Historians explore Teaching the Russian Revolution in workshop at Leicester

Researchers and teachers of Russian revolutionary history from universities across the East Midlands and beyond gathered in Leicester on 6 September to discuss teaching approaches, centenary initiatives, and research agendas in the classroom.

2017 marks the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution. The workshop, organised by Dr Zoe Knox from the School of History, Politics & International Relations and Dr Sarah Badcock from the University of Nottingham, brought historians in East Midlands universities who research the revolution and those who teach it together to consider how to bring 1917 alive for their students in the centenary year and beyond. It attracted scholars from seven of the nine universities in the East Midlands as well as historians and postgraduate students from half a dozen more. 

Dr Knox said: “The workshop had ambitious aims: to share pedagogical innovation and best practice in classroom teaching, to discuss extra-curricular initiatives marking the centenary and how these might engage our students, and to produce a critical guide to current resources in teaching Russian revolutionary history. The interest generated by the event points to the dedication of leading researchers of Russian history to sharing the latest agendas and historical debates with our students and involving them in ongoing discussions about key aspects of revolutionary history.”

The workshop was funded by the East Midlands Centre for History Teaching and Learning, a new organisation which aims to develop, share, promote and investigate excellence in history teaching in higher education.