What use is History to me?

One of the few subjects studying REAL people coping with REAL situations and REAL problems.

Do you want to know more about the world? History helps you to understand what is happening around you NOW.

History is IN DEMAND by a wide range of employers – who recognise that a student of History has acquired key knowledge and skills. Examples of areas where History is useful: Journalism, The Law, Business Management, (especially now that the European Union is important); Police, Education.

Edexcel International GCSE for UK Schools

YEAR 10

UNIT 1

Development of dictatorship: Germany, 1918–45

• The establishment of the Weimar Republic and its problems

• The recovery of Germany, 1924–29

• The rise of Hitler and the Nazis

• Life in Nazi Germany

• Germany during the Second World War

UNIT 2

A world divided: Superpower relations, 1945–62

• Reasons for the Cold War

• Early developments in the Cold War,1945–62

• The Cold War in the 1950s

• The Berlin Crisis of 1961

• The Cuban Missile Crisis

YEAR 11

UNIT 3

The USA, 1917–29

• The impact of the First World War on the USA

• Immigration

• Prohibition and gangsterism

• Mass production and the stock market boom

• The Roaring Twenties

• The position of black Americans

UNIT 4

The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1936–2003

• Warfare at the end of the First World War

• Changing methods of land warfare

• Changing methods of sea and aerial warfare

• The developments of atomic and nuclear weapons

• Warfare at the beginning of the 21st century

EXAMINATION

Pupils will be assessed through two examinations in the summer of Year 11.

The exams are not tiered, so everyone has a chance of achieving the highest grade.

With a History GCSE you will be able to:

• be analytical and critical when considering information presented to you;

• make good decisions based on the evidence;

• learn the arts of oral debate and expressing a clear personal point of view – invaluable skills at job or university interviews.

You are taught to think and make up your own mind!

Employers want people who are:

• independent thinkers;

• open-minded;

• disciplined;

• good at problem solving;

• able to pick out the essential from the trivial.

They want people who have studied history!

Historians develop skills that enable them to pursue careers in:

Journalism and Writing, Business, Broadcasting, Media, Management, Law, Politics, Medicine.

What’s the point of studying the past?

Surely it’s the present that matters?

You’ll see how many of the problems and strengths of the world today have their roots in the past. Great or mistaken decisions; combinations of developments; conspiracies or complete mess-ups all played their part!

“Historians are regarded as having had an education that trains their minds to assemble, organise and present facts and opinions and this is a very useful quality in many walks of life and careers…history is an excellent preparation for many jobs.”

Which? Report on Careers

For more information, see any member of the History Department.