The Schools History Project is delighted to announce that Dan Lyndon-Cohen will become its new Director in July 2023. Dan has spent nearly 30 years in the History classroom and is currently the Lead Practitioner for Humanities at Park View School, a diverse 11-16 maintained comprehensive in Tottenham. Dan brings extensive experience to his role as Director. As well as leading a history department for over twelve years, he has published eight books on multicultural British history and collaborated on many others including textbooks for KS3 and GCSE. As an education consultant he has also worked with many leading national institutions including the BBC, National Trust Colonial Countryside Project, and the Imperial War Museum for whom he was part of an award winning team for their CPD films on Empire and Conflict.
“Throughout my entire teaching career, SHP has been a constant source of inspiration, innovation and above all, community. I am extremely humbled, and thrilled to have been given the opportunity to lead the Project. I strongly believe we are on the cusp of a new dawn in History education. There is a growing desire to weave in new narratives into the mainstream; to promote historical thinking that is rigorous, stimulating and relevant to our students’ lives; and to use resources that actively engage participation in the classroom. Under my leadership, SHP will play a key role in realising these aims.
My ambition is to harness the guiding principles of the Schools History Project, to reach out across the UK and overseas and grow our community even further, building partnerships between schools, academic institutions, archives and local history organisations. I want to create Fellowships for teacher practitioners or researchers so that SHP can be a beacon of History curriculum and pedagogic excellence. Our conferences and other programmes will continue to be the place for History teachers to come to for the highest quality professional development.”
SHP is also delighted to announce that Katie Hall is taking on the role of Interim Director until July. Katie brings a wealth of experience in the History education community having taught in North Yorkshire for a decade followed by experience in international curriculum development, examining and textbook authoring.
SHP was established in 1972 and for the last forty years has been based at Leeds Trinity University. Since its foundation, SHP has put the needs of young people at the heart of history education through its six core principles for history teaching: relevance, enquiry, understanding, diversity, locality, and enjoyment. SHP acts as a professional community for history teachers who share these principles. SHP seeks to empower history teachers to bring diverse, inclusive and life-enhancing school history to every young person, via conferences, published resources, webinars, and CPD.
Current SHP projects, resources and CPD include:
- The SHP Virtual Summer Conference #vSHP23 will be hosted online on 7th and 8th July 2023.
- Our innovative textbook series for Key Stages 3-5 are available to purchase via Hodder Education. Discounts will be available for those attending #vSHP23 this year.
- The SHP New Teachers’ Conference will be returning for its third year in January 2024, inspiring new teachers with principled, subject specific guidance.
- SHP’s Curriculum PATHS project is bringing together hundreds of teachers and educators from across the UK to build an ethical framework for history curriculum design.
- SHP are also currently planning three Primary Curriculum Roadshows which aim to support Primary subject leads grappling with curriculum construction. They are set to launch in the Autumn of 2024. Watch this space for more.
