Interview with John Edgar, 15 June 2010

John Edgar is Assistant Headteacher at The Dean School in Essex. He discusses his own schooling in Essex in the 1970s and his decision to become a history teacher. He recalls teaching a traditional syllabus of British history in the early 1980s, but also introducing some of the new source-based approaches. GCSE brought attention to empathy in history, which was already popular in the lower school. He left teaching to work in publishing from 1988-91 and joined a large Kent City Technology College as head of humanities at the time of the introduction of the National Curriculum. He discusses the challenges of integrating history, geography and RE. He also discusses the impact of technology on history teaching in the 1990s. Interviewed by Nicola Sheldon.