The Nervous State: Using cross-curricular learning to develop students’ emotional literacy and subject knowledge

MARK COTTINGHAM, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD, UK JULIE GOTTLIEB, SCHOOL OF HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY AND DIGITAL HUMANITIES, THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD, UK ANDREW SPRAKES, XP TRUST, UK Introduction and context This case study summarises a collaboration between historians, educators and a dramatist to develop cross-curricular, creative methods to embed emotional literacy (Steiner, 1997; Goleman, 1996) in the school curricula. History in English schools is traditionally conceptualised through an analytical, evidence-based disciplinary lens (Seixas and Morton, 2013). However, history is fundamentally about humans; connecting to and understanding the emotions of historical actors is central to understanding history. A rounded history education therefore should encompass both cognitive and affective domains (Bloom et al., 1964; Cunningham, 2009). Furthermore, making those affective connections can support young people to reflect on and contextualise their own emoti