Introduction
Politics appeals to students keen to understand more about current affairs, the British political system and how the global political system works. The Year 12 course concentrates on the British political system in terms 1 and 2, then in term 3 we analyse some core political ideologies and their development. In Year 13, we spend 2 terms exploring global politics in depth e.g. exploring themes such as the climate change emergency, increasing global instability and the increasing tensions between the USA, China, Russia and the EU.
Where does it lead?
The subject combines well with a wide range of other subjects and can lead to many post GCE opportunities in both higher education and employment in Law, the Civil Service, Journalism etc. At university, you can study for a Politics degree or one in International Relations/Global Politics, as well as related degrees such as Middle Eastern/Russian/Chinese studies, or PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics).
Course details
Year 12
We will explore how democracy works and fails to work in the UK and how the UK is governed. In term 3 we will start to study 3 political ideologies - namely Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism. This will briefly continue into the start of Year 13.
Year 13
The main focus of Year 13 Politics will be the analysis and evaluation of various aspects of the global political system and the many issues it faces regarding the economy, human rights, the environment and terrorism. We also explore ecologism as an ideology.
Assessment
Three 2-hour long papers, assessment is primarily through essays, with some questions being data-response in style.