July 2024 History subject update

Getting Ready for Results

Access key information and guidance for the Summer 2024 results period for GCSE, International GCSE and A level History, including key dates, details of post-results services and grade boundaries.

Multifactor Authentication reminder

As teachers and Heads of departments, you may not have had to access our secure systems for some time, with the next time you need to do this being on learner results days on 15 and 22 August. We’d like to take this opportunity to remind all users of systems such as Edexcel Online and ResultsPlus, that there is now a requirement to authenticate via an app on a smart phone in order to access these systems.

If you haven't accessed these platforms for some time, we would urge you to do so before finishing for the summer, so we can work with you to resolve any issues and avoid any delays in access on results days.

You can get additional support for registering a device and general troubleshooting in our Pearson Portal Authenticator support article.

Taking these steps now will ensure you all have a successful results day.

HA secondary history survey 2024

The Historical Association have recently launched their 2024 secondary history survey which aims to capture teachers’ views on a range of issues relating to the secondary curriculum and possible future changes; the diversity of the curriculum; where responsibility for curriculum decisions lies in your school; the impact of generative AI on teaching and assessment; levels of specialist staffing and access to subject-specific CPD.

With a new government in place this is a very important moment for the future of secondary education and we’d urge as many Edexcel History teachers as possible to have their say in this survey.

Useful summary of Edexcel GCSE History content and assessment changes

This year we’ve made a number of changes to the content and assessment of our GCSE History specification which have been phased in to improve the student experience. This document is a useful summary of all these changes, when they take effect and the support available:

SHP Curriculum PATHS

SHP Curriculum PATHS was founded by the Schools History Project (SHP) at Leeds Trinity University. It is a community of people who are committed to improving the quality of history education by ensuring ethics remain at the heart of curriculum decision making. Curriculum PATHS is rooted in the belief that meaningful change happens, not from the top down, but through the efforts of classroom practitioners up and down the country. Curriculum PATHS is therefore designed to empower classroom teachers to craft and share their own, principle-driven curriculum units. 

Survey about the teaching of Indigenous histories in UK classrooms

The University of Sheffield, the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies at the University of Kent, and Schools History Project are collaborating with Indigenous partners and UK educators on a project aimed at empowering teachers to bring Indigenous histories and perspectives into the classroom.

As part of the project, they hope to provide free resources and education to teachers, and so are looking to discover what is already taught in schools, the challenges facing educators, and what they can best do to support you in increasing awareness of Indigenous American histories and contemporary perspectives. 

They need your help to find out about the teaching of Indigenous histories in UK classrooms and would really appreciate your support in completing and sharing a short survey:

The survey is fully anonymous, but if you would like to be added to their mailing list to hear more about the progress of the project and forthcoming resources then please send an email to Dr Caroline Pennock (c.pennock@sheffield.ac.uk) and she will be delighted to keep you in the loop.

Training events for Edexcel History teachers

We are running several training events in the Autumn term for Edexcel History teachers.

• GCSE History: New to Pearson Edexcel - 12 September 2024 at 16:00 - 18:00 GMT 
  This online event is for teachers who are moving to Pearson Edexcel or delivering the Pearson Edexcel specification for the first time. This will support you in getting ready to teach the Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) History specification.  
  
  
• GCSE History: Summer 2024 exam insights - 04 October 2024 (date tbc)
  This training is for teachers of the Pearson Edexcel GCSE History specification and will provide feedback and insights on the May/June 2024 exam series.
  
  
• A level History: New to Pearson Edexcel - 11 September 2024 at 16:00 - 18:00 GMT  
  This online event is for teachers who are moving to Pearson Edexcel or delivering the Pearson Edexcel specification for the first time. This will support you in getting ready to teach the A Level History specification.  
  
  
• A level History: Summer 2024 exam insights - 03 October 2024 at 16:00 - 17:30 GMT
  This training is for teachers of the Pearson Edexcel A Level History specification and will provide feedback and insights on the May/June 2024 exam series.

• Pearson Edexcel International GCSE History: Welcome to Pearson Module 1 - 16 October 2024 at 13:00 - 15:00 GMT and Module 2 - 30 October 2024 at 13:00 - 15:00 GMT  
  Module 1 is focused on the teaching the course, providing a comprehensive grasp of the qualification's content, insights on effective coverage, course and lesson planning strategies, a thorough understanding of the assessment process, preparation techniques for students, and a succinct overview of the support services offered by Pearson to educators. Module 2 provides a comprehensive exploration of how the specification is evaluated, shedding light on assessment objectives and mark schemes. Participants will engage in hands-on practice by applying mark schemes to exemplar student work, gaining a nuanced understanding of how marks are determined

We are also planning to run some marking training for GCSE History in November and more details will be made available soon.

Summer 2024 post-exam series teacher survey

Our Summer 2024 post-exam series teacher survey is still open and we are getting some fantastic feedback on this Summer’s papers. If you're a teacher, and your students have taken any of our exams in the May/June 2024 series we want to know what you liked or didn't like in this year's exam papers. We'll share your feedback with our senior examiners and across teams to ensure we continue to make improvements to our papers where appropriate so we can make sure your students have the best exam experience.

Summer 2024 student surveys for GCSE and A level History

Thank you for sharing our recent student surveys with your students - we received some fantastic feedback about their experiences of studying our qualifications and sitting exams this summer. These surveys are still open and we are keen to get more feedback so if you see students over the results period, please do encourage them to complete our survey to help give us valuable insight into our qualifications and assessments.

New Tudor learning resources from the National Portrait Gallery

Step inside the portraits of the six queens of Henry VIII through a suite of new Schools hub learning resources from the National Portrait Gallery. Use structured step-by-step visual source analysis to discover what portraits of the queens can tell us, and consider how each queen faced the challenges of being the wife of Henry.

Linked to the National Portrait Gallery exhibition Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens (until 8 September 2024).