ABSTRACT
Highly imaginative, fun activities are not an attempt to bypass the serious work of
history, but rather, to provide access to it for those pupils who were previously fobbed
off with low level colouring in, missing words exercises and model making. The problem
is that some commentators confuse ‘accessible’ with ‘easy’. History teachers only make
things ‘accessible’ in order to help refractory learners into a truly challenging task that
they would otherwise shun or fail in. (Counsell, 1999: 20)
One of the many skills you need to develop as a history teacher is the ability to select
teaching methods which are appropriate for the particular pupils you teach and for the
achievement of the learning objectives for the lesson. The choice of method usually resides
with the class teacher for, although the NC for History outlines in general terms areas of
content which should be taught and the ways in which pupils’ historical understanding
should be developed over time (DfE, 2013), the methods by which the NC is delivered are left
for the teacher to decide.
