Issue 2: Liberal Reforms

Lesson starter:What were the main problems facing British society in the 1900s?

Do any of those problems still exist today?

Today we will…

• Examine the reforms that were put in place to help the young, the old, the sick and the unemployed.

• Assess the usefulness of a source about government attitudes to reforms.

I can…

• Describe the reforms that were put in place to help the young, the old, the sick and the unemployed.

• Complete a National 5 ‘How Useful’ Question on government attitudes to reforms.

Task One – Information Gathering Relay

• Take a double page and copy the following table into your jotter:

Group targeted

Name of the Act

Details of the Act

Positive Impact of the Act

Negative Impact of the Act

Task One – Information Gathering Relay

• At the four corners of the room is information regarding the Liberal Reforms and how they affected the four main groups – The Young, The Old, The Sick and The Unemployed.

• Each group needs to fill their table with the relevant information for each.

• You will do this in the form of a relay – for each group, one person will go up to the information sheet and remember a piece of information, then return to their group and tell the rest of the group so they can fill in their table.

• Every one on the table needs to take their turn to go up to the information.

National 5 QuestionSource A is from a speech made by David Lloyd

George in 1908

“The Old Age Pension Act is just the beginning of things. We are still confronted with the more gigantic task of dealing with the sick, the infirm, the unemployed, the windows and the orphans. No country can be called civilised that allows them to starve. Starvation is a punishment that society has ceased to inflict for centuries on its worst criminals, and at its most barbarous stage humanity never starved the children of the criminal.”

1. How useful is Source A as evidence of government attitudes to social reforms?

5 marks

How useful questions How useful questions Remember…Remember…

The source is useful to some extent…Provenance – worth 2 marks• Who wrote the source and why does that make

it useful?• When was the source written and why does

that make it useful?• Why was the source written?Content – worth 2 marks• Describe what the source tells usRecall – worth 2 marks• Describe what the source doesn’t tell us on the

topic (your own knowledge)

Model Answer: Peer/ Self Model Answer: Peer/ Self AssessAssess

The source is useful to some extent. The source is from a speech by David Lloyd George who was in government at the time of the Liberal Reforms. It was written in 1908 which was when the Pension Act was introduced. It was written to tell us about the government’s attitude to Old Age Pension Act.

The source tells us that the Old Age Pension Act was one of the first acts to be introduced as the government knew that poverty caused ill health in older people. The source also goes on to talk about how more help needs to be introduced to help “the unemployed, the widows and the orphans.”

The source doesn’t tell us that the age set for people to receive the Old Age Pension was 70 years old and most people did not live that long. It also does not tell us about the strict laws about who could claim the pension and how people could not claim it if they had claimed the Poor Law in the last ten years.

OverviewOpinions on the success of the Liberal

reforms are varied. Some people believe that the Liberal

Reforms were the starting point for further reform and they laid the foundations for the Welfare State under Labour.

Other people believe that their aims were limited. They did not achieve a great deal and did nothing to tackle ‘education’ or ‘housing’. Overall, the impact was limited.

Winston’s Opinion

“If we see a drowning man we do not drag

him to the shore. Instead we provide help

to allow him to swim ashore.”

How does this quote reflect the Liberal’s attitudes towards the Liberal Reforms?

Today we will…

• Examine the reforms that were put in place to help the young, the old, the sick and the unemployed.

• Assess the usefulness of a source about government attitudes to reforms.

I can…

• Describe the reforms that were put in place to help the young, the old, the sick and the unemployed.

• Complete a National 5 ‘How Useful’ Question on government attitudes to reforms.