History Education Research Journal

The journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a brief summary is written in black text. It reads, '‘It has so much history behind it, for such a small place’: exploring place-based, interdisciplinary and community-driven approaches to teaching local history in the Young Voices project, Southall. It is also hoped that this project will serve as a template or model for the teaching of local history in schools that can be of use to projects in other local areas. A research article in History Education Beyond the Classroom, a HERJ series'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

📢New publication in HERJ📢

This article explores ways in which frameworks and approaches to community-oriented learning can reimagine and expand the conventional classroom, transforming it into a unique and dynamic space for engaging with local history:

doi.org/10.14324/HER...

What could be happening in a history classroom that is oriented to learning about & responding to #ClimateJustice?

On the HERJ blog authors Heather McGregor & Rebecca Evans discuss their article & why they chose to publish in HERJ. This is a fascinating read:

journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/157/

Have you been exploring @uclpressjournals.bsky.social's ‘Highly Cited in 2025’ article collection?

Featuring this HERJ article uncovering how history education can support critical responses to #ClimateChange: bit.ly/4rtZISM

📚 Explore the collection: bit.ly/4kabxdZ

On the HERJ blog author Victoria Percy-Smith discusses her article in HERJ and invites us to rethink how we understand museum education.

journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/154/

The journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a quote is written in black text. It reads, 'Pedagogical approaches for climate justice orientations to teaching history and social studies. Our purpose is to offer teachers an overview of research-informed pedagogical approaches from which they can select as they determine the needs and strengths of their learners, and as they consider the kind of climate justice educator they hope to be in a history or social studies classroom'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

What is a climate justice approach to teaching history and social studies?

This fascinating article reviews literature in #ClimateChange education & #ClimateJustice education from 2017-2023 to develop conceptions of climate justice education relevant to teaching history.

doi.org/10.14324/HER...

The HERJ journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a brief summary is written in black text. It reads, 'A material perspective on pupils’ experience during museum education as a space for historical consciousness. Findings in this article highlight the complexity of historical consciousness as a dynamic process, influenced by both agency and material entangled experiences. A HERJ research article'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

What happens when pupils step into a museum and encounter the materiality of the past during an educational visit?

This article focuses on the relation between pupil and object in a museum setting to foster historical consciousness.

Read the full article here: doi.org/10.14324/HER...

🌟 UCL Press Journals’ new 'Highly Cited in 2025’ collection features two thought-provoking articles published in HERJ, drawing on both the past and the future of #EducationResearch.

Read the articles here: bit.ly/4kaNuLR, along with other research making an impact.

A call for expressions of interest to the HERJ Deputy Editorship listing the role, responsibilities and duties of a deputy editor of HERJ.

We're recruiting!

We're seeking passionate, active researchers who are eager to contribute to HERJ's mission and support the development of high-quality scholarship across the field.

Find out more, including how to apply, here: journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/153/

🎉Celebrate #InternationalDayofEducation2026 with UCL Press Journals!

Read the blog on the power of youth in co-creating education and learn more about the publications in HERJ and other UCL Press Journals that examine the obligation institutions have to socially support young people.

On the HERJ blog today, author Jason Todd explores the themes in his research article and why he chose to publish in HERJ.

This is a fascinating, personal blog.
Stories We Inherit, Stories We Make: History, Culture and Belonging
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

How do you teach history in classrooms when you know there is more than one way of encountering, representing, and understanding the past?

On the HERJ blog, Katherine discusses the questions that underpin her article. Read the full blog here: journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/147/

The History Education Research Journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a brief summary is written in black text. It reads, '"Shaping historical consciousness: young people, social remembering and identity dynamics outside the classroom" Family, community and media serve as critical arenas in which historical narratives are encountered, reinterpreted and integrated into young people's evolving sense of self. History education beyond the classroom, a HERJ series'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

📢First publication of 2026!📢

Shaping historical consciousness: young people, social remembering and identity dynamics outside the classroom:

This paper explores how engagement with history outside the classroom shapes the development of students' historical consciousness
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

The History Education Research Journal journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a brief quote is written in black text. It reads, 'Agent ontologies and the history classroom: a more-than-human experiment. It is necessary to think about how to bring the outside inside, how to provide teachers with the tools to talk about ‘other’ histories that happen outside the classroom, including but not limited to Indigenous history-making practices, by breaking down the boundaries that separate inside/outside'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

Why is it necessary to challenge the inside/outside binary of history education in the classroom?

In this article, author Katherine Elisabeth Wallace outlines two concepts to challenge this binary, providing history educators ways to engage in a more-than-human experiment:
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

The journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a brief summary is written in black text. It reads, 'Orientation in time and world through history and civic education: curricular frameworks and teachers' perspectives in Austria. Students need not only historical orientation skills but also competence in political judgement and political action to develop into historically critical, mature citizens. Democratic resilience and regression in history education since 1945, a HERJ series'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

How are historical and political thinking interconnected? This new publication explores the connection between historical and political learning in the Austrian lower secondary school classroom:

doi.org/10.14324/HER...

The journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a brief summary is written in black text. It reads, 'Putting the past in place: meetings with local archives in history education. Mixed methods and triangulations in history education research, a HERJ series. Place-based history education can link history education with the resources of cultural heritage institutions, effectively utilising local archives in collaborations for pedagogical outcomes'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

📢New publication

This study investigates how an intervention in place-based history education can be planned and implemented by history teachers and staff from cultural heritage institutions at a local archive.

Part of the Mixed Methods series, read the full paper here: doi.org/10.14324/HER...

On the HERJ blog, the authors of this paper discuss the implications of their findings and why they chose to publish in HERJ:
journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/110/

Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.14324/HER...

Teachers, especially history teachers, are crucial to helping students realise their role as citizens within democratic society.

On the HERJ blog the authors of 'A vote for Australian democratic consciousness' discuss the intention behind their article: journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/109/

The journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side is a quote from an author. It reads, 'Poems can let people learning history connect to historical moments and perspectives emotively, opening up a different way of learning history. Sarah Godsell, author of Poetry as a site of history education and exploration: learning history from and with poetry, on the HERJ blog'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

On the HERJ blog Sarah Godsell discusses her article and explores how poetry can be used to learn and teach history:
journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/108/

You can read the full #OpenAccess article here: doi.org/10.14324/HER...

The journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a brief summary is written in black text. It reads, 'A vote for Australian democratic consciousness: teaching civics through history. This article aims to demonstrate how historical consciousness can be cultivated in tandem with moral consciousness so that learning opportunities in schools can more authentically suit the characteristics of localised Australian context, including integrating Indigenous knowledges in Australian curricula'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

What can be learned from the entrenched positioning of Indigenous peoples w/in a colonialist understanding of cultures?

This paper, part of the democratic resilience series, aims to contribute a framework for how historical consciousness can be guided by moral consciousness:
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

The journal cover is shown on the right side of this image. On the left side the article title and a brief summary is written in black text. It reads, 'Never the two shall meet? Connecting historical and democratic consciousness in Canadian K-12 history textbooks. "If we are to support students in becoming historically informed civic leaders, all history textbooks must pay greater attention to the connections between historical and democratic consciousness."'. The UCL Press logo appears at the bottom of the image and the open access logo is displayed between the journal cover and text.

📢New publication, and the first from the HERJ series, 'Democratic resilience and regression in history education since 1945'.

This article explores the intersections of historical and democratic consciousness in education using history textbooks in Canada:
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

An image showing the journal cover of History Education Research Journal on the right side, and text on the left side that reads, "Democratic resilience and regression in history education since 1945. This HERJ series provides an overview of intersections of historical and democratic consciousness by exploring how the understanding of democracy as an aim and as content in history education has developed, circa 1945 to the present'. Beneath the text the UCL Press logo is shown and an open access logo appears in between the journal cover and text.

The HERJ series 'Democratic Resilience & Regression in History Education since 1945' has started publishing.

Read the articles from the series: journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/collect...

Sign up to the HERJ newsletter to receive updates from the journal: journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/site/su...

In this paper a study was conducted to identify curricular goals for colligation in students’ causal arguments. The study finds that students were capable constructing their own causal colligation, appreciating the disciplinary framework that underpinned those constructions:

doi.org/10.14324/HER...

This article explores the relationship of family memory and children’s history learning, reporting on a broader qualitative study on how Greek-Cypriot survivors of 1974 build self-narratives for communicating their experiences to the younger generation:
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

What factors influence students’ learning of historical empathy? This paper analyses empirical research to understand these factors, and explains why this is important to the field of history education by examining the implications for educators:
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

Huge congratulations to @cpaucl.bsky.social doctoral graduate Dr Melina Foris on the publication of this important & innovative paper on official & family memory in Cyprus. @histedresearch.bsky.social @coe.int @uclpress.bsky.social @heirnet.bsky.social journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/article...

How are women in the past represented in current history textbooks?

With specific attention paid to three consecutive waves of feminism, this paper examines the representation of women in Hungarian and Flemish history textbooks:
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

Reimagining the Past: The Role of Immersive Learning Experiences in History Education Museums are undergoing a transformation that has profound implications for history education. Our research article, “A Comparative Case Study of Two Immersive Learning Experiences in Museums”, provide...

Authors Smets and Euser discuss their article on the HERJ blog, part of the HERJ series on History Education Beyond the Classroom, the authors explore emerging technologies in museum exhibits and how this is reshaping art and history education in museums:
journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/88/

Museums are increasingly adopting sensorial technologies, challenging people to reconsider how immersive museum experiences may add to learning. This study, by Wouter Smets and Vincent Euser, explores emerging technologies in museum exhibits:
doi.org/10.14324/HER...

Narrative Competence, History & Responsibility - call for papers @histedresearch.bsky.social: deadline for submitting abstracts 31st of August. journals.uclpress.co.uk/media/journa... #historyeducation

Religious beliefs and history education:

What impact does religious belief have on students' historical understanding? In this article authors explore the historical significance attributed to biblical stories among secular and religious Jewish adolescents:
doi.org/10.14324/HER...