30. British Empire: Enrich your KS3 History curriculum

Aaron Wilkes Shalina Patel Aaron Wilkes and Shalina Patel discuss how effective teaching of the British Empire can enrich your Key Stage 3 curriculum. What do students gain from studying the British Empire? How has historical scholarship on the British Empire changed in recent years? What is the impact of new research on how we should teach the topic?

Aaron and Shalina answer these questions and offer advice to teachers concerned about teaching sensitive or potentially contentious topics as part of studying the British Empire, for example Partition.

Aaron Wilkes has over 20 years’ experience working in schools as a teacher, department, and faculty leader. He also works with the PGCE History trainees at the University of Warwick. In addition to the classroom, Aaron is also one of the leading history authors in school publishing and the series which bears his name (KS3 History by Aaron Wilkes), published by Oxford University Press, is currently one of the best-selling KS3 History textbook series/online packages in the UK. Aaron is also Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s NEW KS3 Depth Studies: British Empire, African Kingdoms, Fight for Rights, and Migration Nation. He is the Series Editor/co-author of OUP’s KS4 History textbooks which match the AQA and Edexcel GCSE History specification, and is involved with the BBC as an Educational Consultant for their Bitesize and Teach series. Aaron tweets at @WilkesHistory

Shalina Patel has over 13 years of experience in the classroom and is former Head of History and currently Head of Teaching and Learning and leader of the ITT programme at Claremont High School Academy in London. In 2018 Shalina won the Silver Pearson Teaching Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School and in 2021 won the GG2 Inspire Award. She has been featured in publications such as the Guardian and The Times and on programmes like Radio 4’s Three Pounds in my Pocket, BBC Woman’s Hour and BBC’s Teach Me A Lesson podcast. Shalina showcases her passion for hidden histories via @thehistorycorridor Instagram account and her first book will be published in 2023/4. Shalina tweets at @Ms_PatelHistory