A very warm ‘hello’ from Curriculum PATHS at the start of the 2025/26 academic year.
Exploring possibilities
As we enter into the landscape of curriculum review, a new Ofsted framework, and potential exam reform, all against the backdrop of a growing far right threat across the globe, we know that a space for history teachers to engage with and discuss the role of school history is more important now than ever.
This academic year we are hoping to explore more ways in which Curriculum PATHS can support and empower history teachers as they help young people navigate and understand the world around them.
If you are not yet signed up to Curriculum PATHS and would like to join us. Please do click the link on this page or the link HERE. Curriculum PATHS will always be free to join and we welcome anyone who has an interest in empowering young people through history education.
So what’s happening?
- The Curriculum PATHS Sharing Hub is now home to 10 fantastic units. Each unit is grounded in the Curriculum PATHS Principles for History Teaching which aim to empower young people through history education. Everyone who has submitted a unit will hopefully have a Curriculum PATHS Award on the way to them soon!
- The forthcoming curriculum review seems to suggest there will be an increased focus on more diverse and inclusive curricula. We are delighted by this. To support colleagues, the Curriculum PATHS Council will be teaming up with various experts to create a series of blogs focused on planning and teaching new or complex curriculum topics. The blogs will cover both Primary and Secondary history teaching, offering guidance and support, as well as ideas for ‘quick wins’. Building on our commitment to the wider community, this advice will also connect teachers to the fantastic expert- and community- resources and training already out there. Watch out for blogs on teaching: LGBTQ+ histories; GRT histories; significant individuals at Primary; local history in Primary; Indigenous histories; the histories of the four nations of the United Kingdom; and more.
- We are also looking to get PATHS members more involved in reviewing units. This is really important to us as the aim has never been to gatekeep but to provide a space for professionals to engage and share expertise with one another. Each time we have a new submission to the Curriculum PATHS Sharing Hub, we will be putting out a call for reviewers from the Curriculum PATHS membership. If something takes your fancy, we would love members to volunteer to be part of the process of reviewing alongside the authors themselves.
- We are also hoping to give a bit more of a push to the new ITE Planning Lab this year. If you are a teacher educator, Mentor, ITT Coordinator, or just like working with new teachers, do check out the lab site. It mimics the main page and aims to give new teachers a space to share ideas and get feedback from experienced teachers. We hope it will be an opportunity to experiment with planning meaningful history and dovetail into the kinds of PGCert planning assignments we know many training providers use. It is also very easy for a trainee teacher to convert a lab unit into a full Curriculum PATHS unit at a later date: www.padlet.com/cpaths/lab .There are also certificates for Trainees who contribute to the Planning Lab.
- Finally, we have updated the website with our new About Us and Meet the Council documents. You can also access all the minutes of the Council meetings as well. Please do go and have a look.
As ever, if you have any comments, or a unit you’d like to share, please do get in touch. Although the world feels tough right now, I am always heartened to know that there are teachers all over the country who are committed to using their classrooms to make a difference.
Alex Ford
On behalf of the SHP Curriculum PATHS Council
