Student walkthrough videos for GCSE History Paper 2 now available!

We are working with Harris Federation to create a series of pre-recorded student walkthroughs to help your students prepare for this summer’s exam series. There is a recording for each component, and in each video we remind students about the structure and focus of the paper, the specific questions and what they are assessing, and suggest some general revision tips.

You can now view the Paper 2 walkthrough videos for the British Depth and Period Study, as well as the Paper 1 videos for the Historic Environment and Thematic Study.

We hope to release the GCSE History Paper 3 student walkthrough video at the end of April.

GCSE History command word guidance

To help students better understand the assessment requirements we have created a set of student-friendly guides to different question types and command words.

This handy document contains links to all our student-focused support for Summer 2024 including links to the student walkthrough videos, command words and general revision tips:

Further support for students this Summer

In addition to the GCSE History specific support provided, Pearson, Ofqual and the JCQ have a range of general information and advice to help support and guide your students during the exam period. Please take a look at the information we’ve summarised below and pass it on to your students.

Pearson Edexcel GCSE History Conflict in the Middle East and Parallel Histories survey

Pearson Edexcel is the only Awarding Organisation in England to offer a Conflict in the Middle East option within the GCSE History qualification. Supporting this option, Pearson partnered with Parallel Histories to provide a digital resource available via Pearson's ActiveLearn platform. We are keen to learn your reasons for choosing or not choosing the Conflict in the Middle East option, and to receive feedback on the Parallel Histories ActiveLearn resources. We would therefore be grateful if you could complete this survey:

Apply to be an examiner for GCSE History

It’s not too late to apply to be an examiner for GCSE History – we are still looking for examiners on popular topics such as Elizabeth and Germany. If you are interested in marking for us this Summer you can apply online via our website.

Reminder: coursework deadline 15 May

The final date for centres to submit coursework samples and marks this Summer is 15 May 2024. Please note your exams officer will have their own internal deadlines to enable them to meet this deadline.

If you are submitting A level History coursework this May you can find guidance on how to mark coursework, along with how to submit marks and samples on our website.

Coming soon: Edexcel A level Coursework Guide

We are still working on a new A level History coursework guide for teachers and hope to make it available to centres later this month via the qualification page.

Imperial War Museum Beyond Borders Project Teacher Forum invite

The IWM would like to invite you to participate in their online teacher forum for the Beyond Borders Project, a collaboration between IWM, and the universities of Swansea and Edinburgh. The project will explore the impact of migration (internal, imperial and across the globe) during the Second World War on national identity across the home nations. It will culminate in the creation of learning resources aligned to the curriculum, exam specifications and CPD for teachers. The project will draw on IWM collections to provide a rich learning experience.

The IWM would very much like teachers to join them at this early stage of the project journey. Your expertise, experiences and thoughts will help shape the project and ensure it provides value for students and teachers.

The forum is scheduled to take place from 4-5pm on Tuesday 7 May 2024.

HA Conference 2024

The annual HA conference will take place in Birmingham on 10 and 11 May 2024.

Pearson staff will be attending the event and we will be running a session on our 2025 GCSE History assessment model changes on Friday 10 May at 12pm.

New National Archives education resource on Falklands conflict

The National Archives have created a new video and lesson resource using original records on the Falklands conflict which may be of interest to schools that teach the conflict. You can find links to the video and lesson resource below:

Pearson Edexcel: survey on the use of AI in History and Geography

We are keen to find out more about how History and Geography teachers and students are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in schools. We'd welcome your thoughts on this important issue, even if you aren't using it or aren’t aware of how it can be used. We've created a short questionnaire to capture your views and we plan to share the results with teachers later this year. It will also help us to ensure we are making the most of any opportunities AI provides in supporting teachers and students.

We hope you found this update useful. If you have any questions about our History qualifications and resources please do contact me.