A Level History Student Conference: Modern Britain 1950-1997

10:25– 10:30am
Welcome and Introductions 

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10.30– 11.10 am

Session 1: The Thirteen Wasted Years? 1951-1964
Professor Michael Lynch

• How far did Churchill simply preside over his country’s and his own decline?
• To what extent did ‘the Establishment’ lose its dominant position in Britain?
• How far did Britain maintain the ability to act independently on the world stage?
• To what extent did stop-go economics do serious damage to the British economy?

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11.10 – 11.50am

Session 2 Britain Strikes Back. The Swinging Sixties
Dr Alwyn W Turner

• How far did the government merely react to, rather than to drive, the liberal society?
• To what extent was any change in society merely superficial, affecting only a privileged few?
• How far was Ireland the greatest failure of British overseas policy?

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11.50 – 12.10pm
Break – submit your questions on Modern British History to our expert panel

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12:10– 12:40am

EXAMINER WORKSHOP. Outstanding evaluation of Source Material Dr Keith Milne

• An examination of exactly what examiners are looking for in assessing the value of a source.
• The most successful structure used by students that brings results.
• How to define value and how to deal with provenance in the most sophisticated and highly rewarded manner.

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12.40- 1.20 pm

Crisis, What Crisis? 1970–1979
Professor Michael Lynch

• How far does the effort to join the EEC merely indicate how weak Britain had become?
• It was the failure of government policy, rather than trade union militancy that explains industrial strife and strike
• How far did the Labour party lose control of its own ideology in the 1970s?
• To what extent was Callaghan’s greatest failure merely one of presentation and of timing?

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1.20 – 2.00pm
Lunch

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2:00-2.10 pm
Ask the Experts

• The speakers answer the questions submitted by the students

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2.10-2.30pm
False Hope? Thatcher, 1979-1984
Professor Michael Lynch

• How far was the 1979 election lost by Labour rather than won by the Conservatives?
• To what extent was three million unemployed simply the consequence of long term economic trends?
• To what extent was conservative unpopularity due to a failure to understand social change?
• How far was success in the 1984 election solely the consequence of a Falklands Factor?

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2.30 – 3.10pm

EXAMINER workshop. How to write an outstanding essay. Dr Keith Milne

• Exactly what should be done to achieve the higher levels and to extend student performance.
• The ideal essay structure and how it drives an excellent, consistent judgement
• Practical direction on how to integrate knowledge into an argument.
• Establishing the answer – outstanding introductions and their importance at the higher levels

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3:10 –3:30 pm

The Conservative Revolution? Britain in the later 80s and the 90s
Dr Alwyn Turner

• To what extent did Thatcher create an economic miracle in the 1980s?
• How far did Conservative policies benefit the whole of British society?
• Does Ireland represents the great undervalued success of Conservative policy?
• How far was the decline of the Conservative Party the result of failure of leadership 1991 to 1997?

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3:30-3:50 pm

Things can only get better? Britain 1997 to 2007
Dr Alywn Turner

• ‘Short term gain producing long term pain’ Is this an accurate reflection of Labour economic policy?
• ‘A clear objective, that Blair failed to realise’ How far is this true of New Labour’s foreign policy?

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Final Top Tips and close

• Extra tips on excellent revision ideas, including using the specification
• Action plan – what to do after today to get the highest grades

 

Dr Alwyn W. Turner

Dr Alwyn Turner is a historian who has written widely on the politics and culture of modern Britain. He is best known for a trilogy of books on the closing decades of the twentieth century: Crisis? What Crisis?, Rejoice! Rejoice! and A Classless Society. A sequel, on Britain in the early years of this century, is currently in preparation. Other books have covered cultural institutions from Biba to Portmeirion, the Last Post bugle call to the Daleks. He is Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Literary History at the University of Chichester.

Dr Keith Milne

Keith has 25 years of teaching experience in a wide range of schools and is currently Head of History in a large and very successful department of eleven full-time teachers. In addition to lecturing part time at university, whilst studying for a PhD in European History, he has written and also advised on a number of textbooks for A Level History students. He is a highly experienced Principal Examiner and Principal Moderator for a major examination body, leading a large number of very popular online and face-to-face conferences detailing the routes to exam success for all A Level students.

Dr Michael Lynch

Dr Michael Lynch is an honorary fellow of Leicester University, has written over thirty books and articles on modern history, his particular interests being European and Chinese history. Among his recent publications are Russia 1894-1941 (2016), Mao (2017), Mao’s China 1936-97 (2019) and Bolshevik, Stalinist Russia 1917-53 (2019) Britain 1951-97 (2019). He has served as an A-level senior examiner and is currently editor of the A Level‘Access to History’series (Hachette). A regular speaker at conferences and VI-form gatherings, he also appears in a number of current television series on modern history, including ‘Hitler’s Circle of Evil’ and ‘Greatest Events of World War Two’.

Students £25+VAT

One free teacher place for every 10 student places
Additional teachers £35+VAT
Individual teachers £80+VAT