Welcome to the Teaching Portal
A Resource for Students and TeachersThe Royal Historical Society’s Teaching Portal offers ideas, advice and guidance for teachers and students of History in Higher Education.
Launched in 2020, and now with more than 60 articles, the Portal seeks to: provide guidance on good practice and innovative methods of teaching;
- offer posts for undergraduate and postgraduate History students;
- address transitions through Higher Education from BA to PhD;
- discuss career progression for History teachers in HE;
- give advice to history graduates on careers to which a History degree may lead;
- serve as a hub for online resources useful for research and teaching.
Use the links below to browse the six categories. The articles express a range of perspectives and views, written by current History students, researchers and teachers. The Portal is also an evolving resource: we very much welcome suggestions for additional articles and resources, reflecting new initiatives and resources in HE History teaching.
Recent additions to the Teaching Portal
Finding Women’s History in Schools – challenges for the curriculum review
Women's and gender history are well-established and vibrant fields of research. In schools, by contrast, the presence of women is far more limited, especially for those teaching and studying the pre-modern period. In this post, Natasha Hodgson considers...
History and Sustainability: Learning together with ICT students
In this post, Laura Harrison describes her recent project at the University of the West of England to introduce History content to undergraduate courses in Information, Communications and Technology (ICT). As Laura notes, historians think long and hard...
STUDENT NUMBERS FOR HISTORY A-LEVELS, GCSEs, AND SCOTTISH ADVANCED HIGHER, HIGHER AND NATIONAL 5 EXAMS, 2024
August is exam results season in the UK. In 2024, A-Level results, for students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, were released on 15 August. They followed the 2024 results for Scottish Higher, Advanced Higher and National 5 exams published on 6...
New directions for History teaching: insights from the RHS Teaching fellowships 2023-24
Launched in 2023, the Royal Historical Society's Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships support historians in UK Higher Education who wish to introduce new approaches to their teaching. Fellowships may also support those seeking to undertake a short study of an...
Towards a creative antifascist pedagogy: zine-making in the classroom
In this post, Amy King discusses her innovative teaching methods on far-right political groups, past and present. Amy's undergraduate modules explore the themes of this topic, the ways in which far-right ideologies are distributed, and limitations in use of...
History Students’ Use of Gen-AI
What do History students think of Gen AI? Over the past academic year, Neville Morley has been working with History and Ancient History students at the University of Exeter to better understand their experience of, and attitude to, GenAI for their studies In...
Gen AI, History and Historians
In this post Dr Adam Budd, Secretary for Education on the RHS Council, introduces our panel discussion on ‘AI, History and Historians’, which took place on Wednesday 17 July. Adam's post, written before the event was held, discusses the opportunities this event...
A Balanced Argument? Communicating the Power of Argument to History Undergraduates
In March 2024, the Royal Historical Society visited historians at the Universities of York and York St John. The event included a panel discussion on the subject of communicating History to different audiences. In this post, Dr Elizabeth Goodwin (York St John)...
Generative AI, History and Historians, a reading guide
There are few bigger, and more pressing, topics today than the current and future impact of Generative AI. Nowhere is this more evident than in Higher Education. The opportunities and challenges of GenAI are relevant to all those engaged in teaching and...
Teaching Soviet History from the Borderlands: A Case Study of Belarus and Ukraine
How can we 'decolonise the curriculum' when it comes to the history of the Soviet Union? How do we decentralise our historical approach to former-Soviet states? In this post Natalya Chernyshova discusses the importance of these questions for modern historians...
Student numbers for History A-Levels and Scottish Highers, 2023
The 2023 A-Level results, for students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, were released on 17 August 2023. They follow the 2023 results for Scottish Highers, published on 8 August. Both sets of data allow for observations on the uptake and relative...
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...
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...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 8 – ‘Assessment and Feedback in History’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 7 – ‘Coordinating Large Classes in History’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, hosted 'New to Teaching, 2022': an online Workshop in which 8 university lecturers provided seminars for those new to teaching History in UK Higher Education. The Workshop explored...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 6 – ‘Creativity in History Curricula’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 5 – ‘Module Design and Delivery: Challenges and Opportunities’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 4 – ‘Online Teaching in History’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 3 – ‘Small Group Teaching in History’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 2 – ‘The History Lecture’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 1 – ‘Decoding the Discipline’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
Working with History outside HE: a Guide to Professions beyond Academia
About this event ‘Working with History outside Higher Education: a Guide to Professions beyond Academia’ is is part in the Royal Historical Society’s series of online training events designed for early career historians. This session was held online in...
Becoming a Historian: an Informal Guide
How do we undertake a major historical research project for the first time? What should we do to ensure that a project's completed? How do we best engage in debate about our own, and others', work? How can we apply historical understanding to our...
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...