Resources for Teachers
This section of the RHS Teaching Portal is for History teachers of any level in Higher Education and is designed to incorporate new ideas and fresh perspectives on pedagogical practices.
These include materials and strategies for:
- decolonising the curriculum
- ‘pandemic pedagogies’
- designing and enhancing the curriculum
- improving learning and teaching
- reflecting on postgraduate supervision and collaborative doctoral awards.
Posts cover topics from well-established in-class/ synchronous activities such as the lecture, seminar and research-rich teaching, to initiatives in formative and summative assessment, inclusion, compassion-focused pedagogy and quality assurance.
We also offer information that will be useful for those thinking about engaging in their own pedagogic research – methodological approaches; research ethics; research networks and communities of practice; and where to publish.
We warmly welcome ideas and exemplars for inclusion across the board, from undergraduate to postgraduate studies. If you wish to propose an article, please Contact Us.
Browse the Resources
Teaching the early modern Islamic World
In July 2022, Peter Good received one of two Jinty Nelson Teaching Awards given annually by the Royal Historical Society. In this post, for the Society's 'Teaching Portal', Peter reflects on his classroom practice, and how he seeks to communicate the histories...
‘Historical Research in the Digital Age’, Part 2: ‘Tools for the Trade: And how historians can make the most of them’
In this post we continue our new series -- 'Historical Research in the Digital Age' -- which explores historians' use and understanding of the digital tools and sources that shape modern research culture. The series explores the impact and implications of...
Futures for the History Journal
ABOUT THIS EVENT Journals have long been, and remain, central to the communication of historical research. As a publishing form, History journals have proved remarkably durable, with developments typically taking place within an established framework of...
Disability History Month 2022: reflections on recent research
To mark this year's Disability History Month (16 November-16 December), Beckie Rutherford considers three recent monographs that have significantly contributed to the field of disability history: charting experience in the Soviet Union, the coal industry during...
Historical Research in the Digital Age – Part 1: ‘We Are All Digital Now’
With this post we begin a new six-part series -- 'Historical Research in the Digital Age' -- which explores historians' use and understanding of the digital resources and sources that shape modern research culture. The series is hosted by Professor Ian Milligan...
Studying history in a secure environment: legacies, challenges, opportunities
In July, Rosalind Crone was awarded this year's Royal Historical Society's Innovation in Teaching Prize, for the creation of Exploring the History of Prisoner Education, an open online course for the Open University which launched in October 2022. The 8-session...
Supporting History teaching and research in UK universities: a toolkit
SUPPORTING HISTORY TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN UK UNIVERSITIES: A TOOLKIT A number of UK History departments have recently been faced with, or are experiencing, cuts to programmes and staff, or mergers with other disciplines. As part of its advocacy role, the...
REF 2021: Reflections from the History sub-panel chairs
The Research Excellence Framework (REF), undertaken by the UK's four HE funding bodies, provides a review and assessment of research in higher education. The results of the latest assessment (REF2021) were published on 12 May 2022. Here, Professors Mark...
UKRI Open Access Policy for the Arts and Humanities: FAQs
In August 2021 UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) announced its future policy regarding Open Access publishing. UKRI is the overarching body responsible for government research strategy and funding for universities in the UK. It brings together the...
Creating Public History: a Guide to Co-production and Community Engagement
About this event ‘Creating Public History: a Guide to Co-production and Community Engagement’ is part in the Royal Historical Society’s series of online training events designed for early career historians. This session was held online in December 2021 and the...
Facing current challenges can be a vital part of our curriculum
At a time of already great disruption, historians at Aston University this year faced the threat of departmental closure and redundancy. Public and private support for Aston historians led to the programme's survival, though colleagues at Aston and historians...
UKRI Open Access protocols: August 2021
On 6 August, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) published its long-awaited report on its future approach to Open Access publishing. UKRI is the overarching body responsible for government research strategy and funding for universities in the UK. It brings together...
The Future of (Teaching) the Past
What happens when a university lab-based Digital History module goes online due to lockdown? You might think the imposed digital switch would be straightforward for 'born digital' digital history students. But as Dr Jessica van Horssen of Leeds Beckett University...
