Politics

In the first year you will study UK Government and Politics and key ideas, including:

• Constitution and the impact of devolution
• How effective is Parliament?
• Powers, constraints and effectiveness of different Prime Ministers
• Pressure Groups and enhancing civil liberties
• Ideas and policies of the main political parties
• Elections and voting behaviour
• The core ideologies of Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism and the non-core ideology of Feminism along with the key thinkers associated with these ideas.

In the second year you will study Global Politics:

• Theories of global politics – Realism and Liberalism
• The state and globalisation – Nation-state and national sovereignty and the implications of it
• Global governance: political – The UN and NATO, economic – international trade, poverty and development, human rights – Humanitarian intervention and international low and environmental – climate and the Paris Summit
• Power and developments – Different types of global power and the changing balance of it
• Regionalism and the EU – Why a European Union? Regionalism and global issues

What will I be taught?

Every student is given a booklet for each unit of the course. There are a variety of different resources used in order for you to deepen your understanding in class, including dedicated articles from the Political Review magazine, documentaries on Prime Ministers and the inner working of Parliament, YouTube videos and podcasts. Some use of textbooks and using recent political developments are also used to help develop your understanding. It is important that you have good written skills as you will do exam practice questions on a regular basis too.

Classroom activities will include:

• Multiple choice quizzes
• Classroom based discussions based off previous reading
• Timed essay-based work
• Analysing recent political developments
• Mixture of group and individual based work

Based on research into how students learn best, each subject will set independent work to allow you to recap what you have done in the past, consolidate understanding for what you are studying in the present and develop the skills and experiences which will help you for the future. You can read more about the college’s approach to independent study here

The Past
Click here for the suggested ongoing revision activities in this subject which research has shown are most likely to boost your achievement

The Present
Each subject will set weekly homework tasks to help you consolidate your understanding and prepare for your next lesson. This work is typically set through Microsoft Teams, so you will have an electronic log of all your work, notes and feedback.

The Future
A key part of your independent work in this subject will be to prepare for a range of potential jobs and higher education courses when you leave us. To get started, look below at the top higher education courses and jobs which previous students of this course have gone on to do.

Government and Politics helps you to develop skills in analysis and evaluative written work which are useful for a wide range of careers and future courses. As well as going into politics (either as a politician, researcher or lobbyist) many former students have gone on to study History, Politics and International Relations, Law, Economics and Sociology at a number of prestigious universities including Durham, Oxford, Nottingham, Leeds and Sheffield.