Historical Association Teacher Fellow Programme

In 2021 Claire will be the lead academic on the Local History Teacher Fellowship Programme run by the Historical Association and the British Association for Local History. The course will be led by Claire, Michael Riley, Senior Teaching Fellow at the UCL Institute of Education and Bev Forrest, Chair of the HA’s primary committee and an experienced primary history teacher and trainer.

At the heart of the programme is the concept of integrating local history into the classroom through the stories of the people and places which make the history of local communities exciting and unique. Through the lens of local history this fellowship will explore a variety of time periods and a range of sources and approaches including the built environment, local museum collections, archival documents and digital resources.

Participants will work with historians, archivists and history education specialists to explore the myriad ways in which local history can be incorporated into their teaching practice.

The course will be split into four stages:

  • A three-day residential

  • A six week online course

  • A one-day workshop to explore and agree course outcomes

  • Development of a resource on teaching local history in the classroom

The residential element of the course will include visits to archives, local history fieldwork and the opportunity to share ideas with colleagues including historians and other schoolteachers.

The fellowship will provide the opportunity for teachers to carry out their own research into an aspect of their local history and create original learning resources to be published on the HA and BALH websites which will support the teaching of local history in the classroom.  Participants will be awarded a Historical Association Teacher Fellowship on the successful creation of a resource for the benefit of other teachers by the end of 2021.

The programme is open to all UK history teachers with a minimum of three years’ experience of teaching history. There are 12 places available on the programme (6 for primary school teachers and 6 for secondary school teachers). To apply, please visit history.org.uk or contact maheema.chanrai@history.org.uk

(Image credit: Panorama of Risdale, available under the Creative Commons Licence).

Claire Kennan