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NSW Curriculum
NSW Education Standards Authority

11–12Modern History 11–12 Syllabus

Record of changes
Implementation from 2027
Expand for detailed implementation advice

Content

Year 12

Change in the modern world

Students investigate key features of the history of ONE of the following options, focusing on political and social change, and the role of individuals and groups.

The historical concepts and skills content is to be integrated as appropriate.

  • The Nuclear Age 1945–2021
  • Civil rights in the United States 1945–1972
  • The Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa 1948–1994
  • The struggle for democracy in Burma 1948–2021
  • From the Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square 1966–1989
  • The changing world order 1989–2016
The changing world order 1989–2016
Context
  • The Tiananmen Square protests

  • The fall of the Berlin Wall

  • The reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union and the role of Mikhail Gorbachev

Establishing the new world order 1989–2001
  • The aims and nature of American foreign policy

  • The role of United Nations peacekeeping in Yugoslavia 1991–1995 OR Rwanda 1993–1996 OR Somalia 1993

Challenges to the new world order 2001–2008
  • The rise of China

  • The nature of the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin

  • The impact and influence of non-state actors, including corporations, media organisations and terrorist groups

A ‘post-American’ world 2008–2016
  • The impact of the 2008 global financial crisis

  • Russian foreign policy, including the annexation of Crimea

  • Chinese foreign policy, including the Belt and Road Initiative

  • The rise of populism

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