Higher Grade
Areas of Study
There are 3 units of study:
- Paper 1
- Britain 1850s - 1979
- Italy, 1815 - 1939
- Paper 2
- Appeasement and the road to war, 1918-39
Paper 1 topics on Britain include:
- The growth of democracy 1850 - 1928
- The growth of the Labour Movement
- The decline of the Liberal Party
- The changing role of women, 1850 - 1928
- The foundations of the Welfare State, 1906 - 11
- The National Government, 1931 - 1939
- The formation of the Welfare State, 1946
Paper 1 topics for Italy include:
- The state of Italy in 1815
- The Romantic Movement, 1815 - 48
- The failure to achieve unification, 1848 -9
- The success of unification, 1871
- Liberal Italy 1871-1914
- The rise of Mussolini
- Mussolini in power - domestic and foreign policy
Methodology
The department attaches great importance to the development of the skills of essay writing, including analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
The department distributes essay guide sheets based on good practice identified by the Exam Board, highlighting the standards expected at Higher Grade, and identifying common faults. A pupil essay grading task is set at this stage. Essay plans are used, especially in the early stages of the course. Essays are set at the end of each topic and grades recorded, thus enabling continuous monitoring of pupil progress. Likewise pupils receive ample experience of doing source-based exercises on Appeasement. Again, there is an assessment at the end of each topic and the grades are recorded.
Resources
- school produced information sheets and work-guides
- text-books:
- The growth of Nationalism - Cameron, Robertson & Henderson
- Britain 1850s - 1979 - Morrison & Morrison
- Britain 1851 - 1979 - Wood
- A wide variety of books is available for the extended essay