History · Year 10

Active learning ideas

Prison Reformers: John Howard & Elizabeth Fry

Active learning works well for this topic because students need to grapple with the human impact of historical injustices and the slow, messy process of reform. Moving beyond lectures lets them weigh evidence, role-play moral dilemmas, and see how real change unfolds over time, making the reforms feel immediate rather than abstract.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• GCSE: History - Crime and Punishment Through Time
• GCSE: History - Industrial Britain

• 30–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Hot Seat
• 45 min · Pairs

Debate Pairs: Reform vs Retribution

Pairs prepare three arguments for either prison reform or retribution using Howard and Fry's evidence. They swap roles midway, rebutting the opposite view. Conclude with a whole-class vote and reflection on key questions.

Explain how Elizabeth Fry changed the treatment of women in Newgate.

Facilitation Tip

For Debate Pairs, assign roles clearly and provide a sentence starter guide for students who need structure in ethical arguments.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are a Member of Parliament in 1780. After reading John Howard's report, what specific action would you propose to Parliament and why?' Students should reference specific abuses mentioned in the reports.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Hot Seat
• 50 min · Small Groups

Source Stations: Howard's Reports

Set up stations with excerpts from The State of the Prisons, images of cells, and public reaction quotes. Small groups rotate, annotating shocking details and predicting reforms. Groups share one key finding per station.

Analyze why John Howard's reports shocked the British public.

Facilitation Tip

During Source Stations, circulate with guiding questions like ‘What emotion does this description evoke? What action might follow?’ to deepen analysis.

What to look for

Provide students with a short primary source excerpt describing prison conditions. Ask them to identify one specific problem mentioned and explain how either John Howard or Elizabeth Fry would have likely responded to it.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Role Play
• 40 min · Small Groups

Role Play: Fry in Newgate

Assign roles as Fry, prisoners, warders, and visitors. Students improvise a reform meeting based on her journal entries, then debrief on changes implemented and their significance.

Justify if reform or retribution should be the primary goal of prison.

Facilitation Tip

In the Role Play activity, give students 10 minutes to prepare their character’s perspective using only the evidence from Fry’s letters and reports to stay grounded in the source material.

What to look for

On an index card, students write one sentence explaining the most significant change Elizabeth Fry brought to Newgate Prison and one sentence explaining why John Howard's reports were shocking to the public.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 04

• Timeline Challenge
• 30 min · Individual

Timeline Challenge: Individual

Students sequence 10 events from Howard and Fry's campaigns on personal timelines, adding cause-effect arrows and source quotes. Peer review follows for accuracy and impact assessment.

Explain how Elizabeth Fry changed the treatment of women in Newgate.

Facilitation Tip

For the Timeline Challenge, provide pre-cut event cards and model how to compare intended outcomes with actual results to avoid oversimplification.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are a Member of Parliament in 1780. After reading John Howard's report, what specific action would you propose to Parliament and why?' Students should reference specific abuses mentioned in the reports.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers approach this topic best by framing reformers as people embedded in systems, not lone heroes. Emphasize the tension between idealism and bureaucracy by using Howard’s unflinching reports and Fry’s practical solutions to illustrate incremental change. Avoid romanticizing their work—highlight resistance, costs, and unintended consequences to build historical empathy without sugarcoating.

Successful learning looks like students engaging with primary sources critically, debating ethical trade-offs between punishment and rehabilitation, and tracing the ripple effects of reform efforts beyond their initial targets. By the end, they should connect historical figures’ actions to lasting policy changes and public attitudes.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Timeline Challenge, watch for students assuming Howard’s reforms solved prison issues immediately.

  During Timeline Challenge, have students annotate each event card with whether it was a legal change, a public reaction, or a setback, to highlight the slow, uneven progress.

• During Role Play: Fry in Newgate, watch for students thinking Fry’s work only helped women prisoners.

  During Role Play, instruct students to note how Fry’s model of female warders and education influenced the 1823 Gaol Act’s broader provisions in their role-play reflections.

• During Debate Pairs: Reform vs Retribution, watch for students assuming reformers acted mainly for religious reasons.

  During Debate Pairs, provide a source excerpt where Howard describes the spread of disease in chains to prompt students to weigh humanitarian motives versus religious ones in their arguments.

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Methods used in this brief

• Hot Seat
• Role Play
• Timeline Challenge