For Key Stage 3: Women and the Spanish Civil War

Welcome to an IBMT teaching resource pack. Here you will find a four-lesson unit on the role of women during the Spanish Civil War to complement the other teaching resource on the International Brigades that can also be found on this website under the title ‘Why did so many people volunteer to fight in the Spanish Civil War?’.

The unit and resources are aimed at Year 9 students in Key Stage 3. They are designed to be as straightforward and adaptable as possible, so that teachers can modify them to the needs of their own students and curricula.

We hope you make use of both these units of study on the Spanish Civil War.

Here you can download these seven teaching resources:

1/ Four lesson plans (8 pages).

2/ A 2-page Teacher Reading guide with background on key themes, events and individuals.

3/ A 29-slide PowerPoint presentation to be used over three lessons.

4/ A 3-page Knowledge Organiser chart with key words, events and dates from the PowerPoint presentation above.

5/ A 4-page glossary of mini Biographies, mainly, but not exclusively of British women who volunteered to support the Spanish Republic.

6/ A 3-page Historical Enquiry Document, containing sources and questions suitable for an end of unit assessment.

7/ A 3-page Historical Enquiry Mark Scheme.

Why this topic? The International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War is an inspiring and engaging topic to teach that allows pupils to explore an oft-overlooked aspect of 20th century history. The role of women in the civil war has generally been overlooked by historians, with some notable exceptions such as Angela Jackson and Linda Palfreeman.

Thematically, many curricula neglect women’s history. At the same time, this unit is designed to provide a valuable bridge between topics studied in many schools in Key Stage 3.

The Spanish Civil War is a topic rarely taught in secondary schools, being overshadowed by the two world wars of the 20th century and the rise of fascism and Nazism. However, by studying the civil war we can reach a better understanding of the crisis European democracies faced in the 1930s and shine a light on their reluctance to intervene to defend the democratically elected government of the Spanish Republic.

Social and economic changes during the inter-war period resulted in women achieving suffrage as well as increasing numbers of women entering the workforce.

The changing status of women is well illustrated by the variety of roles volunteers carried out during the Spanish Civil War, which included nursing, administrators, fund raisers, campaign organisers and in some cases fighters. The resources provided will hopefully guide your students to reach a better understanding of this important but often neglected event in British and European history.

The PowerPoint provided is designed to show that women who volunteered for Spain found themselves in many different roles, often at great personal risk. It is also our intention to emphasise that the struggle to support the Spanish Republic took place not only in Spain but in the country of origin of the volunteers. Women were successfully involved in campaigning and fund-raising in Britain through organisations such as the Spanish Medical Aid Committee under the umbrella of the Joint Committee for Spanish Relief.

The Historical Enquiry Booklet is designed to test the skills and knowledge of your students. In addition to understanding causation, students will also be asked to compare sources and comment on their usefulness and reliability. The final extended task is an opportunity for students to demonstrate everything they have learnt about the topic, using all the available sources, the Knowledge Organiser and any additional resources you may wish to provide.

SEND and differentiation

We hope that your students find the materials accessible but understand that they will not always meet the needs of every learner. Please feel free to adapt these materials where you feel it’s appropriate.

We sincerely hope that teachers will find these resources useful and that students will be engaged by the many stories of women’s roles during the Spanish Civil War. All lessons are timed to be just under an hour, but we understand times of the school day may vary.