1. VCE History Units 3 and 4: Revolutions
Hands on SAC tasks
for Unit 3: France in 2007
Robyn Ryan
Methodist Ladies College
Welcome and thanks for being part of a collaborative exploration of SAC tasks for Unit 3. Value of collegial exchange and dialogue. Forum for discussion and sharing of ideas. Division of presentation into the following sections:

2. Hands on SAC tasks for Unit 3: France Session Outline
Overview of SAC tasks for year
Considerations for the selection of SACs across the year and specifically for Unit 3: France
Individual SAC task outline
Considerations for specific SAC tasks in the French context
Sample SAC tasks for Unit 3: France
Review, conclusions and recommendations
Some familiar material for those who have created SACs already, but important factors for those who are new to the subject or are about to design new tasks or refine existing ones.

3. Overview of SAC requirements for Units 3 and 4
Four compulsory tasks to be completed over Units 3 and 4. Schools and teachers to select the order and combination in each unit.
One SAC task for each of the two areas of study for the two revolutions studied.
All tasks weighted equally and in total comprise 50% of final study score
Detailed descriptions and guidelines for tasks and assessment are available in the VCE History Study Guide (2004) and the VCE Assessment Handbook (2005)
Important to note that schools and teachers have the choice as to order and combination of SAC tasks across the year. Whilst allocated 50% of final score, exam is still the benchmark by which internal results are audited.

4. The SAC tasks for Units 3 and 4
Analytical exercise – visual and/or written
Historiographical exercise
Research report
Essay
4 tasks to be completed in any order and in any combination for each unit.

5. The outcomes for each unit
Evaluate the role of ideas, leaders, movements and events in the development of the revolution
Analyse the challenges facing the emerging new order, the way in which attempts were made to create a new society, and evaluate the nature of the society created by the revolution
Outcome statements from the Study Design should be used to develop SAC tasks. The key knowledge and skills detailed in the Study Design for each outcome are also helpful in the creation of tasks. One also has to note the timeframe for each area of study: Area of Study 1 – Compte Rendu, 1781 – 4 August, 1789; Area of Study 2 – Declaration of the Rights of Man, 5 August, 1789 – Dissolution of the Convention, Year III.

6. Considerations for the selection and sequence of SAC tasks across the year
The progressive development of students across the year in terms of confidence, skills and knowledge.
The entry point for students – Y11, prior knowledge and skill level.
The requirements of the exam. Should tasks mirror each of the exam sections?
The availability of resources and topics/ subjects, particularly for the research task.
The impact of other subject SAC tasks and the mid-year exams.
The need to ensure equity and guard against plagiarism etc as we move into the third year of the revised study design.
Need to provide a range of research topics that are equally rich and to avoid against repetition.
Big picture planning considerations: Need to consider composition and ability of class. Number of Y11 students, history training and experience. Some tasks are perhaps more accessible early in the year than others. Perhaps analytical exercise more contained a task, requires less reflection and evaluation than historiographical exercise or essay? Worth considering the impact of SAC heavy periods, school events such as musicals, plays, sporting events etc.

7. Considerations when selecting tasks for Unit 3: France
Confidence, knowledge base and experience of students in this first section of the year
Students may be Y11 or not have done extensive recent History study
Exam tasks and requirements
Sequential development of skills
Range of resources available
Range of topics and subjects available
Historiographical debates and issues available for ready and rich exploration and evaluation
Need to recognise that students will develop skills and confidence as the year progresses, and that SAC selection should reflect that development.

