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History: the long view: Amanda Forshaw advises how to approach 'Themes' units.

Article Excerpt
Currently, exam boards require students to consider the 'long view' of history in their A level specification, usually with reference to a particular country. It is important to realise that specific skills are required for this. The themes paper is about breadth and not depth. Hence, rather than being concerned with the minute details of events that an in-depth study requires, students need to take a broad perspective and look for developments and change over time.

The following ideas are designed to give students an idea of how to achieve this new approach and to create successful essays.

Themes

Taking the long view is to look at the historical landscape over a period of time, and here identifying themes is all-important. Once students have learnt what happened during a given period it is vital to identify key themes, as the examiners will set questions on themes rather than particular events. Key themes will often include: the nature of government, opposition, religion, the economy, war. Students need to capture the similarities, differences, changes and continuities, and to track patterns and connections within these themes if they are to understand the developments in the periods they are studying.

Contemporarily and Historically Significant

Students need to identify the key events that may have led to change or that may have seemed significant at the time but, in the long term, did not lead to change. Clearly, some events have huge contemporary significance and are considered important by the people at the time but may not have lasting impact whereas other events are historically significant, and considered important as part of a...

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