Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialCat Rushton @catrushton.bsky.social · 05/06/2026#rEDEastAnglia 📅 Saturday 13th June 🏫 Mildenhall College Academy 🎟️ Last few days to buy tickets 💫 Don't miss out! ⬇️ More info and to buy tickets: lnkd.in/e8Wv9MvR 145
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialATT Institute @attinstitute.bsky.social · 02/06/2026An ✨epic✨ group of voices coming to #rEDEastAnglia in Suffolk on 13 June! ✈️ This amount of INCREDIBLE expertise under one roof... don't miss it! 🤩 📍 Book now: tinyurl.com/mryr325c #UKEduChat #EduSky #EducationConference @tombennett71.bsky.social @hgaldinoshea.bsky.social @academytrust.bsky.social 2712
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialATT Institute @attinstitute.bsky.social · 14/05/2026We're ready for some BIG #curriculum conversations at #rEDEastAnglia! ✈️ Take a look at Kat Howard, Katherine Lewis-Ward & @summerturner.bsky.social & @benarscott.bsky.social's incredible session sneak peek & book your place now 👀👇 🎟️ tinyurl.com/mryr325c #TransformingPD #TransformingLives #EduSky 043
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 30/04/2026Really looking forward to this. We'll be talking about how, despite a changing focus from government and the inspectorate, putting energy into improving curriculum is still the best bet for school improvement. #ResearchED 001
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialATT Institute @attinstitute.bsky.social · 29/04/2026Depth, challenge & practical takeaways—that’s what #rEDEastAnglia is all about! ✈️ We’re incredibly excited to welcome @summerturner.bsky.social & @benarscott.bsky.social, Lorraine Prince & Shelley Luddington in June. 🎟️ Book now: tinyurl.com/mryr325c #TransformingPD #EduSky @academytrust.bsky.social 011
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 07/02/2026Just arrived at #arksoane26 history conference. Looking forward to a day of great CPD and presenting on how I've wrestled with enquiry wording when teaching the age of revolutions. 000
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialSchools Week @schoolsweek.bsky.social · 19/01/2026English lessons can fire imaginations and open minds, but the DfE should consider five points when implementing recommendations of the curriculum review, writes Summer Turner schoolsweek.co.uk/teachers-can...schoolsweek.co.ukHow teachers can make English singDespite some concerns about the curriculum review, there is room for hopeful interpretation 065
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialJon Biddle @jonnybid.bsky.social · 29/12/2025I really have no idea how I missed Wild East by Ashley Hickson-Lovence when it first came out. It's one of the finest verse novels I've ever read. A love-letter to the power of poetry, and a storyline that secondary school pupils will definitely relate to. Track down a copy! 094
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 16/12/2025Thanks to @egcarr.bsky.social, @counsellc.bsky.social and all the other editors of Teaching History who put in so many hours to put together this amazing journal. For this edition, I really enjoyed writing up my thinking process for an enquiry on Toussaint L'Ouverture. 123
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialMike Hill @michaeldoron.bsky.social · 24/10/2025🚨 History teachers, we’re back! 🚨 Join us on 7 Feb 2026 for a day of workshops and a nice curry – all for £25. Ten years after the ‘knowledge turn’, we’re exploring what knowledge-rich history teaching looks like today. Presenters & link below 👇 11610
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 08/07/2025Their lives allow you to cover stories about the Civil Rights march, the campaign in the UK, terrorist/liberation symbolism, the brutal realities of sectarian violence and re-radicalisation. Probably a project for next year. 000
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 08/07/2025I don't yet, but I think I've just come up with a question that could unlock it: What do the Price sisters reveal about the Troubles? I used to teach the troubles at GCSE and have wanted to find a way in to teach it at KS3. Then I heard about the Price sisters on @empirepoduk.bsky.social 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 06/04/2025Be definitely great to discuss all of this in person. I'm currently a maybe on the HA. I'm hoping to but have to sort out a clash with work first. 010
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 06/04/2025Totally. I guess sometimes I think it is a future enquiry that might make pupils critically reflect on a narrative that was used in a earlier enquiry. For example when an enquiry scale-switches, it can be used to make pupils question the incompleteness of an earlier narrative. 100
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialAlex Ford @apf102.bsky.social · 04/04/2025Just finished Ben Arscott’s piece on unpacking the enquiry puzzle in TH198. Found myself nodding at a few bits: the difficulty on setting a good EQ and the need to focus carefully on the pupil experience. However I would like to raise some points in the spirit of critical debate /1 182
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 05/04/2025Finally, I also completely take on board your point about the problems of treating narrative solely as a tool for knowledge transmission. That wasn't an intended message or the article as I also think getting pupils to recognise the limited or contested nature of some stories is crucial. 7/ 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 05/04/2025...more successful when I've been pretty prescriptive about what substantive knowledge I wanted to emphasise. However, I don't think this has to be the case for every enquiry. 6/ 210
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I wonder if an area of disagreement is the extent to which the teacher should be curating the substantive knowledge "journey" that pupils undertake. I've predominantly been working with KS2 and KS3 and with those phases I've found the process of inducting pupils into disciplinary debates... 5/ 100
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I think all three could be legitimate formulations of enquiry questions, however often the maze-like questions might get the balance right between rigour and sense of achievable challenge (with the caveat that the maze would need to have multiple end points). 4/ 100
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 05/04/2025Since writing the first draft of that TH article I've been exploring in training how the maze and jungle path metaphors could also sit alongside an open field metaphor, i.e. a question which provides a much looser sense of puzzle but allows pupils to go in many different directions. 3/ 210
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I definitely don't think there should ever only be one end goal and agree that would treating historical enquiry as a kind of simulation for pupils rather than a genuine intellectual process where pupils are wrestling with the disciplinary dimensions of the question. 2/ 100
