Ashleigh Hufton is remembered with great affection by the history team as a student who contributed keenly to history seminars from the outset and worked hard to develop her skills further during her studies in history at the University of Portsmouth from 2018 – 2021. Ashleigh has since been enjoying great success teaching history at secondary level. Below she writes about her studies at Portsmouth, and what she has gained from them since graduating.
Ashleigh with Doug Lemov, the author of Teach Like A Champion.
What I enjoyed most about my history studies at Portsmouth
It is difficult to pinpoint the most enjoyable part of my degree because I genuinely loved every moment of being a student at the University of Portsmouth. However, the most memorable part of my time at the university is the relationships I formed with the lecturers. I cannot put into words how genuine, kind, and supportive the members of the History faculty are. They have helped me not only though my degree but after my degree and with my current career. I have never felt more supported in my learning, progression, and most importantly love for history, than I did at Portsmouth. It is incredibly rare to have such a supportive network of mentors who not only want to support you in gaining your undergraduate degree, but have a genuine interest to see you succeed post university.
Notation knife: V&A O110614
Alongside the support from the lecturers, I valued the variety of historical studies you are exposed to at university. My favourite modules were often those in which I would not have thought before starting university would be an area of interest. For example, my favourite research project was within Katy Gibbon’s material culture module, where I researched a notation knife that was part of a collection of dining instruments from the 16th century. I never thought that my most interesting piece of work would be about 16th century cutlery!
Despite this, this module encouraged my undergraduate dissertation and encouraged me to have a newfound love for material culture. Other modules that fuelled my love for history were Maria Cannon’s specialist subject on women and gender, Mike Esbester’s module “Danger, Power, Census and the People” where I studied the 1911 Census and the Suffragette’s boycott, Fiona McCall’s “Underworlds” module discussing early modern witchcraft, and Dave Andress’s specialist subject on the French Revolution. I also undertook a module called “Introduction to teaching”. This was a fantastic opportunity in second year to test if teaching was the career I wanted to embark on. It was useful because it was taught by a different faculty and by lecturers who had been teachers previously. I found it incredibly useful, and the module assignment that I submitted, I later used in my interview to get onto a teacher training course.
What I have gained from my history degree
Being a History graduate has made me inquisitive about the world in which we live and has encouraged me to question and challenge everything. But it has also made me more understanding of different people, cultures, practices, and beliefs. It has also taught me the transferable skills that I have been able to take into post university life. Studying history is not isolated in just learning about the past but learning to be analytical in how you approach situations and problems. History is an incredibly valued degree by many employers because of the skills that you develop, which can be applied to many jobs in the future. If I did not choose to teach history as a secondary school teacher, I would have chosen to pursue a career in law. During my interview for a training contract, the interviewer told me that having a History degree was just as valued as having a Law degree within the legal sector, because it holds the same value in relation to the skills in which you learn. This made me realise the importance of history in the wider world that I think often goes unnoticed.
My current job role is a secondary school and 6th form history teacher. I teach History from year 7 to year 13, including GCSE and A-Level. Undoubtably the most enjoyable part is to see my classes develop a love for history and appreciate the value of studying the past. It is the most rewarding job to be able to shape young minds and help pupils realise a love for a subject that you also share. Not only this but outside of history, being able to be a role model for the next generation is a completely invaluable part of my job that gets me up each morning and excited to start each day. Being able to help pupils unlock their potential and realise that with hard work and dedication they can achieve anything is one of the reasons why I love my job. A pupil within my current cohort of year 11s that I have just taken through their GCSEs, emailed me at the end of the school year to tell me that he is thankful that I made him realise that he is capable of learning and that he just needed to believe in himself and know someone was rooting for him. I was speechless and felt a great sense of pride. It made me appreciate and understand that in this job, it is hard work, long nights, and can be overwhelming, but nothing compares to being able to influence young minds and to prepare them for the world outside of school.
I continue to enjoy combining research and teaching and in 2023 had an international placement under the Teaching together in Europe scheme, involving five weeks teaching at the British School in Brussels, where I presented work into Mary Queen of Scott’s tapestry during her time in captivity.
I have such fond memories of my time at the University of Portsmouth and I would return to do it all again in a heartbeat. It was the place where I realised my love for h
istory, for the academia, and has been the source of inspiration in shaping my future career. Thank you so much.
Ashleigh contributed two posts for our blog while she was at Portsmouth:
Zooming in on seventeenth-century elite food culture
The 1911 census: the government and the suffragettes have a conversation
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