For more information contact: Ross Burgmann, Jo Dryden
The study of VCE History assists students to understand themselves, others, and the contemporary world, and broadens their perspective by examining events, ideas, individuals, groups and movements. Students of VCE History develop social, political, economic and cultural understandings of the conditions and features which have helped shape the present. They also explore continuity and change: the world is not as it has always been, and it will be subject to change in the future. In this sense, history is relevant to contemporary issues. It fosters an understanding of human agency and informs decision making in the present.
This study enables students to:
· develop an understanding of the nature of history as a discipline and to engage in historical thinking and inquiry
· ask and use questions about the past, evaluate historical sources and construct historical arguments based on their use of sources as
historical evidence
· develop an understanding of and apply historical thinking concepts, including evidence, cause and consequence, continuity and
change, and significance,
· explore a range of eras and periods, events, people, places, ideas and historical perspectives to develop a broad understanding of the
past
· engage with historical interpretations and the contested debates between historians in an informed and critical manner
· recognise how our understanding of the past informs decision-making in the present
· appreciate that the world in which we live has not always been as it is now, and that it will continue to change in the future.
The study of VCE History assists students to understand themselves, others, and the contemporary world, and broadens their perspective by examining events, ideas, individuals, groups and movements. Students of VCE History develop social, political, economic and cultural understandings of the conditions and features which have helped shape the present. They also explore continuity and change: the world is not as it has always been, and it will be subject to change in the future. In this sense, history is relevant to contemporary issues. It fosters an understanding of human agency and informs decision making in the present.
The study of VCE History fosters the ability to ask searching questions, to engage in independent research and to construct arguments about the past based on evidence from historical sources. Historical comprehension enables a source to be understood in relation to its context; that is, students make links between the historical source and the world context in which it was produced.
We can never know the whole past. Historical knowledge rests on the interpretation of historical sources that are used as evidence. Furthermore, judgments about historical significance made by historians are central to the discipline. Historians do not always agree about the meaning of the past; historical interpretations are often subject to academic and popular debate. Therefore, history is contested, and students develop an ability to work within this contested space to form their own opinions and to defend them using evidence. The study of VCE History equips students to enhance their critical thinking, take an informed position on how the past informs the present and future, and contributes to them becoming informed and engaged citizens.
UNIT 1 & 2
The College is offering one History option.
Unit 1 & 2: Modern History
UNIT 3 & 4
The College is offering one History option.
Unit 3 & 4 Revolutions - China and Russia
There are no prerequisites for entry to Units 1, 2 and 3. Students must undertake Unit 3 and Unit 4 as a sequence. Units 1 to 4 are designed to a standard equivalent to the final two years of secondary education. All VCE studies are benchmarked against comparable national and international curriculum.
This study is comprised of several options that will be determined by student interest and teacher availability.
Option 1: Modern History
Unit 1: Change and Conflict: In this unit students investigate the nature of social, political, economic and cultural change in the later part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Modern History provides students with an opportunity to explore the significant events, ideas, individuals and movements that shaped the social, political, economic and technological conditions and developments that have defined the modern world.
Unit 2: The Changing World Order: In this unit students investigate the nature and impact of the Cold War and challenges and changes to social, political and economic structures and systems of power in the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Option: Revolutions - China and Russia
In Units 3 and 4 Revolutions students investigate the significant historical causes and consequences of political revolution. Revolutions represent great ruptures in time and are a major turning point in the collapse and destruction of an existing political order which results in extensive change to society. Revolutions are caused by the interplay of events, ideas, individuals and popular movements, and the interplay between the political, social, cultural, economic and environmental conditions. Their consequences have a profound effect on the political and social structures of the post-revolutionary society. Revolution is a dramatically accelerated process whereby the new regime attempts to create political, social, cultural and economic change and transformation based on the regime’s ideology.
To read the study design in full please click here. (22-26)