Labour Welfare Reforms essay tips

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Labour Welfare Reforms essay tips
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(No Transcript)
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Assess the impact of the welfare reforms of the
Labour Government on the lives of the British
people.
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What is the question asking you to do?

• Have to assess the impact of the welfare reforms
  on the British people. Did the reforms have a
  positive or negative impact of the lives of the
  British population?
• The word assess means that you have to examine
  each key reform area and arrive at a conclusion
  regarding their impact. Examine both positive and
  negative arguments.
• Timescale You need to examine the period
  1944-1951. Set the scene - why were the reforms
  introduced? Once this is done you can begin to
  examine each reform area.

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Essay Plan

• Line of Argument in essay How did the reforms
  help individual groups of people in Britain?
• Focus on the five giants want, disease,
  ignorance, squalor and idleness. How successful
  were the Reform Acts in solving these problems?
• Also examine/discuss individual groups - How did
  the Reforms help children, sick, those unable to
  work, people in poverty and those in poor
  housing? These are ideas that can be referred to
  in your essay.

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Introduction - General Ideas

• Your opening sentence should grab the attention
  of the marker straight away. Perhaps a key
  question or a quote. Something that highlights
  the aim of your essay and gives you the
  opportunity to refer back to.
• Outline how you are going to answer the question
  - What are your key arguments? Also aim to ask
  questions.
• Ensure that there is always a link to each
  paragraph - a statement or sentence.

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Introduction - Specific Ideas
Opening sentence some suggestions - Many
historians believe that the Labour Welfare
Reforms of 1945-51 enhanced the lives of the
British people. However, was this actually the
case? or This is the greatest advance in
our history. There can be no turning point. From
now on Beveridge is not the name of a man it is
the name of a way of life. (The Five Giants
by Nicholas Timmins)
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Introduction - Specific Ideas
Comment of the importance of this quote - it is
referring to the positive impact of the Welfare
Reforms. Create a line of argument using this
quote - were the Labour Welfare Reforms
successful in improving the lives of the British
public? Line of argument - create questions in
your introduction that can be argued/answered
later. Did the reforms manage to provide an
efficient health service? Link paragraphs - It is
clear to see that there are many arguments about
the reforms but why were they introduced?
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Main Body of Essay - General Ideas
Ensure that you always refer back to the question
- make sure you dont just tell the story of
the reforms - actually assess the impact they
had. Include detailed, specific evidence to
support the point/argument of the paragraph. Make
sure you include a topic sentence - what is the
key argument of this paragraph? Support your
points by referring to debates/references from
Historians. When planning your essay, note down
key quotes and debates. Again - make sure you
always provide a link to the next paragraph.
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Main Body of Essay - Specific Ideas - Paragraph
One

• Focus on why the reforms were introduced. Key
  argument idea - these are the problems the Labour
  Government had to deal with - were they
  successful in overcoming them?
• Public wanted social change after the war. Wanted
  to create a land fit for heroes. Evacuation
  illustrated serious health problems.
• These are the reasons why the reforms were
  introduced - refer to the question the scene was
  now set - would the government respond to these
  challenges?

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Main Body of Essay - Key points/Arguments

• Five Giants idea - want - this area was dealt
  with in the Beveridge Report of 1942 - British
  public had got what they wanted. Report sold
  636,000 copies - massive amount. This would be
  the foundations for the Labour Government

• This paragraph should focus on the idea of want
  - outline the principles of the Beveridge Report.
  Need to also examine the creation of a state
  insurance fund - social security, family
  allowances. How successful was the government in
  meeting the needs of those ill or injured?

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Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments
Paragraph should focus on

• Disease would be dealt with by the creation of a
  new Health Service.
• How successful was this new service in meeting
  the needs of the British public?
• Was a common standard of care throughout the
  country created?

• Did all medics co-operate with the new system?
• Were all the hospitals run and operated smoothly?
• Did the government underestimate the demands to
  be placed on this new service?

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Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments
Paragraph should focus on

• Idleness would be improved by the state aiming
  for full employment.
• What policies did the Government introduce to
  improve employment?
• Were they successful?

• Remember, higher number of workers were needed to
  pay contributions to the new Social Security
  System.
• Was this actually achieved?
• Remember, to keep linking paragraphs.

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Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments
Paragraph should focus on

• Ignorance would be dealt with by reforming the
  education system.
• What about children with no support or family?
• How successful was the 1944 Education Act?

• Were the prospects of the Working Class improved?
• Was there enough schools to implement this
  legislation?
• Did these reforms satisfy the demands of the
  public?

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Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments
Paragraph should focus on

• Were they successful in dealing with these
  problems?
• What acts were passed to deal with this shortage
  of housing?
• Were new towns created and the issue of
  overcrowding solved?

• Squalor was be tackled through a new
  house-building programme and a slum clearance
  scheme.
• What problems (lack of housing) did the new
  government inherit after the war?

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Main Body of Essay - Key Points/Arguments
Paragraph should focus on

• You can provide answers to the questions/arguments
  you should be creating in your essay.
• Have you linked paragraphs?
• Have you created a line of argument and not just
  told a story?

• Take two paragraphs to focus on summarising how
  the reforms helped (if they did) individual
  groups.
• Refer back to the plan to remind yourself of the
  individual groups.

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Conclusion - General Points

• Make sure the conclusion always refers back to
  the question (you should be always doing this in
  the main body of your essay anyway).
• Make sure it does answer the question and wraps
  up all the key points.

• Despite these charges, the achievement of the
  Labour government 1945-51 was considerable, The
  NHS was the envy of the world and Labour could
  justifiably claim that people were cared for
  from the cradle to the grave.

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Conclusion - General Points

• There you go - that is an ending for the
  conclusion - try to fill in the rest of the
  conclusion.