QM Assessor Biographies

Helen Crawford

Helen studied history at university and has worked in primary schools for twenty years as a class teacher, history subject leader, inclusion manager and senior leader. Most of her teaching career has been in London schools, but she has also taught in Japan and The Gambia. She is currently a senior lecturer in primary education at the University of Northampton. Helen is an author of the Oxford International Primary History series (OUP) and a consultant for BBC Teach and BBC Bitesize primary history. She is a member of the editorial board for Primary History Journal, a trustee of the Historical Association and an honorary fellow of the Historical Association.

Ailsa Fidler

Ailsa chose to study history at university and has a Master's specifically focused on History Education. Ailsa leads primary history in her role as a lecturer in ITE. Engaging children with the subject and developing and enhancing their natural curiosity is vital. Ailsa's work with the HA alongside her day job means that she has a good understanding of what is happening in our subject in a range of schools. 

 

Bev Forrest

Bev Forrest has been part of the Quality Mark assessment process from its outset taking part in both the design of the Mark and the pilot study. She has been engaged in a project researching the impact of the Mark on the school and subject leader. Bev is based in West Yorkshire and until recently has trained teachers at Leeds Trinity University. While still undertaking school visit and consultancy work for Leeds Trinity University, Bev now divides her time between this and other activities including writing for Hodder’s Rising Stars. Over the years Bev has taught both primary and secondary pupils across the country. She has been an HA Trustee, an Honorary Fellow of the HA, a long standing member of the HA primary committee (currently chair) and a member of the editorial board for Primary History. She established and organises the popular Northern History Forum. Bev enjoys presenting to teachers at conferences and is also a frequent contributor to a number of publications. Her main areas of interest are museum education and exploring links between history and archaeology.

Alison Hales

Alison Hales is a Senior Lecturer in primary education at the University of Greenwich; she also jointly leads the Initial Teacher Education programme, working with trainees, schools and settings to develop practice -based learning and partnerships. She has published on learning history through local people and places and mastering primary history. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.  

Dan Hartley

Dan is currently a headteacher of a middle school in the South West of England. He is a regular contributor to publications and websites such as the TES, and has also written numerous articles on areas such as teaching and learning and the History curriculum. Dan has worked in a number of History departments and also has experience leading both History and Humanities teams too. More recently he has written a revision guide for GCSE History and has been an examiner for both AQA and Edexcel. Dan also facilitates Middle and Senior Leadership courses for the National College and is a county Emotion Coaching Champion.

Tim Lomas

Tim Lomas has spent most of his career in history education as a teacher, senior manager, inspector, author, trainer, curriculum developer and principal examiner. He has served on national committees including advising governments and other organisations. His last full time post was as a principal education inspector. Dr Lomas is currently the Honorary Secretary of the Historical Association as well as a member of its Executive, Primary, Secondary and Branches Committees. He has extensive experience of training and producing resources for primary and secondary schools. His historical interests range widely but include assessment, curriculum management and local history. In the case of the latter he is currently chair of the British Association for Local History.

Sue Temple

Sue began teaching very nearly 30 years ago (1987!) and has a wealth of experience in Primary Schools, Special Needs teaching and also as acting Head Teacher of a Nursery School. In 2004 she moved into primary Teacher Education at the University of Cumbria in Carlisle. Sue was employed to lead the History Specialism of the undergraduate degree there and she is now the Programme Leader for the Primary and Early Years degree across the Carlisle, Lancaster and London campuses. Sue also leads CPD work for current teachers and Education staff in museums and historical sites. She keeps up to date by teaching history on a voluntary basis in a couple of local primary schools.

Sue joined the HA Primary Committee in 2007 and has been active member ever since. She speaks at the Annual Conference each year and regularly writes for the Primary History Journal, joining the Editorial team for this in 2013. When a small group was established to develop the Quality Mark, Sue volunteered to be involved from the start. Sue worked with Bev Forrest researching the impact of the Quality Mark on Primary schools.

Robin Whitburn

Robin Whitburn is a Lecturer in History Education at the University College London - Institute of Education. He has spoken at educational conferences in Beijing, Vancouver, Chicago, Charleston, and across England. Robin has thirty years’ secondary school experience, and has taught on teacher training and other graduate courses for history educators for the last six years. Robin founded Justice to History with Abdul Mohamud as an organisation to help teachers and students explore relevant, and often neglected, diverse histories; they have published ‘Doing Justice to History: Transforming Black history in secondary schools’. They have been involved in pioneering a new thematic British history course focused on Migration and Empire for older secondary age students; this has included publishing a course textbook.

Andrew Wrenn

Andrew is an experienced history teacher, subject leader and senior leader. Andrew worked as the humanities advisor for Cambridgeshire for many years and more recently has worked as a freelance consultant which has seen him travel the length of the country as well as internationally. Andrew has been involved in several funded cutting edge history projects, often working closely with schools. Andrew is also an active member of the Historical Association having been a trustee member and a long serving member of the secondary committee in recent years. He is also an honorary fellow of the HA and is a regular workshop leader and trainer at events across the country. He is currently a history advisor to a multi academy trust.



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