Historians on ‘Contested Heritage’
In March the Royal Historical Society was one of six institutional signatories to a letter calling on government to clarify its attitude towards and involvement in areas of 'contested heritage'. The letter highlighted ministers' increasing attempts to define -- and so...
Teaching the Tudors on a two-way street
Dr John Cooper was runner-up in the 2020 RHS Jinty Nelson Award for Inspirational Teaching and Supervision in History. Here, he reflects on the importance of open dialogue in teaching: between undergraduate year groups, who've much to teach one another, and between...
Creating an Online Community: A Pre-Pandemic Initiative
Professor Marjory Harper won the 2020 RHS Jinty Nelson Award for Inspirational Teaching and Supervision in History. Here, she reflects on the process of planning an online Master’s Programme in Scottish Heritage in 2017. The RHS annual teaching prizes recognise...
Data Protection and Historical Research: The Basics
Recent data protection laws, implemented across Europe in 2018, have implications for academic researchers. The Royal Historical Society recently published a set of guidelines to help researchers navigate the legal requirements around data protection. Here, Dr...
Ethics in the Classroom Setting
History is about opinion, judgement and (often) getting beyond monolithic assumptions about ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. At the same time, the classroom should be a safe and ethical place for the exchange of views and a space that is marked by respect, sensitivity and...
Teaching Materials for Low-Tech Online Teaching: Online Discussion Groups
Teaching in most HEIs next academic year will be conducted with at least some Covid-19-related restrictions in place. In this second post for the Teaching Portal considering low-tech materials for online teaching, Dr Mary Morrissey, Associate Professor in Early Modern...
Teaching Materials for Low-Tech Online Teaching: Planning for Social Distancing
In this guest post, the first of two looking at low-tech materials for online teaching, Dr Mary Morrissey, Associate Professor in Early Modern English Literature at the University of Reading, offers advice to teachers about the different teaching materials to use to...
Small Group Teaching in a Large Class: ‘Understanding History’
In this post Dr Marcus Collins, Senior Lecturer in Cultural History at the University of Loughborough, shares his knowledge and experience of teaching the course 'Understanding History', a compulsory module for second-year undergraduates which aims to develop the...
Supervising PhD Students: A Collaborative Approach
In July 2018, Professor Julie Anderson, Professor of Modern History at the University of Kent, was the first winner of the Royal Historical Society’s Jinty Nelson Award for Inspirational Teaching and Supervision in History. Here she provides an account of her...
Bridging ‘Digital Divides’ in Virtual Teaching
We should not assume that others interact with the digital world in the same way as we do ourselves. In this post Dr Andrew Smith and Dr Mary Morrissey consider the challenges that many students encounter when required to engage with online teaching. As noted by...
The Anatomy of a Thesis
In this post, historian Dr Andrew Foster provides research students with a general guide about the main elements of writing up a PhD thesis. The advice Dr Foster gives is based on years of discussions with research students in seminars and workshops about the...
Climate in the History Curriculum
In September, Amanda Power spoke to the RHS Education Policy Committee about putting climate into the history curriculum. In this post for the RHS blog, which draws on that presentation, she considers how we might develop history curricula to integrate climate, and...
Gender-Neutral Pronouns
Using correct pronouns for non-binary and trans people is a simple indication of acknowledgement and respect. Gendered appearance does not reliably tell you about a person’s gender. Checking which pronouns to use, and then doing so consistently, is an easy way to...
Race Update 9 – Mia Liyanage, ‘Miseducation: decolonising curricula, culture and pedagogy in UK universities’, HEPI Report (July 2020)
Using testimony from sixteen interview respondents across academia, activism and policy, this HEPI Report addresses the common misconceptions about decolonisation and recommends a series of practical steps towards its implementation. It argues that decolonisation is...
Curriculum Conference Report
From 23-30 April 2020, the RHS hosted its first Virtual Curriculum conference. The event had originally been designed as a one-day workshop to be held in the RHS offices on 23 April. Instead, registered participants were invited to read, watch and listen to a range of...
The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH): A Guide for Teachers and Students
The Bibliography of British and Irish History (known as ‘BBIH’) is the most comprehensive and up-to-date record of what’s been published in British and Irish history. It currently includes records of 620,000 books, journal articles, edited collections, book chapters...