It’s a harsh reality that the most knowledgeable historians don’t always make the best teachers.
In this brand-new series, we spend five minutes with different experts finding out what they think about an aspect of history teaching.
Richard recently spent five minutes talking to Professor Simon Thompson about his research into what young history teachers know. In this short interview, Simon unpacks his PHD findings and explains what he focused his work upon.
As many of us know, to our cost, the most knowledgeable historians don’t always make the best teachers.
We have all spent times in lectures, attempting to listen to an expert but finding our minds wandering. Boredom can set in unless teachers actually know more than just the substance of their subject.
Although initial history teachers often have good substantive knowledge, they need to know a lot more to become an effective history teacher.
Simon came up with this intriguing diagram to exemplify his findings.
He also tells us why history is such an important subject AND gives ECTs some top tips.
Simon Thompson taught History in Brighton in the 1990s before becoming History Lead of the PGCE course at the University of Sussex in 2002. He has been Director of Initial Education, Head of Education and is now Head of the School of Education and Social Work.
Simon’s PHD focused in on what early career history teachers should know.
