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GCSE Module: Health and the People

Unit: Public Health through time

Year group: 10

When taught: March to June

AQA syllabus link: Click here

What are we learning?

  • Where was public health worse in the medieval period?
  • Where was public health better in the medieval period?
  • What was the Black Death and what were its consequences?
  • How did doctors deal with the Great Plague?
  • How can we compare the Black Death and the Great Plague? Comparison and sources
  • How dirty were Britain’s towns in the early 1800s?
  • How was cholera overcome?
  • How did the government try to improve public health in the 19th century? Great Stink and Public Health Acts
  • Why did the government try to improve the nation’s health after 1900?
  • What is the “welfare state” and why did it emerge?
  • How can we compare public health report writers? Chadwick and Booth & Rowntree and Beveridge;
  • Which factor played the most important role in the development of public health? 

How will we be assessed on this topic?

  • The end of topic assessment will include a knowledge test (including some multiple choice questions, some non multiple-choice questions, a chronology task and a key word task).
  • A one hour assessment paper conducted in timed conditions covering all the different question types on the GCSE paper.

What makes a strong piece of work in this topic?  What are teachers hoping to see?  

  • A sound and good chronological understanding of key events;
  • Use of specific factual evidence relevant to the question asked;
  • A wide range of appropriate key terms used in written responses;
  • Developed explanation: use of the BLT framework;
  • ‘Complex thinking’/ evaluation in answers – thinking about short term/ long term/ people/ place/ extent etc.
  • Strong source analysis commenting on both content and provenance.
  • Strong linkages in conclusions and between paragraphs.

What key words are there in this topic?

Quizlet, click here

What can I try if I want to stretch and challenge myself on this topic?

  • Learn more about ‘Health and the People’ in this period by using the school’s Historical Association account where you will find lots of information/ podcasts about the topic. Ask Mrs Wahlen for the username and password;
  • Watch the following documentaries about the development of medicine, vaccines and surgery: click here
  • Listen to some podcasts. There are some excellent pods on The Rest is History: click here
  • Read some historical fiction or non fiction – see the ideas below!

What wider reading can be done on this topic?

There is a whole range of historical fiction on health related topics! Below are a few ideas-  some are available from the library:

  • All Fall Down by Sally Nichols: click here
  • Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Recommended non-fiction:

  • Black Death – History of a Village in Crisis by John Hatcher: click here
  • A History of Britain vol 1 by Simon Sharma: click here
  • Eyam: Plague village by Daniel Paul
  • Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and how it changed the world by Laura Spinney
  • The Great Stink: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Metropolis by Stephen Halliday

Supporting document/links:

  • Students will be given a knowledge organiser at the end of the topic to revise for the end of topic assessment.
  • GCSE pod