34. Migration: Enrich your KS3 History curriculum
Aaron Wilkes and Shalina Patel discuss how effective teaching of migration can enrich your Key Stage 3 curriculum, with insights from Liberty Melly and Tia Shah from the learning team at the Migration Museum.
What do students gain from studying migration at KS3? How has historical scholarship on migration changed in recent years? What is the impact of new research on how we should teach the topic?
Aaron, Shalina, Liberty and Tia offer advice to teachers thinking of introducing migration into their curriculum.
Aaron Wilkes has over 20 years’ experience working in schools as a teacher, department, and faculty leader. He also works with the PGCE History trainees at the University of Warwick. In addition to the classroom, Aaron is also one of the leading history authors in school publishing and his KS3 History series, now in its fourth edition and published by Oxford University Press, is currently the best-selling KS3 History textbook series/online package in the UK. Aaron is also Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s NEW KS3 Depth Studies: The British Empire, African Kingdoms, Fight for Rights, and Migration Nation. He is the Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s KS4 History textbooks which match the AQA and Edexcel GCSE History specification and is involved with the BBC as an Educational Consultant for their Bitesize and Teach series. Aaron tweets at @WilkesHistory
Shalina Patel has over 13 years of experience in the classroom and is former Head of History and currently Head of Teaching and Learning and leader of the ITT programme at Claremont High School Academy in London. In 2018 Shalina won the Silver Pearson Teaching Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School and in 2021 won the GG2 Inspire Award. She has been featured in publications such as the Guardian and The Times and on programmes like Radio 4’s Three Pounds in my Pocket, BBC Woman’s Hour and BBC’s Teach Me A Lesson podcast. Shalina showcases her passion for hidden histories via @thehistorycorridor Instagram account and her first book will be published in 2023/4. Shalina tweets at @Ms_PatelHistory
Liberty Melly is the Senior Learning Manager at the Migration Museum, where she leads the ever-expanding learning programme which to date has engaged over 27,000 students across the UK and internationally. Since joining the team, she has grown the first seeds of a learning programme by developing relationships and delivering projects with teachers, teacher training bodies, multi academy trusts, exam boards and publishers. This is against a backdrop of growing urgency for more and better teaching and learning about migration and intersecting themes. Liberty has coordinated a national schools competition, provided training for hundreds of teachers and championed migration learning and teaching at all levels. Liberty completed her undergraduate degree in History from the University of Nottingham, and went on to complete a MA in Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Cultures. Liberty can be contacted here.
Tia Shah is the Learning Officer at the Migration Museum, focusing on the day-to-day delivery of the Migration Museum’s learning programme and engaging young people with the themes of migration. Tia completed a MA in Early Modern History from Durham University and has been working in heritage education for 6 years. Tia is particularly passionate about embedding young people’s voices into museums and heritage sites and diversifying the stories that are told there. As well as working at the Migration Museum, Tia’s other freelance work centres around getting young people into the heritage industry and helping them build life skills. In her spare time Tia is a Contributing Writer for Girl Museum, helping to share untold stories about girls throughout history.
Further reading and support:
· 83% of schools surveyed report having made substantial changes to their Key Stage 3 curriculum in recent years to address issues of inclusivity and diversity. Read the Historical Association Secondary Survey.
· Sign up for free digital inspection copies of OUP’s new KS3 History Depth Studies including Migration Nation.
The publisher would like to thank the Migration Museum learning team for their valuable input into this project.
About the Migration Museum
The Migration Museum learning team is dedicated to supporting teachers and learners to engage in the topic of migration and its intersecting themes. Through its flexible and adaptable approach we work with teachers of all disciplines working in primary, secondary and college to encourage migration teaching within the classroom. We have worked with schools to create school-wide curricula, migration-focused units of study and lesson plans. We offer consultation, advice and support, with an understanding that engaging students in these topics comes with challenges. We offer training for teachers from KS1-KS5 across multiple disciplines from History, Geography and Citizenship to English and Languages, which includes practical classroom activities, tried and tested resources, coaching on how to have conversations about migration, and sessions on key words and concepts. To find out more please visit https://www.migrationmuseum.org/ and follow @MigrationUK