British Depth Study 1890-1918 Delivery Guide - GCSE History B

Sep 5, 2026

Delivery Guide for GCSE History B’s British Depth Study 1890–1918, outlining what students should investigate through historical enquiry into key questions and issues. Covers curriculum content such as poverty, Liberal reforms, women’s right to vote, suffragist and suffragette campaigns, civilian impact of war and government propaganda, plus women’s war work and voting debates. Provides conceptual teaching guidance on using evidence effectively, addressing misconceptions about pictorial sources and evaluating bias with contextual understanding.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Curriculum Content

Focus areas for this study

Thinking Conceptually

Approaches to teaching the content

Common misconceptions or difficulties students may have

Conceptual links to other areas of the specification

Cartoon analysis

Sample answers

Continuity/Change

Exam Creation

History GCSE History B Delivery Guide British Depth Study 1890-1918 GCSE History B Delivery Guide CONTENTS Introduction Page 3 Curriculum Content Page 4 Thinking Conceptually Page 5 Thinking Contextually Page 7 Introduction Delivery guides are designed to represent a body of knowledge about teaching a particular topic and contain: • Content: A clear outline of the content covered by the delivery guide; • Thinking Conceptually: Expert guidance on the key concepts involved, common difficulties students may have, approaches to teaching that can help students understand these concepts and how this topic links conceptually to other areas of the subject; • Thinking Contextually: A range of suggested teaching activities using a variety of themes so that different activities can be selected which best suit particular classes, learning styles or teaching approaches. If you have any feedback on this Delivery Guide or suggestions for other resources you would like OCR to develop, please email [resourcesfeedback@ocr.org.uk](resourcesfeedback@ocr.org.uk). KEY Click to view associated resources within this document. Click to view external resources Curriculum Content This unit involves historical enquiry into a period of British history. It gives students opportunities to investigate specific historical questions, problems and issues; use a range of historical sources and reach reasoned conclusions; and analyse and evaluate how the past has been interpreted and represented in different ways. Focus areas for this study: • What was poverty like in Britain in 1890 and who carried out investigations into the lives of the poor? • Why did the Liberal government introduce a range of reforms from 1906 and how effective were these reforms? • Why were women not allowed the vote and what arguments did women use to try to win the right to vote? • How effective were the suffragist and suffragette campaigns for the right to vote? • How were civilians affected by the outbreak of war in 1914? • How effective was government propaganda during the war? • How did women contribute to the war effort and did this affect the attitude of the government towards votes for women? Thinking Conceptually Approaches to teaching the content The key with teaching this element of the specification is the need to combine a good understanding of the context with an ability to use evidence effectively. As much of the examination still requires the candidates to use sources in their answers, this cannot be overlooked. From the outset, it is essential to have the candidates handling evidence. They need to be aware of the different types of evidence (pictorial, written, statistical etc.) and how these can be used to ask a range of questions, either as single sources, part of a comparison between sources, or as part of a wider thematic study (as in question 5 of the exam) . Common misconceptions or difficulties students may have Common misconceptions are to use cartoons as real images. Candidates often see them as a snapshot of life and then fail to grasp that they are a construct of the cartoonist. Other common misconceptions involve the attempts of candidates to evaluate evidence. This is often done simplistically andwill look at things like simple bias “This was written by a suffragette and she was biased”, or “it was written twenty years after so their memory may have faded”. A good way to get candidates to think conceptually about the sources is to think about who produced them, but more importantly, for what purpose? Getting to grips with purpose is a key feature of understanding the sources in the context in which they have been written. The higher performing candidates on this paper are those that understand the content of the source within the contextual timeframe of 1890-1918 (even if sources were written years after the events) . Conceptual links to other areas of the specification – useful ways

FAQs

What investigation skills does this depth study develop for 1890–1918?

Students practise historical enquiry by investigating specific questions, using a range of historical sources, reaching reasoned conclusions, and analysing how the past has been interpreted and represented.

Which focus areas are included in the British Depth Study 1890–1918?

The study includes poverty and investigations into the lives of the poor, Liberal reforms from 1906, women and the vote, effectiveness of suffragist and suffragette campaigns, civilian effects of war in 1914, government propaganda, and women’s contribution to the war effort alongside voting attitudes.

How should teachers help students use evidence effectively in this unit?

Teachers should ensure candidates handle evidence from the outset, understand different types of evidence, and develop evaluation that considers the producer and purpose of sources rather than oversimplifying bias or time-gap assumptions.

Sep 5, 2026

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