Politics

Overview Government & politics appeals to those who enjoy discussing and debating current affairs. It enhances pupils’ understanding of UK global political events, issues and institutions. The course helps develop communication skills and the ability to argue a case with relevance, clarity and coherence. In the Lower 6th students study UK Government & Politics, and 4 core political ideologies. The Upper 6th looks at Global Politics (International Relations). This examines key global political structures and systems, major issues in recent global politics and how these issues are dealt with at a global level.

Syllabus Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Politics (9PL0)

Course Aims The aims are to • learn to comprehend and interpret political information in relation to areas of UK Politics, global politics and core political ideas • develop the ability to fully understand and critically analyse, and evaluate all content • develop the ability to identify parallels, connections, similarities and differences between the content studied, providing a basis for comparing contemporary global issues, such as conflict, poverty, human rights and the environment and how these are affected by the content in each of the sections • develop the ability to construct and communicate arguments and explanations with relevance, clarity and coherence and draw reasoned conclusions about global politics • develop the ability to develop knowledge and understanding of key political concepts • develop the ability to use appropriate vocabulary

Course Content UK Politics and UK Government: 1. Democracy and participation 2. Political parties 3. Electoral systems 4. Voting behaviour and the media 5. The constitution 6. Parliament 7. Prime Minister and executive 8. Relationships between the branches

Political Ideologies 1. Conservatism: core ideas and principles 2. Differing views and tensions within conservatism 3. Conservative thinkers and their ideas 4. One other Ideology

Global Politics 1. The state and globalisation 2. Global governance: political and economic 3. Global governance: human rights and environmental 4. Power and developments 5. Regionalism and the European Union 6. Comparative theories

Assessment The course is assessed by three terminal examination papers at the end of the XX.

Exam Content: Specified content from the specification is examined in each paper. Question Style: 12, 24 and 30 mark extended writing answers Duration: 120 minutes per paper Marks: 84 per paper