This History teacher video explores how the census can be used as a powerful and accessible primary source in the classroom. It highlights how census data provides insight into real lives from the past, supporting pupils in developing key disciplinary skills such as enquiry, continuity and change, and similarity and difference. The video shows how children can use the census to investigate their local community, ask historical questions, and draw inferences, just as historians do.

Teachers are guided to support pupils in assessing the reliability of the census, understanding its limitations, and interpreting data with a critical eye. Issues such as errors in collection, outdated terminology, and deliberate misinformation are discussed. The video also explores creative uses of the census across history topics, from comparing Victorian and modern families to analysing occupation and wealth. Combining census data with other historical records is encouraged to help reconstruct past lives and deepen historical understanding.