8. The analytical exercise - the nature of the task
To analyse written and/ or visual representations.
Format can be developed by individual schools and teachers.
No requirement as to number of sources but contrast and comparison useful.
Format could mirror exam as a set of questions, building from low level comprehension to analysis and reflection with marks allocated accordingly.
Alternatively, format could require an extended response to a more general question: “What revolutionary ideas are contained in this representation and how useful is it for understanding the development of the revolution?”
Need to synthesise sources to draw conclusions
Good for students to use a range to develop a response. Greater opportunity for evaluation.
Need to consider the range of historians’ opinions
Assessment: No set requirements
Marking could incorporate the performance descriptors in the VCE Assessment Handbook in a rubric for global marking or they could be used in the formation of questions that are then allocated numerical marks, as per the exam.
Freedom in terms of selection and number of sources, to develop format and in terms of marking. Assessment still an area that is unclear as not all sources and tasks will necessarily address all the performance indicators to the same extent. I have found mirroring exam allocation of marks to questions to work. Need to allow for evaluation of a range of historians’ opinions. Time allocation in class also not prescribed.

9. The analytical exercise - sample
Task advice and guidelines for SAC
SAC “The People under the Old Regime”
Set up to reflect the style of questions in the 2005 exam. In 2006 a lower level comprehension question was deleted and the last evaluation question increased in value. Should this change be reflected in 2007 SAC tasks?
Sample SACs distributed prior to actual SAC task in class:
“The Assembly of Notables”
“The calling of the Estates-General”
Feedback sheet
A sample of how I developed the Analytical Exercise SAC as SAC 1 last year. Guidelines sheet to prepare students, samples in class before hand, unseen source on the day of write up. Questions set up to mirror the exam and move through lower level comprehension to contextual knowledge, analysis and evaluation. Feed back and key reflections stored for reference. Results issued as indicative grades only.

10. The analytical exercise - considerations
Can be a useful first SAC as students more confident with the more limited scope of such a task.
Can also be a useful follow up from visual introduction to the year.
A good bank of visual material is readily available, but can incorporate written sources.
Should students be given sample tasks before hand? Sample SACs?
Should task be set up to mirror similar style exam tasks? Number of questions? Length of responses? Time allocated?
Marking of short answer style tasks – How do allocated marks sit with set criteria?
How well does such a task equip students for the exam tasks if they tackle France as Revolution 1? Short answer and historiography tasks?
Increasingly there will be issues as to equity if students are exposed to large number of sample and real tasks. Some sources richer, more accessible than others. My view of exam preparation issue is that this is a good task to start with, build confidence with, and that last questions really develop short answer type responses for Revolution 1 in exam.

11. The research task –the nature of the task
To develop a research report but what that is in not prescribed.
Format can be developed by individual schools and teachers.
Although a research task, at least some of the write up needs to be done in class.
Format could incorporate a number of short answer type responses on a range of events to mirror exam short answer section for Revolution 1.
Alternatively, format could require an extended response to a more general question: “ in what ways and to what extent did (specific event/ leader/ idea/ movement) contribute to the development of the revolution/ impact on the nature of the nature of the new society/
Need to show knowledge of the ideas, movements, leaders and events that contributed to the development of the revolution/ the challenges facing the new society.
Need to incorporate analysis and synthesis of sources, consider a range of historians’ opinions
Assessment: No set requirements
Marking could incorporate the performance descriptors in the VCE Assessment Handbook in a rubric for global marking or they could be used in the formation of a number of questions that are then allocated numerical marks, as per the exam.
As with the analytical task, the task is not defined and can take many forms – short answers, annotated chronologies, essays. The amount of the task that is completed out of class is also not prescribed. Some teachers take the tack of students researching but writing up from notes to an unseen topic.

12. The research report – sample
Preparatory research task – The French Revolution Hall of Fame
SAC Research task on pivotal events
SAC 2 Unseen question - for SAC class write up
Feedback sheet Criteria turned into rubric
As with analytical exercise, students had a practice run with a smaller research task first, and to ensure equity an unseen topic was set for the write up day, but students could take in an A4 sheet of quotes and statistics.

13. The research report –considerations
A task where students can have some choice and freedom.
Need to ensure that there is enough research material available for the number of students.
Need to ensure topics are rich and allow for all to evaluate the issues and debates associated with them.
Need to ensure parity of topics.
Problems with plagiarism, potentially recycled topics?
How to balance need for research time with time constraints and the need for an outcome that is assessed in class.
There are issues as we move into a third year of this new study design, in terms of students recycling past tasks. Also issue with some topics allowing for more successful responses than others. Need to give students research time but also need to ensure no plagiarism.

