Modern World History

I teach Modern World History to my GCSE group for several reasons. 

1) It covers a period of time and a selection of topics they are interested in and familiar with from year 9.

2) The syllabus allows me to deal with potentially troublesome topics as coursework rather than these cropping up in the exam.

3) Modern world History doesn't just mean war. It looks at social issues and both genders seem to enjoy the way I weight the course.

4) You can link excellent off-site visits to supplement it. We have used the visit to Ypres as a good introduction to the First World War topic.

5) You certainly get parents on-board as they find the course interesting and many of the revision aids I produce are aimed at getting parents to assist.

The disadvantages of the syllabus.

In a recent meeting with OCR about the new syllabus they claimed that QCA were responsible for the fact that there was no tiered history paper. As every other subject has one I, and many other Heads of departments there were concerned about this. The matter of some 1/3rd of all candidates coming from the independent sector and the issue of intellectual snobbery could not be an influencing factor -could it??

Well perhaps to some schools gaining a C is not so good but to lots of students I teach it is quite a feat. I have taught students who have taken the Certificate of Achievement and other that have been entered for the GCSE. But what of those who would fit into the large gap between the two? Well, OCR (or the speaker in Manchester in March 2001 for them) claimed it was beyond their remit and I should contact QCA. I did, the same week - but up till now I have had no reply other than confirmation that they have received my enquiry.

It would be incredible to think that those agencies meant to assist in student progression were part of the process that hindered them. So if you are like minded why not e-mail QCA and see if we cant get things changed?

Now for the students. If you want to read some advice about answering questions at GCSE level and find out a few do's and dont's, click here

If you want to see a brief overview of what  we do in year 10 and II click here