Teaching Medieval History at KS3
Helping KS3 students see the Middle Ages
and its people as historians see them
This section of the website helps teachers give students a more representative picture of the period and greater respect for its people, identifying their intelligence and resilience as well as the problems and dangers they faced – and therefore enabling KS3 students see the Middle Ages and its people as historians see them. This approach therefore models how you can approach other periods of history.
The preparatory work behind this section included research into students’ preconceptions of the Middle Ages, planning and editing the HA publication Exploring and Teaching Medieval History (2018) and then writing further articles on planning teaching at KS3. This all led to the classroom resources – a group of downloadable textbook chapters – called Medieval Lives, which can be downloaded from the link below.
The aim is NOT to spend more time on the Middle Ages but to use your time effectively to give students a more accurate picture of the period and its people and to see how studying the past can help us understand and navigate our own lives.
Above all, my hope is that:
If students can respect people of a time as different from our own as the Middle Ages, then perhaps there is more chance of them respecting people from different cultures today rather than instinctively interpreting difference as being inferior or a threat.
Note: This section comprises a core article and four units, all shown below.
Core Article
Helping KS3 pupils begin to see the Middle Ages
and its people as historians see them
The core article summarises my main arguments and explains the objectives, structure and approach I’ve taken in creating the classroom resources Medieval Lives.
It was written in 2021.
Medieval Lives
These classroom resources (in the form of downloadable textbook chapters) exemplify the approach I’ve explained and described in the rest of this section.
The chapters for students are accompanied by notes for teachers, PowerPoint resources and other materials such as card sorts and a scripted drama.
Articles Exploring Aspects of
Planning Teaching about the Middle Ages
A series of articles exploring in more detail crucial aspects of planning for effective teaching – identifying students’ misconceptions, choosing content to create a balanced picture of the period, how to help students see medieval people as ‘real people’, how KS3 can enhance work on the Middle Ages at GCSE – and many other topics.
Exploring and Teaching Medieval History
This HA publication (c140 pages) from 2018 is downloadable free. It contains numerous articles by leading historians on key aspects of the period, together with a series of articles on teaching the Middle Ages.
Books, Blogs, Resources and Research on the Medieval World
A short list of materials that may help contribute to teachers’ knowledge and confidence – especially if you’re new to teaching about the Middle Ages.