Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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HistoryThinking like a historian30 min★★★ difficulty

One theme across the centuries: who holds power?

A thematic study follows one question over hundreds of years. Ours is simple to ask and hard to answer: who held power in Britain, and how did that shift between 1066 and 1901?

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand a study of an aspect or theme in British history that consolidates and extends pupils' chronological knowledge beyond 1066

Key learning points

  • • Building the line
  • • Continuity is part of the story
  • • Which turning point mattered most?
  • • Writing the thematic answer

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 18 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

aspectbritishhistoryconsolidatesextends

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 18 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 18

Watch first

One theme across the centuries: who holds power?

An English teaching video on this topic from Miacademy & MiaPrep Learning Channel. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand a study of an aspect or theme in British history that consolidates and extends pupils' chronological knowledge beyond 1066

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 18

Before we start

What you already know

You should know about the Norman settlement, the Reformation, the Civil Wars, the 1689 settlement and industrial Britain.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 18

Key words

Words you'll need today

Thematic study
Tracing one theme across a long period rather than one short era.
Turning point
A moment after which the direction of change is different.
Continuity
What stayed the same while other things changed.
Franchise
The right to vote, and who holds it.
Chronology
The order of events in time, used to make change visible.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 18

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Tracing the theme

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 18

Learn

Building the line

Set out the markers: 1066 and Norman feudal control, Magna Carta in 1215 limiting a king by written agreement, 1534 fusing Church and crown, 1649 executing a monarch, 1689 writing the limits down, then 1832, 1867 and 1884 widening the vote. Seeing them together shows a direction the separate topics hide.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 18

Learn

Continuity is part of the story

Across all of it, land and wealth still bought influence, women could not vote until the twentieth century, and most working people had no formal political voice for most of the period. Change in who governed did not mean change in who was excluded.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 18

Quick check

What is a thematic study?

8

Reset break

Part 8 of 18

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
9

Quick check

Part 9 of 18

Quick check

Which is a continuity across 1066 to 1901?

10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 18

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Judging turning points

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 18

Learn

Which turning point mattered most?

1689 wrote limits into law but left power with a small propertied class. 1832 broke the principle that the franchise was fixed, making later extensions arguable. 1867 brought many urban working men in and forced parties to campaign to voters. Each case can be argued; the argument is the work.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 18

Learn

Writing the thematic answer

Choose two or three moments from different centuries, not four from one. Explain the change each made, use the others as comparison, and finish with a judgement plus one honest limitation. Coverage across the period is what marks out a thematic answer.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 18

Quick check

Why can 1832 be argued as the key turning point?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 18

Quick check

A strong thematic answer uses...

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 18

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Power did not shift steadily; there were reversals such as the Restoration.
  • Widening the franchise did not make Britain democratic in the nineteenth century; most adults still could not vote.
  • Magna Carta protected barons' interests, not ordinary people's rights.
  • A thematic answer needs spread across centuries, not depth in one topic.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 18

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Mastery quiz

Part 17 of 18

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: One theme across the centuries: who holds power?

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Magna Carta was agreed in...

  2. 2. Magna Carta mainly protected...

  3. 3. The franchise means...

  4. 4. Which year widened the vote to many urban working men?

  5. 5. A reversal in the story of parliamentary power was the...

  6. 6. Women gained the parliamentary vote in the...

18

Lesson round-up

Part 18 of 18

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Source

A factory inspector's notebook, 1842

"I visited the mill at seven in the morning. The machines were already running. I counted fourteen children at the frames, the youngest no more than nine years of age. The overseer told me they work from six until seven, with forty minutes for dinner."

"The air is thick with cotton dust and the windows are kept shut so the thread does not break. Two of the children showed me hands cut by the shuttles. The owner assured me that the work is light and that the families beg him for the places, since without the children's wages the rent cannot be paid."

"I have written to the magistrates. I doubt much will follow from it."

Original source-style text written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Who wrote this, when, and why might that make it useful to a historian?
  2. What does the source tell you about children's work — and what does it not tell you?
  3. How far does this source show that mill owners were to blame? Answer with a judgement and evidence.

  • Source work

    Reading

    Read the source closely. Write who made it, when, and what it tells you — then what it does not tell you.

    2 paragraphs

  • Essay answer

    Writing

    Answer the enquiry question with a clear judgement. Use two pieces of evidence and finish with a sentence that weighs them up.

    300–400 words

  • Timeline

    Diagram

    Draw a timeline of the events in this lesson with dates, then photograph it.

    6–8 events

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Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover

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