History – Oxford Education Podcast

31. African Kingdoms: Enrich your KS3 History curriculum

By Oxford Education | March 7, 2023

Aaron Wilkes, Katie Amery and Teni Gogo discuss how effective teaching of African Kingdoms can enrich your Key Stage 3 curriculum.

What do students gain from studying African Kingdoms at KS3? How has historical scholarship on African Kingdoms changed in recent years? What is the impact of new research on how we should teach the topic?

Aaron, Katie and Teni answer these questions and offer advice to teachers thinking of introducing West African Kingdoms 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 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

Katie Amery has more than 15 years’ experience working in schools as a History and Politics teacher and department leader. She is also currently the subject lead for History Initial Teacher Training at Liverpool Hope University. Katie is passionate about curriculum diversity and working with fellow historians to promote cutting-edge thinking including with Toby Green. She is a keen blogger @educationalimposters

Katie tweets at @KatieAmery

Teni Gogo is a History Teacher who has spent much of her career exploring medieval African Kingdoms and Black British History. She is currently a Postgraduate student at the University of Oxford as an Action Research Fellow for the Empire, Migration and Belonging Project.

Teni tweets at @tenigogo_

The publisher would also like to thank Professor Anne Haour and Toby Green for their valuable input into this project.

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 samples and updates on OUP’s new KS3 History Depth Study series

View Transcript

30. British Empire: Enrich your KS3 History curriculum

By Oxford Education | February 1, 2023

Aaron Wilkes and Shalina Patel discuss how effective teaching of the British Empire can enrich your Key Stage 3 curriculum. What do students gain from studying the British Empire? How has historical scholarship on the British Empire changed in recent years? What is the impact of new research on how we should teach the topic?

Aaron and Shalina answer these questions and offer advice to teachers concerned about teaching sensitive or potentially contentious topics as part of studying the British Empire, for example Partition.

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 the series which bears his name (KS3 History by Aaron Wilkes), published by Oxford University Press, is currently one of the best-selling KS3 History textbook series/online packages in the UK. Aaron is also Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s NEW KS3 Depth Studies: 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

12. Why it’s important to teach vocabulary in History

By Oxford Education | May 12, 2021

Lindsay Bruce

Helen Prince talks to Lindsay Bruce about the importance of language and vocabulary in the History classroom. Lindsay shares her passion for teaching students to communicate their opinions, both orally and on paper, a skill that will set them up for life.

Lindsay Bruce teaches History at a school in the West Midlands. She is an Assistant Head and is also an author for Oxford University Press. She tweets at @HistoryTeach0

Further reading and support:

Closing the word gap in History. Lindsay offers 6 ways to build Historic vocabulary on the Oxford Education Blog.
What can we do to bridge the word gap at transition? Read more from Lindsay on the Blog.
Lindsay shares practical classroom ideas to develop students’ understanding of key vocabulary in our activity pack ‘Closing the Word Gap: activities for the History classroom’. Download a copy.