About
Scott Allsop gained his degree in History from Emmanuel College in the University of Cambridge, where he returned to complete his PGCE. He currently teaches History and is the Head of Humanities at a leading international school in Romania, having previously been Head of Department at schools in Egypt and the UK. While teaching in the UK he was nominated for the national Teaching Awards and shortlisted for the BBC History Magazine/Historical Association History Teacher of the Year award.
He has a passion for Humanities subjects, and is an exponent of online learning. Using his experience of teaching Key Stage 3, IGCSE, A Level, and IB Diploma Programme History he has developed a range of resources to use digital technology in teaching and learning. His website, www.mrallsophistory.com, has been awarded a number of accolades including the Topmarks Excellent Site Award and the SchoolZone Five Star Site award.
His GCSE and IGCSE revision podcasts and A Level and IB podcasts are accessed by thousands of people a month, and are in the Top-10 education podcasts on iTunes. He became a MirandaNet scholar in 2008 as a result of using ICT to develop history teaching, and his work has been featured by the Guardian newspaper and the Training and Development Agency for Schools. He was also invited to present at the UK’s first TeachMeet History Icons event in 2015.
Scott’s educational video to accompany Billy Joel’s song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is one of the Top-10 most viewed videos on TeacherTube and has been viewed over 9.5 million times by people in more than 80 countries. He wrote an accompanying article for the Historical Association’s journal Teaching History that explores using the video as part of a lesson sequence on historical significance. This article and the pedagogical issues underpinning the lesson sequence have been referenced in a number of journal article and books including Teaching History 11-18: Understanding the Past, the International Journal of History Teaching, Learning and Research and Comic Books and American Cultural History.
In November 2014 he created lesson resources to help students understand the nature of the 1914 Christmas Truce by analysing the recently-released Sainsbury’s supermarket Christmas advert. These resources and lesson plan went on to be featured in the education pack for the First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme and UKEdChat Magazine.
Scott is an active member of the History teacher community on Twitter as @MrAllsopHistory and also operates a popular YouTube channel. Passionate about new opportunities to engage people with history, he hosts the daily ‘on this day in history’ podcast at HistoryPod.net. On its release this series of 2-3 minute long episodes that cover a range of historical periods and events was the top ‘New and Noteworthy’ History podcast on iTunes, and has since featured in the iTunes Top Ten Podcasts chart. He also acted in an advisory capacity to the creators of the award-winning About Time boardgame.
In the past he ran a website dedicated to abandoned shopping lists, which has been featured in the Times Educational Supplement and The Guardian as well as on television programs including CBBC’s The Wonderful World of Weird and Richard Hammond’s 5 O’Clock Show for ITV. While in the UK he collaborated with the Open University/BBC television production The History Detectives to reveal the story behind one of the artefacts he uses in class.
In addition to his various interests in education and History, Scott is also a keen guitarist. He has played in a number of different bands from folk to funk and pop to punk. In July 2013 he was nominated for the Best New Writing award for his one-man show at the Buxton Festival Fringe about living through the Egyptian Revolution. Following the birth of his children he has begun writing and performing what he calls “adult-friendly kids’ music” under the project name Yallabina!