14. The historiographical exercise – the nature of the task
To analyse written and/ or visual commentaries or interpretations.
Format can be developed by individual schools and teachers.
No requirement as to number of commentaries or interpretations used but value in contrast and comparison.
Format could mirror exam as a set of questions, building from low level comprehension to analysis and reflection with marks allocated accordingly.
Alternatively, format could require an extended response to a more general question: “What viewpoint(s) is evident in this source and how useful is it for understanding the development of the revolution/ the nature of the new society?”
Need to synthesise interpretations or commentaries to draw conclusions
Good for students to use a range to develop a response. Greater opportunity for evaluation.
Need to consider the range of historians’ opinions
Assessment: No set requirements
Marking could incorporate the performance descriptors in the VCE Assessment Handbook in a rubric for global marking or they could be used in the formation of questions that are then allocated numerical marks, as per the exam.
The historiographical exercise can include analysis and evaluation of a range of sources, both primary and secondary. Interpretation of what constitutes a commentary or interpretation is broad and worth considering.

15. The historiographical exercise – sample
A. Soboul (1964) The Parisian Sans Culottes and the French Revolution
Without the Parisian sans-culotterie, the bourgeoisie could not have triumphed in so radical a fashion. From 1789 to the Year II, the sans-culottes were used as an effective weapon of revolutionary combat and national defence. In 1793, the popular movement made possible the installation of the Revolutionary Government and consequently, the defeat of the counter-revolution in France, and the allied coalition in Europe. The success of the popular movement during the summer of 1793 led to the organisation of the Terror which struck such an irreparable blow to the old social order. In Year II, the shopkeeper and craftsman element of the sans-culotterie became the most effective weapon in the struggle for the destruction of outmoded methods of production and the social relationships founded upon them.
Identify two ways the sans culottes were used in the revolution, according to the author.
Identify and explain two outcomes of the revolution that the sans culottes contributed to, according to the author.
What is Soboul’s overall position on the role and contribution of the Sans Culottes in the French Revolution?
Explain the role of the sans culottes in the Terror period of the Revolution.
Explain the extent to which this provides a reliable view of the role and significance of the sans culottes for the revolution.
Commentaries and interpretations could include both historians opinions, as here, but also a range of primary viewpoints, as follows

16. The historiographical exercise – further sample
(a) On the 12 October, 1793, the convention decreed the destruction of the rebel city of Lyons and the setting up of a memorial with the inscription: ‘Lyons made war on Liberty, Lyons no longer exists.’
Ronsin, a représentant en mission, describes the role of the Revolutionary army of Paris:
The Revolutionary army entered that guilty city. Terror was painted on every brow and the complete silence that I have taken care to impose on our brave soldiers made their march even more menacing, more terrible…
The guillotine and the firing squad did justice to more than 400 rebels, but a new revolutionary commission has just been established consisting of five sans-culottes and in a few days the grapeshot fired by our cannoneers will deliver us in a single moment of more than 4,000 conspirators…The Republic has need of a great example – the Rhone reddened with blood must carry to its banks and to the sea the corpses of these cowards…
(b) Lapanche, another représentant en mission:
I have spoken of religion and all its mumbo-jumbo; I have spoken out against bad priests, I have crushed fanaticism and superstition, and, at my words, all the chapels, all the crosses, all the holy mangers and wooden and stone saints at the street corners have fallen; everything has been destroyed…
I have replaced district administration; it was bad.
I have replaced the judicial tribunal; it was made up of dusty old wigs. In the place of the old regime I have installed men of enlightenment and some sans-culottes…
I will root out fanaticism, I shall crush the aristocracy, I will bring about the triumph of the Montagnards, I shall tax the rich, and in the end I will enable the people to enjoy the advantages of liberty and equality.
Identify two goals or aims of the revolutionary army and the représentants en mission according to these extracts.
Identify and discuss two key ideals and values of these revolutionaries according to these extracts.
Identify and discuss two actions they were involved in according to these extracts.
Using your own knowledge explain the reasons for such revolutionary action.
How useful are these extracts in understanding the nature of new society in this period of the revolution?

