Hi! My name is Claire Holliss and I am currently Head of History at Reigate College in Surrey. I studied history at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, before completing my teacher training via the Cambridge PGCE programme. During my training year I became interested in contributing to discussions within the subject community when I used research conducted for a PGCE assignment to write an article for Teaching History on the use of the scholarship of Christopher Clark with a Year 12 class. I later completed research on the use of substantive concepts for her MEd degree.
I have a particular interest in representation in the history curriculum, especially as it pertains to gender and sexuality. I have been involved in projects run by the Historical Association to commemorate the centenary of the partial enfranchisement of women, where I designed resources aimed at enabling teachers to tell the stories of working class women in the movement. I subsequently delivered a webinar on this work for the British Library’s education service. In 2020 I took part in the Curricularium, speaking on questions of representation in the curriculum. I have also spoken on representation more generally and the teaching of LGBTQ+history in particular at conferences run by West London Free School, the Historical Association, the Schools History Project, the NEU and to PGCE students at Reading, Worcester and Manchester universities.
Most recently I have delivered workshops on teaching LGBTQ+ History in partnership with Hodder, and I have also been part of the writing team for Hodder’s forthcoming textbook on British Social History in the 20th century.
I am very happy to be contacted about any questions related to my specific interests or about history education more widely. The best way to get in touch is to find me on Twitter, where my handle is @CitoyenneClaire and to send me a direct message there.
Thanks for reading!
Links to previous projects:
Teaching History articles:
https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/resource/7269/waking-up-to-complexity
https://www.history.org.uk/publications/resource/10326/illuminating-the-possibilities-of-the-past
Textbooks:
Other writing
https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/queer-history/queer-history-in-the-archives-and-the-curriculum/
https://practicalhistories.com/2022/11/representation-at-key-stage-4-and-5/
Historical Association suffrage enquiry:
https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/activity/3203/what-were-the-suffrage-campaigners-fighting-for
Curricularium:
https://twitter.com/mrwbw/status/1251891036634447872?lang=en
Euroclio Podcast:
Twitter homepage: https://twitter.com/CitoyenneClaire
This blog is for my ideas and reflections on History teaching and education in general, all views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
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