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 05/04/2025Thanks for engaging with the article so thoroughly Alex. I think you make a good point about the inadequacies of the maze metaphor in terms of what it implies about putting limits on the journeys pupils could pursue within an enquiry and assuming there is only one legitimate end goal. 1/ 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 29/03/2025Very much looking forward to reading your article too! 020
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 12/12/2024I don't have a link but I have created an adapted enquiry that I could share. If you DM your email I can send over the files. 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 11/12/2024Have you seen Helen Snelson the York subject community's enquiry on "What mattered to people in the seventeenth century?" We're trialling it this year and it feels like such an exciting way to explore the upheaval without overwhelming pupils with the high politics. 130
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 24/11/2024Ecumenical councils: the peer-review of the fourth century? 010
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 18/11/2024This might seem obtuse, but we can teach some exam technique about how to answer source questions at GCSE. This will look more like a transferable skill, but its success will still depend on some luck without pupils having good period knowledge. 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 18/11/2024I think we probably can't teach a transferable skill of source analysis. We can expose pupils to lots of different types of sources in a given period and this might give pupils enough knowledge to say something sensible about an unseen source. But I think this will boil down to what they know. 210
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 18/11/2024Or maybe not articulate it as 'skills" at all? Pupils can develop knowledge of the specific source and of context of that source. Then a pupil can say intelligent things about that source. However that doesn't mean they have any transferable skill for interacting with a source from another period 110
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialSummer Turner @summerturner.bsky.social · 15/11/2024Do you remember when we stopped using levels and for a while lots of schools went mad creating even worse versions of levels but with colours and bizarre labels, and measuring things that shouldn’t be measured? Seems a fitting time to mention that happened. 1122
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 15/11/2024Wow, that graph tells a very impressive story. Well done to all involved! 000
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 15/11/2024Totally agree. Unless the metric is uniting the teaching profession. It's been a surreal experience in the last few years thinking Ofsted were mainly a force for good in highlighting the value of curriculum. It'll be reassuring to return to simpler times where we can all see them as the enemy... 140
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 31/10/2024Me too. I've been trying to write an EYFS-friendly version of Sophia Duleep Singh's story today which has been a joy. 010
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 31/10/2024This is brilliant Nikki. I think it's great how your theme of rebellious Norfolk opens up so many interesting avenues. I can also confirm Pablo Fanque is getting his own Y1 enquiry in history. 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 18/10/2024Such an important point made so pithily: "Resist common headings across subjects". So much unnecessary confusion is caused across the sector by a desire for neat and consistent ways to capture and present curricula. 151
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 11/10/2024I think it's a good point that there isn't an obvious one at the moment. I wonder whether it should be how we balance being academically rigorous whilst being inclusive. I feel the sustainability of the "knowledge turn" might depend on it. 020
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 02/10/2024I bet you did! I think "why was the land a site of conflict?" Is a particularly clever way to bring to life an important topic which has the potential to be very dull. Can't wait to find out about Hannah More for myself too! 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 02/10/2024This list of chapter titles looks brilliant. So exciting that pupils around the country can be immersed in these stories. 153
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 01/10/2024Looks brilliant Nikki, would love to watch the recording. 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 22/09/2024Well done Sarah. Looking forward to reading it when my copy arrives. 110
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 15/09/2024A brilliant blog which really hits the nail on the head of the pitfalls of using assessment materials to teach. [Effective teaching] "needs the space created by not imitating the assessment over and over" 121
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 07/09/2024Ha! Maybe not. But still a nice provocation. 000
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 07/09/2024Really enjoyed @stulock.bsky.social 's session on best bets. He suggests trying to separate the decision from the results: can you think of a good decision you've made which didn't lead to a good outcome? 100
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 07/09/2024Great session from @priteshraichura.bsky.social at #rED24 on getting 100% attention. "There's always a vacuum when creating a classroom culture. Either the teacher fills the vacuum or the pupils do." 041
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 07/09/2024Goes on to theorise that a "Rallying Cry" can be used to identify a unifying CPD goal which motivates all teachers/staff. 000
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 07/09/2024In session 2 at #rED24, @summerturner.bsky.social challenges some of the questionable uses of CPD time and identifies some solutions. 132
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 07/09/2024On the train for #rED24. In session 1, we'll be talking all things KS2 writing, subject communities and thorny questions about assessing writing. Plus we'll be sharing our draft anthology of annotated Y3 writing. 010
Reposted by @benarscott.bsky.socialAdam Smith @mrsmithnorwich.bsky.social · 05/09/2024We are going to be at #REd24 #ResearchEd National Conference. Session 1, M23 Come along and find out how we’ve improved the work of English leads and quality of KS2 writing across a whole city and the research base for our work. 11411
benarscott.bsky.social @benarscott.bsky.social · 04/09/2024You'll definitely be paying for the date too. Probably as a loan first and then somehow as a debt. 010
