The Three-Day Week & Industrial Unrest

Active learning helps students grasp the complexity of the Three-Day Week and industrial unrest by moving beyond textbook summaries. Students confront primary sources, spatial data, and ethical debates that make the human impact of systemic racism and economic inequality tangible.

• Year 13
• History
• 3 activities
• 30 min–50 min

Learning Objectives

1. Analyze the primary economic and political factors that led to the 1973 oil crisis and subsequent industrial disputes.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of the Heath government's response to the miners' strike and the implementation of the Three-Day Week.
3. Compare the industrial relations strategies of trade unions and government policies during the 1970s.
4. Explain the short-term consequences of the Three-Day Week on British industry and daily life.
5. Critique the argument that the industrial unrest of the 1970s directly paved the way for the Conservative Party's electoral success in 1979.

Inquiry Circle

⏱ 50 min·Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Kerner Commission Report

Groups are assigned specific sections of the 1968 report (e.g., on housing, policing, or the media). They must summarise the Commission's findings on the 'root causes' of the unrest and present whether they think the government's response was adequate.

Prepare & details

Analyze how the economic and political crises of the late 1970s created the conditions for Thatcher's electoral victory in 1979.

Facilitation Tip: During Collaborative Investigation, assign each small group one section of the Kerner Commission report to analyze and present to the class, ensuring accountability for close reading.

Setup: Groups at tables with access to source materials

Materials: Source material collection, Inquiry cycle worksheet, Question generation protocol, Findings presentation template

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Think-Pair-Share

⏱ 30 min·Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Riot or Rebellion?

Students look at how different newspapers (Black-owned vs. white-owned) described the events in Watts or Detroit. They discuss in pairs how the choice of words like 'riot', 'uprising', or 'rebellion' reflects different political perspectives and affects public perception.

Prepare & details

Evaluate the extent to which Thatcherism represented a fundamental and ideological break with the post-war political consensus.

Facilitation Tip: Use Think-Pair-Share to structure the ‘Riot or Rebellion?’ debate, first giving students quiet time to process their initial reactions before discussion.

Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor

Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Stations Rotation

⏱ 45 min·Small Groups

Stations Rotation: The Geography of Discontent

Stations feature maps of 'redlining' in cities like Chicago and Detroit, alongside data on unemployment and police incidents. Students rotate to build a 'profile' of the conditions that led to the 1967 'Long Hot Summer'.

Prepare & details

Assess the long-term social and economic consequences of Conservative government policy in Britain between 1979 and 1990.

Facilitation Tip: For Station Rotation, place maps and short primary sources at each station to ground the discussion of geography and unrest in concrete evidence.

Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room

Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Teaching This Topic

Teach this topic through layered inquiry: start with the Kerner Commission as a primary text to ground students in the voices of the era, then use geographic and economic data to show how place shaped the unrest. Avoid framing the events as isolated riots; instead, connect them to the broader civil rights movement’s evolution. Research shows that students grasp systemic causes better when they analyze spatial patterns and policy documents together.

What to Expect

By the end of these activities, students will articulate the shift from civil rights to economic justice and evaluate the Kerner Commission’s warning about ‘two societies.’ They will also practice distinguishing between political protest and sensationalized violence in historical accounts.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Collaborative Investigation: The Three-Day Week report was just senseless violence by ‘hoodlums’.

What to Teach Instead

During Collaborative Investigation, have students highlight passages from the Kerner Commission report that describe the causes of unrest, such as police brutality and economic exclusion. Ask groups to share one quote that reframes the events as protest rather than disorder.

Common Misconception

During Station Rotation: The civil rights movement ‘ended’ with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

What to Teach Instead

During Station Rotation, provide a timeline at each station that extends beyond 1965, including the Memphis sanitation strike and the Poor People’s Campaign. Ask students to note how the geography and focus of the movement changed after 1965.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

After Collaborative Investigation, present students with a short primary source quote from a 1974 newspaper article about urban unrest. Ask them to identify two specific challenges faced by the government or the public as described in the text and explain their significance.

Discussion Prompt

During Think-Pair-Share: Riot or Rebellion?, facilitate a class debate on the effectiveness of the Three-Day Week as a response to industrial unrest. Encourage students to use evidence from the station rotation maps or the Kerner Commission report to support their arguments.

Exit Ticket

After Station Rotation: The Geography of Discontent, ask students to write down one cause of the industrial unrest in the early 1970s and one immediate consequence of the Three-Day Week. They should then briefly explain the link between the cause and the consequence.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge early finishers to draft a letter to a 1968 newspaper editor arguing whether the Kerner Commission’s recommendations were feasible, citing evidence from the report.
• Scaffolding: Provide sentence stems for students struggling with the ‘Riot or Rebellion?’ prompt, such as ‘One piece of evidence that suggests this was a rebellion is…’
• Deeper exploration: Invite students to compare the Kerner Commission’s findings with a modern report on racial disparities (e.g., 2020’s ‘Our Common Struggle’) to evaluate progress or stagnation.

Key Vocabulary

Three-Day Week	A government-imposed measure in 1974 that restricted businesses to operating on only three days a week to conserve electricity during a national energy crisis.
Miners' Strike (1973-1974)	A major industrial action by the National Union of Mineworkers that significantly disrupted coal supplies and contributed to the energy crisis and the fall of the Heath government.
In Place of Strife	A proposed white paper by the Labour government in 1969 aimed at reforming industrial relations and limiting strike action, which ultimately failed due to internal party opposition.
Winter of Discontent	A period in the winter of 1978-1979 characterized by widespread strikes across various public sectors, which severely damaged the Labour government's authority and public confidence.
Public Sector Strike	Industrial action taken by workers in government-funded services, such as healthcare, education, and transport, often leading to significant public disruption.