About this unit

This unit centres on life in Britain at the 1953 coronation and how people at the time looked back to the reign of Elizabeth I.

While factual knowledge of both late 1940's - early 1950's British life and the reign of Elizabeth I are an essential component, the main focus is for pupils to decide how and why some British people in 1953 called themselves new Elizabethans, drawing on positive aspects of the old Elizabethan period.

 

 

 

This unit was originally taught in a day of school time but could also be taught across a sequence of lessons. There is scope to adjust some of the teaching activities to take account of time constraints in different schools.

 

Expectations

By the end of this unit

Most pupils will have: appreciated that in some specific ways Cecil Beaton's 1953 coronation photograph of Elizabeth II borrowed from the coronation portrait of Elizabeth I; identified negative and positive aspects of British life in the late 1940's - early 1950's, devising suitable adjectives to describe the aspects; plotted these aspects of life in the period on a timeline, justifying the positioning of each aspect against given criteria; decided how people might have felt at the 1953 coronation, drawing on their knowledge of the period; appreciated that the Elizabethan period can be interpreted in a number of ways, referring to specific evidential information to support their point; understood how and why the new Elizabethans would have chosen to interpret the earlier period; selected arguments and deployed information to produce a coronation mug for 1953, justifying clearly the choice of images most linking the new and old Elizabethans.

Some pupils will not have made so much progress and will have: appreciated in general terms that Cecil Beaton's 1953 coronation photograph of Elizabeth II borrowed from the coronation portrait of Elizabeth I; identified some negative and positive aspects of British life in the late 1940's - early 1950's, and plotted these aspects of life in the period on a timeline; decided how people might have felt at the 1953 coronation; appreciated that the Elizabethan period can be interpreted both negatively and positively; understood that the new Elizabethans wanted to borrow events from the earlier period; produced a coronation mug from 1953, using both new and old Elizabethan images.

Some pupils will have progressed further and will have: appreciated that in both form and details Cecil Beaton's 1953 photograph of Elizabeth II borrows heavily from the coronation portrait of Elizabeth I; identified negative and positive aspects of British life in the late 1940's - early 1950's, selecting highly effective adjectives for these aspects and justifying their choice of image to best illustrate them; plotted these aspects of life in the period on a timeline, fluently justifying the position of each aspect against given criteria; decided how British people might have felt at the 1953 coronation, drawing in some depth on their knowledge of the period; appreciated that the Elizabethan period can be interpreted in a variety of ways, referring to much evidential information to support this point; understood how and why in a sophisticated way the new Elizabethans would have chosen to interpret the earlier period; selected, organised and deployed information to produce a coronation mug for 1953, subtly justifying the choice of images made linking the new and old Elizabethans.

 

Prior Learning

It is helpful if pupils:

• have studied an overview of Britain since 1930 and some aspects of the reign of Elizabeth I before completing this unit.
• are familiar with the idea that historical interpretations can vary depending on their purpose and audience e.g. film, documentaries etc.

 

Resources include:

• An image of the coronation portrait of Elizabeth I.
   
• An image of the 1953 coronation photograph of Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton.
   
• Sets of cards on aspects of live in late 1940's to early 1950's Britain and the Elizabethan period.
   
• An archive clip of the 1953 coronation.
   
• Images of both periods.