Collins

a row of school students writing and using a calculator in an exam

Setting your students up for equations success in GCSE Science

By Peter Edmunds When I was a trainee teacher back in 2017, I was frustrated by how much my students were struggling with calculations. Really frustrated. Calculations were the easy part of physics, I thought. Of course, I now know that I was suffering from expert blindness. Just because I… Read More
Line drawing of male presenting person giving a speech

How past voices can help to shape a more inclusive future

By Dr Simon Henderson The outpouring of compassion by the British public after the refugee crisis following the Russian invasion of the Ukraine has prompted some commentators to contrast responses to white European migrants, with migrants of colour, both now and in the past. In April of this year,… Read More
Complete Revision and Practice

Advance information support for GCSE 9-1 exams

If you’re teaching GCSE students this year, you’ll know that exam boards recently released advance information for the exams taking place in summer 2022 to help address the pandemic’s impact on teaching and learning. This advance information provides a list of topics from the specification that will be assessed on… Read More
Dorian Gray looking at his reflection

Scandal and storytelling in The Picture of Dorian Gray

‘The love that dare not speak its name’ is generally understood to be a euphemistic reference to homosexuality. The phrase is commonly associated with Oscar Wilde; indeed Wilde was cross-examined about it by the prosecuting counsel Charles Gill when he was put on trial in 1895. But the phrase has… Read More
silver crown next to a crown of thorns

Forging creative connections in King Lear

Any teacher introducing King Lear in the classroom, whether for the first, or even the 20th time, can’t but help feel daunted by the sheer philosophical and emotional heft of Shakespeare’s most-studied tragedy. How do we convey the significance and complexity of its over-arching themes, such as power, loyalty and… Read More
Union Jack Flag

Black history is British history

Simon Henderson and Teni Oladehin, authors of the new Collins Black British History KS3 Teacher Resource Pack, explore how you can integrate Black British history into your KS3 curriculum. Why is it crucial that all students learn about Black British history? Teni Oladehin: Any study of British history today… Read More
Victorian school desks

Exploring Childhood in Hard Times

‘If we can only preserve ourselves from growing up, we shall never grow old and the young may love us to the last,’ declared Dickens.  This call to protect the magic and wonder of childhood concluded his New Year’s Day essay, published in his magazine Household Words, almost exactly a… Read More
Dracula's house with full moon and bats

Considering Dracula and the supernatural: teaching tips

Gothic literary texts can take so many different forms, but they share a preoccupation with the crossing of boundaries: between life and death, the past and the present, ancient and modern, good and evil or more generally, between what is real and unreal. Gothic writers take their readers, then, across… Read More
maths animation

How to smooth the transition from Year 6 to 7 maths

It’s never easy for students to move from Year 6 to Year 7.  For the vast majority, they move from being the biggest fish in a little pond to small fry in what feels like an ocean!  Add to that the fact that their last two years of primary school… Read More
Football hitting the net

Is football coming home? A sociological question

From its humble beginnings to a now multi-million-pound industry, the ‘beautiful game’ is an economic asset, a cultural hallmark, a political (excuse the pun) football, and a social barometer. For these reasons, football and the recent Euros demand sociological analyses: they provide an extraordinary lens through which we… Read More