Humanities Aut 1 · 2026–27 · Enquiry: How far did individuals shape modern Britain?
| Key Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Degree verdict | 'How far' answered in measured degrees |
| Structural frame | Policies/economies that open or close doors |
| Person + pattern | A life joined to its scaling numbers |
| The join | 'One of thousands: the records show…' |
| Curated shapers | Who lists the list-makers — interrogated |
| Living-memory care | Fairness discipline for recent lives |
1) 2015 — hinge or endpoint?
2) Define agency.
3) Agency's partner in explanation?
4) Name one way Teesside is still being made by arrival.
1) Why did the 1970s beat 2015 in the hinge test?
2) 'Shaped modern Britain' — what scales could that claim run at?
3) The proof pattern for mattering?
4) Living/recent individuals — what extra care applies?
1) Why do domains change at different speeds?
2) 'How far did individuals shape…' — the trap in the stem?
3) Who gets called 'modern Britain's shapers' — and who chooses?
4) Which weeks does this enquiry braid together?
Key Question: A wartime steel forewoman. A 1960s Windrush-generation nurse. A 1980s union convenor. A 2020s renewable-energy engineer. How far did individuals like these shape modern Britain — and how far did Britain shape them?
Groups: 🎯 AGENCY EVIDENCE, 🏛️ STRUCTURAL FRAME. Sort: The forewoman reorganised the shift rota herself, Conscription had emptied the works of men, The nurse trained two generations on her ward, The NHS Act created the posts to fill, The convenor negotiated the survival terms, Global steel prices set the room he argued in, The engineer retrained from the old trades, Net-zero policy funds the turbine yards
Draw lines to match:
🏭 The wartime forewoman · 🏥 The Windrush-era nurse · ✊ The 1980s convenor · ⚡ The renewables engineer · 🧺 The boarding-house keeper · 🎓 Today's arriving student
Thousands of women in wartime heavy industry · University migration sustaining the town · Retraining figures on the new Teesworks · Census columns of lodging-house households · Union rolls through the restructuring years · Mass NHS recruitment from the Commonwealth
chose, changed, allowed, created, one of thousands, partly
"They chose to…" | "The ___ made it possible" | "Verdict: barely / partly / substantially"
Agency: evidenced choices. Structure: the frame named. Join: person to pattern. Verdict: degree + limit clause.
"The forewoman's room to act was ___; the engineer's is ___" | "By the criterion of ___, agency has grown/shrunk" | "The century moved the LIMITS more than the courage"
One life illustrates a pattern. It never proves one alone.
| Side | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Agency | Choices and changes, evidenced per person — what they did. |
| Structure | Wars, policies, economies that opened the door — what made it possible. |
| The join | “One of thousands: the records show…” — person tied to pattern. |
| Degree verdict | “Substantially, within limits set by…” — never all-or-nothing. |
barely · partly · substantially — pick one, then add the limit clause. An answer with no limit clause has not weighed anything.
Watch for the trap. The stem says individuals, plural. A single vivid life answers a different question unless you join it to the pattern’s numbers.
The Scales Card
My life: ______________
Agency facts (2):
Structure facts (2):
Verdict: ☐ barely ☐ partly ☐ substantially
The Weighed Answer
1) Agency paragraph:
2) Structure paragraph:
3) The join sentence:
4) Degree verdict + limit:
The Comparative Brief
1) Life A weighed (summary):
2) Life B weighed (summary):
3) Agency across the century — ruling + criterion:
1) Name the two sides of the scales.
2) Why join a person to a pattern?
3) Give one structure that framed the nurse's agency.
Space → Voice → Audience → Influence. The adult’s first job is Space: regulate before you educate.
| Space | The Four Lives stations are self-directed — route yourself; every station stamps your enquiry passport. |
| Voice | Nominate a FIFTH life — someone you know or know of who shapes modern Britain — one evidence line required. |
| Audience | Consented fifth-life nominations join the showcase's 'Living Wall' — the community reads who you chose. |
| Influence | Your nominations set Week 6's essay subjects: the structured account will argue about the lives THIS room named. |
Closing the loop: this one ends on paper — your own hand, or your words scribed by an adult. Saying it aloud starts the loop; writing it is what closes it. Pass is always allowed.
What I said, and what it changed:
Keep with your book / folder.
| Pupil name: | Date: |
| WWW (What Went Well): | |
| EBI (Even Better If): | |
| Level worked at: Supported / Standard / Stretch | Evidence filed: Yes / Not yet |
| Authorship — what I chose or decided myself: | |
| Support given — prepared / scribed / modelled / hand-over-hand: | |
| Pupil response — my next step: | |
1) Answer the stem in one degree-verdict line.
2) What does the join sentence sound like?
3) Why does hero-worship fail the stem?
1) Did individual agency grow or shrink across the century? One-line ruling + criterion.
2) What extra discipline do recent lives demand?
3) Which earlier weeks did today braid, and how?
LAUNCH Humanities · Week 5 · People and Modern Britain
Add your class once — names stay on this device only, and every Made by Matt lesson on it shares the list. Band each pupil so questions are tier-matched.
Pass is always allowed — passing still counts as taking part.