The shaded area indicates a University Pathway.

Rationale
The Modern History ATAR course begins with a study of key developments that have helped to define the modern world, with special attention given to important ideas and their consequences. This provides a context for a study of movements for change in the 20th century that have challenged the authority of the nation-state, the principal form of political organisation in the modern world. Students then investigate crises that confronted nation-states in the 20th century, the responses to these crises and the different paths nations have taken in the modern world. The course concludes with a study of the distinctive features of world order that have emerged since World War II and that are central to an understanding of the present.

The Modern History ATAR course continues to develop the historical skills and understandings taught in the Years 7–10 Humanities and Social Sciences: History curriculum. Students pose increasingly complex questions about the past and use their historical inquiry skills, analytical skills and interpretation of sources to formulate reasoned answers to those questions. The opportunities to apply these skills are sequential and cumulative so that students develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the different and sometimes conflicting perspectives of the past.

Students are introduced to the complexities associated with the changing nature of evidence, its expanding quantity, range and form; the distinctive characteristics of modern historical representation; and the skills that are required to investigate controversial issues that have a powerful contemporary resonance. Students develop increasingly sophisticated historiographical skills and historical understanding in their analysis of particular events and close study of the nature of modern societies.

Course Overview
The Modern History ATAR course enables students to study the forces that have shaped today’s world and provides them with a broader and deeper comprehension of the world in which they live. While the focus is on the 20th century, the course refers back to formative changes from the late 18th century onwards and encourages students to make connections with the changing world of the 21st century.

Modern history enhances students’ curiosity and imagination and their appreciation of larger themes, individuals, movements, events and ideas that have shaped the contemporary world. The themes that run through the units include: local, national and global conflicts and their resolution; the rise of nationalism and its consequences; the decline of imperialism and the process of decolonisation; the continuing struggle for the recognition of human rights; the transformation of social and economic life; the regional shifts in power and the rise of Asia; and the changing nature and influence of ideologies.

Course Description
Unit 1 - Understanding the Modern World
This unit provides an introduction to significant developments in the modern period that have defined the modern world, and the ideas that underpinned them, such as liberty, equality and fraternity.

Chosen elective of study: Capitalism – The American Experience, 1907-1941 or The Meiji Restoration – Japan (1853-1911).

Unit 2 - Movements for Change in the 20th Century
This unit examines significant movements developed in response to the ideas studied in Unit 1 that brought about change in the modern world and that have been subject to political debate. The unit focuses on the ways in which individuals, groups and institutions challenge authority and transform society.

Chosen elective of study: Nazism in Germany

Retrieved from: School Curriculum and Standards Authority. 29 June 2023.