Welcome to the Moving Beyond Boundaries blog! ‘Moving Beyond Boundaries: Gender, Knowledge, History’ is an AHRC funded  student-led skills development programme run by Abigail Tazzyman and Bridget Lockyer from the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York in collaboration with the Feminist and Women’s Studies Association (FWSA).

With continued debate over the proposed changes to the history curriculum and in light of the recent and successful campaign to have historical women represented on British bank notes, this project will focus on how women’s and gender history is taught in secondary schools.

Working with Huntington school in York, the project will gauge sixth-form pupil’s perceptions of women’s history. We will train eight postgraduate students, who will use their research expertise to develop interactive workshops on elements of women’s history not usually explored in schools e.g. the experiences of working class female reformers in the 19th century. We hope that the workshops will give students a greater and more diverse knowledge of women’s history, and will encourage independent thought and critical engagement with their own curriculum.

This project aims to open a dialogue on issues of gender representation and inequality in the school curriculum with researchers who work in this general field. To do this, we will work with the Historical Association (HA), a national organisation of 6000 members who advise on curriculum issues at all levels, and the FWSA. We will also use this blog to record and disseminate our findings.

If you have any ideas or suggestions about this project or future projects please get in touch at moving.beyond.boundaries@gmail.com.