in the 1960s and early 1970s. Attention initially focused heavily on the 19th century, but the Tudor and early Stuart town also soon attracted attention. Academic interest in the post-restoration and 18th-century urban world emerged a little more slowly, but the closing decades of the 20th century produced a mounting volume of research on the subject. Geoffrey Holmes was one of a group of post-war historians rewriting the history of Augustan Britain and re-establishing its significance in the longer-term development of the country. Though not a specialist urban historian, Holmes saw towns playing a vital part in shaping the character of the period. His research anticipated and inspired many of the facets of the rapidly-emerging historiography on the 18th-century town, intersecting with it in three particular areas. First, in demonstrating the important role played by towns, in particular as the home of four-fifths of the seats in the house of commons, in the broader political system; second, in highlighting the position of London at the hub of the Augustan world; and third in revealing the part played by towns, and especially those who inhabited them, in promoting social change at the same time as securing long-term political stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the findings from a survey of over 400 young people in metropolitan areas in the Netherlands and England concerning their views on identity and school history. The research explored pupils’ ideas about which facets of history were of interest to them, what history they believed should be taught in schools, and their views on the purposes of school history and history in general. The coding of the data made it possible to delineate between those from different ethnic minority backgrounds, boys and girls, age and level of education and first or second generation of migration. The study revealed significant differences between young people's ideas about history and identity, and those advanced by politicians and policy makers in the Netherlands, England and elsewhere. The concluding section of the paper considers the implications of the findings for policy makers in the field of history education in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the changing status of narrative 1 in classroom history and the ways in which narrative is introduced in history classes at Key Stage 3 (ages 11–14) in England. It includes the views of departmental heads responsible for the history curriculum and other history teachers on the place of narrative in the history curriculum as well as observations of history lessons. The research is set in the context of the English history national curriculum, although the relevance to curricula elsewhere is evident. The discussion is located within a discourse of different models of good practice, both for education generically and for narrative specifically. The research findings suggest that despite a mixed economy of methods and priorities within different history departments, the prevailing trend is towards a dilution of the academic tradition towards one that stresses an accessibility agenda. The impact of this on the place of narrative in history classes is considered and areas for further research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on Mark Jenner's article entitled "The Roasting of the Rump: Scatology and Body Politic in Restoration England," which appeared in "Past and Present." It argues that Jenner's article illuminates a moment where street carnival and scatological texts came together to denigrate the degenerate 'Rump' parliament by invoking scatological insult and images of cannibalistic dismembering and through a gendering of the failed state. He also contends that Jenner contributes an imaginative, scholarly and sophisticated addition to the literature and offers a methodological example by mixing literary, political and medical approaches to the study of history.

A response by Mark Jenner on the comments made on his article entitled "The Roasting of the Rump: Scatology and Body Politic in Restoration England," which appeared in "Past and Present" is presented. He argues that the comment suggests that the 'Roasting of the Rump' overstated the cultural impact and social diffusion of the songs and the imagery which it discussed. He also mentions that he did not aim to provide a comprehensive account of languages and symbolism of the body politic in the 1650s and early 1660s.

The article presents a comparative analysis of history lessons taught in a primary school in Turkey and in England. The ways in which pupils extract information, transfer it to new contexts and express it from different viewpoints are explored. The role of classroom organization in developing historical enquiry is considered.

This article is posthumously published as the late Joan Simon's most recent contribution to ongoing debates in historiography of education. Joan remained an active writer and a contributor to this journal and submitted the present article only months before her death, with characteristic determination to engage in historiographical debate, and to contextualize and defend her own contribution to the field. Like other periods preceding the Industrial Revolution, the later Middle Ages and Renaissance tend to have been neglected by historians of education in recent years, and the discussion below reminds us how recently, and for good reason, debate concerning the Reformation remained central to the historiography of education. Implications of the contemporary politics of education for historical interpretation are well illustrated. But the autobiographical threads of this piece also reveal the significance of personalities and academic politics in the configuration of prevailing interpretations of history. These factors impinge on the publication and editing of learned journals as well as more generally on the positioning of research in education history between its originating intellectual discipline on the one hand, and on the other the field of practice to which its insights contribute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of the theoretical currents associated with the postmodern turn of the 1980s and 1990s on the teaching of history in universities in England and Wales. Emphasising the centrality of teaching to historians' own professional identity, the article uses information derived from a web survey, course literature and interviews in order to analyse the theoretical components of curricula and pedagogy at honours and Masters' levels. What it suggests is that despite the growing influence of theory on historical research and the urge to introduce a greater element of reflexivity into historical education, there is limited evidence that postmodernism and the turn to theory has had a significant impact on historical education. In conclusion, the article suggests some of the reasons for disciplinary resistance to change as well as the problems such conservatism entails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an article on teaching the history of cities, Bombay, London and New York which will provide students with a comparative perspective that enables them to question assumptions about history. Origins of the course; Course description and outline; Use of movies in teaching the course.

Explores the manner in which educational and political conservatives attempted to control the content and purposes of the history curriculum in English schools during the period 1987-1994. Debate concerning the role of history in the curriculum; Spurious nature of the New Right's claim to be engaging in an educational debate.

Highlights developments related to historical studies in England. Schedule of the conference on cultural and political false beliefs organized by the Department of History, University of Essex; Publication of the "Lordship and Learning; Studies in Memory of Trevor Aston," by Ralph Evans; Award granted to English authors for excellent writings.

Assesses the state of Czech studies in England. State of Czech literature, language and history studies at universities; Cultural program of the Czech embassy in London.