Inside the History Classroom

Portraits of Exemplary Teaching Practice
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-01458-4
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 152 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Research in Teacher Education

This insightful text offers vivid, fly-on-the-wall portraits of history teaching in action. Drawing on long-term observations of four teachers working in diverse school contexts, it explores what “good” history teaching looks like in practice.

Rather than offering a checklist of strategies or quick fixes, Golledge delves into the lived complexity of teaching. The book examines the structures, relationships, and contextual factors that shape and constrain professional practice, using the theory of practice architectures to illuminate the situated nature of teachers’ work. Through rich case studies and the inclusion of student voice, it reveals how exemplary teachers engage, inspire, and adapt to meet the needs of their learners. In doing so, it underscores how good history teaching plays a vital role in shaping society’s future by helping students understand the past, think critically about the present, and become informed citizens who can contribute meaningfully to their communities. The result is a nuanced, engaging, and deeply contextual account of what it means to teach history well – highlighting the relational, intellectual and creative dimensions of exemplary practice.

This book is essential reading for current and future history teachers, as well as researchers and academics interested in the lived realities of classroom practice.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Professional Reference

Autoren/Hrsg.

Golledge, Claire

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik Geschichte der Pädagogik, Richtungen in der Pädagogik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: Why go inside the history classroom?

2. Exemplary history teaching as social practice

3. Inside Jane’s classroom: changing lives over generations

4. Inside Penny’s classroom: moving from compliance to creativity and connection

5. Inside Dan’s classroom: using technology to turbo-charge engagement

6. Inside Max’s classroom: history teaching as ‘coaching’

7. “No one lesson is the same”: Students’ voices on the nature of good teaching

8. The practice architectures of exemplary history teaching

9. Conclusion: learning from portraits of practice

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Claire Golledge is a lecturer in Education and the co-ordinator of Human Society and its Environment curriculum (secondary) in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Australia. Prior to academia, Claire taught History and Legal Studies in NSW secondary schools, and worked in school leadership roles, leading teacher professional learning.