Imagine what the following scenarios tell you about the past – a Tudor role-play of Queen Elizabeth visiting Kenilworth Castle; a photograph of London during the Blitz; a picture of Viking warriors attacking Lindisfarne monastery. The first of the images can perhaps draw on a family visit to an event or a school trip, provide a sense of fun and relate to ways in which the past is typically presented to people. Each image provides a vivid picture of a time in the past and is a great lead-in to a topic.

Having said that, if they are the only images which children have of different times in the past they would clearly present a stereotypical view of the periods in which each event happened. Teaching diversity provides an essential means of ensuring that children and adults can critically evaluate how well such images relate to different times, by providing insights into the lives of a diverse range of people...