Scotch College

VCE: History

Rationale

History is the practice of understanding and making meaning of the past. Students learn about their historical past, their shared history and the people, ideas and events that have created present societies. It builds a conceptual and historical framework within which students can develop an understanding of the issues of their own time and place. It develops the skills necessary to analyse visual, oral and written records. The study of history draws links between the social/political institutions and language of contemporary society and its history. It sets accounts of the past within the framework of the values and interests of that time.

Structure

Unit 1: Twentieth-Century History (1900-1945)

This unit concentrates on Germany, especially in the period 1918-1945.

Students analyse the emergence of new political ideas, including liberal democracy, socialism, communism and Nazism in Germany after World War I, with emphasis on the conflict that arose from these ideas. They examine the change that occurred in everyday life in Weimar Germany and Nazi Germany. In particular, they research the effects of Nazi policy on Jews, intellectuals, Slavs, women, youth religion.

Students consider the impact of the work of a group or individual in Weimar Germany and the effect of propaganda on the cultural life of Nazi Germany.

Unit 2: People and Power

This unit concerns various historical challenges to authority. The unit is divided into three areas of study:

• Power and Authority. Here students examine the ideology and institutions that supported an established authority, for example in Imperial China or Medieval Christian Europe.

• Dissenting Groups and Challenges. Students consider the reasons for changes in authority, such as the downfall of the Imperial Chinese Government, of Papal authority in 16th century Germany, or of the English monarchy in the Civil War.

• Change. Here we examine changes that dissenting groups wrought in government and society. For example we compare China under the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai Shek and under the Communist government led of Mao Tse-Tung. The England of the early Stuarts is compared to that of 1689, after the ‘Glorious Revolution'. Students also consider the means by which new authorities consolidated their power through language and symbols.

Assessment

Units 1 and 2: Document Analysis & Writing Tasks (Examination)

Research

Analytical Tasks

Essay

Australian History

Structure

Unit 3:

• A New Land: Port Phillip District 1830-1860. Students will analyse the visions and ideas which underpinned colonial society and the way that they changed under the impetus of specific events. These visions will also be explored in relation to their impact on the Indigenous people of Port Phillip District.

• Nation, Race and Citizen 1888-1914. The latter decades of the nineteenth century represented a period of prosperity, growth, pastoral expansion, urbanisation, immigration and an emerging sense of national identity. Nationhood was achieved in 1901 and between 1901-1914 profoundly important new legislation was introduced. What visions of nationhood were achieved? Who was included in this new nation and who was excluded?

Unit 4:

• Testing the New Nation 1914-1918. Students will analyse the ways in which Australians acted in response to World War I. The emergence of the ANZAC legend brought ideas of Australian identity into sharper focus However, the war also opened up deep divisions in Australia, culminating in the bitter debates over conscription in 1916 and 1917.

• Debating Australia's Future 1960-2000. Students will evaluate the change in Australian attitudes to the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1970.

Assessment

Unit 3: School Assessed Coursework 25 per cent

Unit 4: School Assessed Coursework 25 per cent

Units 3 and 4: Examination 50 per cent

Revolutions

Structure

Unit 3: The French Revolution

• Revolutionary ideas, leaders, movements and events - 1781-4, August 1789. Students examine the much-disputed causes of the French Revolution. The reasons suggested by historians include social, economic and intellectual factors. Students analyse the Enlightenment philosophers before studying the causes of the outbreak of revolution in June 1789 at Versailles, the Tennis Court Oath, and the storming of the Bastille.

• Creating a New Society - 5 August 1789 - November 1975. Students explore the most dramatic period of the French Revolution, including the King's attempted flight from France, the war with most of Europe, civil war, the Terror, the execution of King Louis XVI, the rise and fall of Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, the Directory.

Unit 4: The Russian Revolution

• Revolutionary ides, leaders, movements and events 1905 - October 1917. Classes study the controversial question of why there were revolutions in Russia in 1905 and February 1917. They examine the tensions and conflicts inherent in pre-revolutionary Russian government and society, as well as the roles of World War 1 and individuals such as the Tsar, Tsarina and Rasputin in the collapse of the Tsarist regime. Students make a close study of the 1917 Revolution, which culminated in the seizure of power by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October 1917.

• Creating a New Society - November 1917 - 1924. Here students look at the nature of the society that emerged from the chaos of World War and civil war between 1917 and 1924. The roles of Lenin and Trotsky are examined closely, as are the Bolsheviks' often violent responses to the challenges of opposition from many elements of Russian society as well as foreign powers. The study culminates with the question of whether change outweighed continuity by the time of Lenin's death.

Assessment

Unit 3: School Assessed Coursework 25 per cent

Unit 4: School Assessed Coursework 25 per cent

Units 3 and 4: Examination 50 per cent