17. The historiographical exercise – considerations
Need to consider what constitutes a commentary or interpretation. Could include material that would also be suitable for an analytical exercise if source was written.
Could include historians opinions as well as a range of primary viewpoints on the development of the revolution or the nature of the new society and the challenges it faced.
Exam sources have been broad ranging.
Need to consider the number of commentaries or interpretations to be included.
Exam historiography question most likely a written source (given that analytical section is likely to be visual) – Should this SAC task only involve the analysis and evaluation of a written source, or could visual sources also be included?
Should task involve evaluation of more than one source?
The range of sources that could be incorporated into such a task is broad. And consideration is necessary as to how many sources to include in such an exercise.

18. The essay – the nature of the task
To develop an argumentative extended response
Format can be developed by individual schools and teachers.
No set length.
Format could mirror exam essay questions, and thus would be a task linked to Area of Study 2, and a shorter length response.
If so, need to have knowledge of the ideas, movements, leaders and events of the later phase of the revolution.
Need to have analysed the challenges faced by the new society.
Need to have evaluated the degree to which the revolution brought changes and continuities.
Need to synthesise interpretations or commentaries to draw conclusions
Good for students to use a range to develop a response. Greater opportunity for evaluation.
Need to consider the range of historians’ opinions.
Task could be formulated as an extended response to a specific unseen question after general class preparation.
Students could be allowed to bring in a ‘fact sheet’ of useful quotes and statistics.
Assessment: No set requirements
Marking could incorporate the performance descriptors in the VCE Assessment Handbook in a rubric for global marking, as per research report sample.
Probably the most straight forward task of the 4. The main issue is how far to set up as an exam practise – many teachers seem to include this task as the last of the 4, so as to act as exam focus and practise. Seems to fit best with Area of Study 2, reviewing the progress and outcomes of the revolution.

19. The essay – sample questions
Discuss the extent to which the nature of political authority had been transformed by the revolution.
Discuss the extent to which the new revolutionary government achieved social change.
Discuss the nature and extent of economic change brought by the new revolutionary government.
‘In the face of crises and threats the revolutionary government was forced down a path of radicalism and violence.’ How accurate is this view?
‘The revolution brought about greater freedoms and an improved standard of living.’ To what extent do you agree with this view?
The revolution promised to create a new society. To what extent were the everyday lives of French people changed by the revolution?
Questions arise as to how far to support student with focused topics, ’fact sheets’ etc

20. The essay – considerations
To what extent should we prepare students for the topic area of task?
How long and how detailed should responses be, given brevity of exam responses?
How supported should students be in terms of ‘fact sheets’ etc? Is it ultimately helpful given the exam requirements?
How specific should questions be? Exam questions have been focused on an aspect of the new society.
Other issues include length and depth of discussion. Should topics be narrow in focus or broad?

21. Conclusions, issues and recommendations
Individual choice as to choice and order of tasks. Potential value in ensuring first task is simpler and more manageable at the start of the year.
Need to teach to the skills and knowledge base required for the exam but does it need to completely shape the nature and order of all SAC tasks?
Potential value in setting research task for a SAC light or exam period where students do not have classes?
Potential problems with equity across classrooms and schools in terms of conditions for the completion of the tasks – time allowed, support materials in the classroom, prior knowledge of topics etc.
It is beneficial to share the task design and marking processes with others. Sharing of samples, reviewing the success or limitations of tasks is valuable, as is cross marking.
Ultimately teachers and schools select the order and combination of SAC tasks for the year and for France. All are suitable to the French Revolution and the section of the exam paper that your students sit should come into SAC decision making. I cannot help but reiterate the benefits of sharing in networks and contact groups. I wish you all the best and thank you for your attention and contribution.

22. Thank you for your involvement and interest.
Robyn Ryan