Learning Resources
If you can’t make it to The Keep in person, we have lots of free to use online resources, which mean you can engage with Mass Observation wherever you are.
Primary School Resources
These resources include activities to undertake with children working at Key Stage two and are relevant to a variety of subjects including maths, science as well as English and History.
You can find our resources here
Secondary School Resources
These resources cover Key Stage three and four and are relevant to a variety of subjects, including history, sociology, media studies and English.
Find the resources here.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Mass Observation captured people’s everyday lived experiences, from March 2020 to Autumn 2021. This includes directive responses, personal diaries and 12th May day-diary submissions.
Beyond Boxes
Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £51,300, Beyond Boxes collaborated with three project partners, Blind Veterans UK, the Brighton Housing Trust and HMP Lewes to encourage project participants to share their lived experience, so that the MOA better reflects the diversity of life in Britain today.
As part of the project a variety of resources were created to encourage writing and literacy. They can be accessed here.
Observing the 1980s
Selected Directive responses collected as part of the Mass Observation Project in the 1980s are available for research on ‘Observing the 1980s’. This Open Education Resource was funded by Jisc in 2015 and brings together ‘voices’ from the Mass Observation Project and the British Library’s Oral History collections alongside 1980s documents and ephemera from the University of Sussex Library. For more information visit the Observing the 1980s webpage.
1980s School Booklets
These booklets were produced at the Archive during the 1980s. They were intended for use by 14-16 year olds but may also be helpful to students at A Level and beyond. Extracts from the booklets may be reproduced freely for educational purposes. The booklets are available for download free of charge.
They can be accessed here.
Class of ’37
Class of ’37 uses the writing of these young girls, as collected by Mass Observation in Worktown, to rediscover this lost world, transporting readers back in time to a smoky industrial town in an era before the introduction of a Welfare State, where once again the clouds of war were beginning to gather.
Watch the authors talk about researching the book and access their teaching resources.
YouTube
Our YouTube page is a great resource for our previous talks and events.
You can view our themed playlists, including Royalty, The Everyday and Mental Health and Wellbeing.
12th May
In 1937 Mass Observation called for people from all parts of the UK to record everything they did from when they woke up in the morning to when they went to sleep at night on 12th May. Mass Observation revived the project in 2010 since then we’ve received thousands of day diaries, creating an invaluable resource of everyday life across the UK. The project continues to this day. Find out more.