History

Subject Leader
Mrs Private: Black

Aims of the Course

  • To develop students’ enthusiasm for history and an understanding of different identities in society as well as social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity.
  • To provide students with a balanced view of the past, rather than studies that are Anglo-centric or based only on a particular era.
  • To allow students to explore the reasons for the creation of fascist states in twentieth century Europe and their ultimate demise, as well as an awareness of the struggles of the poor in the nineteenth and twentieth century Britain and the emergence of public health reform.
  • To equip students with an awareness of the historic origins of issues in the modern day, such as; racial hatred, political extremism, the provision of social welfare and government reactions to epidemics.
  • To improve students’ skills as independent learners and critical, reflective thinkers, as well as their ability to make judgements based on historical evidence, demonstrated through a piece of coursework produced in Year 13.
  • To equip students with many transferable skills including the ability to write well, confidently debate about the past and process complex information.

Course Content

You will study two units in Year 12, then one unit plus coursework in Year 13. The content you study in Year 12 counts towards your final assessment in Year 13. You will sit three papers and complete a piece of coursework in Year 13.

In Year 12 you will study two papers which follow Route G: Nationalism, Dictatorship and Democracy in 20th Century Europe:

  • Paper 1: Germany and West Germany, 1919-1989.
  • Paper 2: The Rise and Fall of Fascism in Italy, c.1911-1946.

In Year 13 you will recap the content of the above two papers and apply this knowledge to answering more sophisticated exam questions, as well as a new unit and coursework:

  • Paper 3: Poverty, Public Health and the State in Britain, c. 1780-1939.
  • Paper 4: Coursework – an independently researched enquiry based on historical interpretations of a chosen topic – this will usually be from within the broad areas of 19th-20th Century Russian History or the outbreak of the First World War. (Depending on class size a free choice may be available).

Assessment:

Paper 1: an externally assessed written paper lasting 2 hours and 15 minutes and carries 30% of the final A Level.

Paper 2: an externally assessed written paper lasting 1 hour and 20 minutes and carries 20% of the final A Level.

Paper 3: an externally assessed written paper lasting 2 hours and 15 minutes and carries 30% of the final A Level.

Paper 4: Coursework that is internally assessed and externally moderated; it carries 20% of the overall A Level marks.

The units are given an individual score and are combined to give an overall grade A*-E.

Career Opportunities

A Level History is a traditional academic subject which is well respected by Universities and employers.  Students are able to critically evaluate data and evidence, problem solve, construct a cogent argument and develop good thinking skills.  Historians have many transferable skills including the ability to write well, confidently debate about the past and process complex information.  This offers a range of career opportunities including:

  • Teaching
  • Law
  • Politics
  • Human Resources, Administration and Management
  • Heritage work including museums, libraries and source collections
  • Research
  • Finance (a significant number of history graduates go on to do postgraduate degrees in accountancy due to the analytical skills used in a history degree)