Social SciencesFreePrintable

Leadership Through History

A free social sciences worksheet ready for your classroom. Open in Kuraplan to grab the print-ready PDF, customize it for your students, or generate a fresh version in seconds.

Download now

Name:Date:

Leadership Through History

Read the short case studies, then use evidence to explore how leaders gained influence and how their decisions affected people. For open responses, answers may vary if they are supported by sound reasoning. Word bank: rangatira, march, petition, vote.

Three Aotearoa New Zealand case studies

Kate Sheppard helped organise the campaign for women’s suffrage in the 1890s. Supporters gathered signatures on a petition asking Parliament to give women the vote. In 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. The campaign depended on teamwork as well as prominent organisers. Te Rauparaha was a rangatira of Ngāti Toa Rangatira in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Rangatira held leadership through relationships, knowledge, mana and responsibilities to their people. Te Rauparaha led his iwi through periods of conflict and migration, and was involved in establishing Ngāti Toa’s influence in the lower North Island and at Kāpiti. His story also shows that leadership in times of conflict could bring serious consequences for other communities. Dame Whina Cooper was a respected Māori leader and advocate for Māori land rights. In 1975, aged 79, she led the Māori Land March from Te Hāpua to Parliament in Wellington. Marchers travelled for weeks to draw attention to the loss of Māori land and to call for its protection. Their action helped make land rights a major public issue, although the march did not immediately end land loss.

Read the evidence carefully

Historical accounts can emphasise different parts of a leader’s story. Consider who benefited, who was affected, and what changed over time.

1.Which leader’s influence depended most clearly on organising people to act together? Choose one and cite a detail from the case studies.

2.Match each leader with the leadership route or action most closely described.

Kate Sheppard
Te Rauparaha
Whina Cooper

Rangatira whose authority involved relationships, mana and responsibilities
Led a 1975 march advocating for Māori land rights
Organised a petition campaign for women’s voting rights

3.In 1893, what significant change did the suffrage campaign help achieve in New Zealand?

Women gained the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
Women gained the right to stand for Parliament.
All land loss ended.
Parliament was replaced by rangatira.

4.True or false: The Māori Land March immediately stopped the loss of Māori land. Use a detail from the case study to explain your choice.

5.Complete the sentence using the word bank in the instructions: Te Rauparaha held the role of a .

6.Complete the sentence using the word bank in the instructions: Whina Cooper led a public .

7.Compare Kate Sheppard’s campaign with Whina Cooper’s march. Give one similarity and one difference in how they tried to influence society.

8.The case study says Te Rauparaha’s leadership during conflict had consequences for other communities. Why is it important to consider people beyond a leader’s own supporters when judging historical leadership?

9.Which statement best explains how a leader’s influence can last beyond their lifetime?

Later people may continue to debate, build on, or respond to the changes and ideas associated with that leader.
Every decision made by a leader remains unchanged forever.
A leader’s influence matters only while they hold a formal position.
Historical leaders affect only people who lived at the same time.

10.Choose one of the three leaders. Make a claim about their impact, support it with two details from the case study, and explain one limitation or consequence that should also be considered.