Should I take

1. Should I take GCSE History?

2. Do employers value history? There are three areas where concrete answers will be essential before I make my decision about history: 1 2 What can studying the past do for me as a person? 3 Will I enjoy the content of the course?

3. Well, do employers value History?

4. Employers and Universities Value History very Highly. The skills that are taught within the subject are very useful in work, study and life.

5. When studying history you will: Use information effectively – this can help shed light on a particular problem or issue confronting an organisation or individual. Weigh conflicting factors carefully before taking critical decisions. • Be analytical and critical when considering information presented to you.

6. Understand how and why humans behaved as they did – and may behave in similar circumstances again. This can be vital in relations with the most complex factor in any job – your colleagues! • Learn the arts of oral debate and expressing a clear personal point of view – invaluable skills at job or university interviews.

7. YOU ARE TAUGHT TO THINK AND THEN MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND !!!

8. Not convinced?

9. In this rapidly changing world employers want people who are: • Independent thinkers. • Open-minded. • Disciplined. • Good at problem solving. • Able to pick out the essential from the trivial.

10. They want… people who have studied History

11. Don’t just take our word for it… The highly respected ‘Which?’ consumer guides wrote the following in their ‘Which Subject, Which Career? Book 2002’

12. ‘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 very many other jobs’

13. Go on then, name some people who have studied history and have made it to the top of their chosen field!

14. Right, you asked. Here we go!

15. Journalism and Writing Dermot Murnaghan, BBC Breakfast TV presenter (Sussex); Jeremy Bowen, BBC News reporter (UCL);  Alan Green BBC Radio 5 Live football commentator (Queens); Martin Tyler Sky Sports football commentator (UEA); Jonathan Legard BBC motor sports reporter (Leeds); James Moir controller, BBC Radio Two (Cambridge); Peter Wilby editor of the New Statesman (Sussex); Melvyn Bragg ITV presenter, South Bank Show (Oxford); Jeremy Warner Business editor, The Independent (UCL); Michael White political editor, The Guardian (UCL); Salman Rushdie author (Cambridge); Andrew Morton Diana biographer (Sussex).

16. Business David Sainsbury CEO Sainsbury’s (Oxford); Roland Smith, former director Bank of England, now dir. Manchester United Howard Springer CEO Sony America (Oxford); Clara Freeman, OBE Chairman of Opportunity Now Phil Soar, CEO Nottingham Forest (Keele); Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop (Bath Spa); Gerald Corbett ex CEO Dixons, Railtrack, Woolworth (Cambridge); Patrick Gillam ex CEO BP, Standard Chartered Bank (LSE); Helena Stride Head of Education at Imperial War Museum; Anthony Hudson (Birmingham); Charles Smith (St Andrews); David Montgomery former CEO Trinity Mirror PLC Sarah Tyacke Keeper of the National Archives (London).

17. Entertainment Louis Theroux (Oxford); Simon Thomas - Blue Peter (Birmingham); Simon Mayo Radio DJ (Warwick); Conan O'Brien US talk show host and Simpsons writer (Harvard); Michael Palin presenter and Python (Oxford); Suzanne Warner Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission; Chris Martin of band Coldplay (UCL); The Chemical Brothers DJs and dance music band (Manchester); Nicky Wire and Richey Edwards Manic Street Preachers (Swansea); Neil Tennant Pet Shop Boys (N London); Sting former History Teacher! Baron Sacha Cohen - creator of Ali G - studied History at Oxford.

18. Politics, Unions and Law Gordon Brown – Prime Minister Neil Kinnock former leader, Labour Party, EU commissioner (Cardiff); John Prescott MP Deputy Prime Minister (Hull); Diane Abbott MP first black woman MP, (Cambridge); Mike Mansfield QC top barrister (Keele); Dr John Reid MP Secretary of State for Health (Stirling); Paul Murphy MP Secretary State Northern Ireland (Oxford); John Monks Gen Sec TUC (Nottingham); Anna Blackstock Dir Gen DTI (Oxford); Nick Brown MP Agriculture Secretary (Manchester); Alex Salmond MSP Leader Scottish National Party (St Andrews); Kenneth Clarke MP former Chancellor (Cambridge); Seb Coe former athlete and MP (Loughborough); Michael Portillo MP (Cambridge); Alan Milburn MP (Lancaster); Lord Williams of Mostyn Attorney General (Cambridge); Tim Yeo MP (Cambridge)

19. Of course, history wasn’t the only thing that ensured the success of these people, but certainly the life skills gained from the subject would have played a big part!

20. What is the point of studying the past? How can that develop me as a person? Surely it’s the present that matters!

21. The past is our spotlight on the present!

22. You’ll enjoy looking at the past! It’s fun! People in the past were every bit as clever, stupid, interesting and varied in personality as people today.

23. Studying the people of the past can give you real insight into people alive now. It will help you understand how and why humans behave as they do when confronted with the crises of today. Unless you become a lighthouse keeper or a hermit you’ll need to understand other people with all their complexities. Knowledge of people is the greatest asset of all.

24. 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!

25. Perhaps the keys to the solutions of many of those problems can also be found in clues from the past. Who knows?

26. The broad mass of the nation will more easily fall victim to a large lie than a small one. “ ” Adolf Hitler, 1925 Students of history will be less likely to believe large lies – or small ones!

27. But History is a vast subject I can’t be sure I’ll enjoy the course until I know its content!

28. Modern World History AQA GCSE HISTORY B MODERN WORLD HISTORY

29. SO, what exactly will you study???? There are three elements to the course. Unit 1 International Relations/Conflict Unit 2 20th Century Depth Study Unit 3 Historical Enquiry British History

30. Unit1 International Relations:Conflict and peace in the 20th Century • Origins of World War One • Origins of World War Two • The Cold War

31. Unit 2 20th Century Depth Study Pupils will answer 3 questions from a choice of 10 topics.The topics will be chosen from the following list; Russia 1914-1941 USA, 1919-1968 Germany, 1919-1939 USA and Vietnam. Britain and Northern Ireland The Middle East, 1956-1979

32. Unit 3 Historical Enquiry – British History • Pupils will complete one assignment, 25% of the total marks, on one of the following topics; • The British People in War • Britain at War • Britain and the Aftermath of the Two World Wars • The changing role and status of women since 1900

33. Are you beginning to think this subject is for you?

34. Are you inquisitive? Do you like finding the reasons why something might have happened?

35. Are you prepared to become an investigator and research topics for yourself?

36. Does it excite you to shed new light on problems that have puzzled people in the past?

37. Do you like to form your own opinions, even if they might be different from those of your friends - or teachers?

38. Are you prepared to stand your ground and argue your case if you have enough evidence to back up your argument?

39. GCSE Well, History is…..

40. H ard but rewarding work. I nteresting! S tudy of real people in a living past! T opical! O f real value in employment! R elevant! Y makes us ask why, why, why!

41. Remember… History is a useful – a vital – subject but… to do your best you must enjoy your study. Don’t take history because you feel you ought to… but because you want to!

42. Studying the past may just brighten your future!