Fiducia TogetherSignificance
Why something mattered — at the time, and since.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
A significance question asks how important an event, person or development was. Significance is not fixed: it depends on criteria and on when you ask.
Where it applies
GCSE and A Level history.
How it works
Useful criteria: how many people were affected, how deeply, how long the effects lasted, and whether it changed what came after. Significance can also be retrospective — something noticed later, or given meaning by later events.
How to use it in your work
State your criteria at the start. "Significant because it changed X for Y people over Z years" is an argument; "very significant" is not.
Distinguish short-term from long-term consequences and say so explicitly.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's specification — options differ enormously between centres, and yours is the one that counts. Bitesize covers the skills; the subject song runs the topics.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The History Song The GCSE history topics, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.