Politics A Level
Course Overview
According to Edmund Burke MP (1729-1797), society is a partnership ‘...between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are yet to be born’. He believed it was vital that knowledge was passed down to different generations. Politics A Level will allow you to understand and engage with the world around you whilst understanding how we got to where we are. There has never been a more important time to study Politics.
How does the UK government differ from other democratic and non-democratic countries? How well are rights protected in the UK and USA? Vital questions about how democracy functions in the UK and USA and what powers are held by those who govern us are just small parts of the course, alongside wider ideas such as Liberalism, Socialism, Nationalism and Conservatism that have shaped the modern world in both positive and negative ways.
Across both years of the course, we will study political ideologies and both UK and US Politics and government, covering democracy, political parties, pressure groups and electoral systems alongside the UK and US Constitutions, Parliament and Congress, Prime Minister and President, as well as rights and the role played by the Supreme Courts. We will study how these systems emerged and how they have changed with recent challenges.
You will have the opportunity to attend a range of trips, talks and workshops, including visiting speakers. This past year, these included talks by local MPs Charlotte Cane and Pippa Heylings, alongside a virtual exchange with American students from Troy High School in Michigan and meeting Bobby Dean MP along with our partners at Colchester. Earlier this year, Politics students visited Paris where they focused on a case study on nationalism in France and how power uses art.
This is an excellent subject for anyone looking to study Politics, History, Law or Economics at university and opens doors to career paths in law, journalism, local government or the wider civil service.
Year 1 Modules
- Politics and Government of the UK
- Politics and Government of the USA and Comparative Politics
- Political Ideas
Year 2 Modules
- Politics and Government of the UK
- Politics and Government of the USA and Comparative Politics
- Political Ideas
Key Info
Minimum Entry Requirements
- Five GCSEs at Grade 5 including:
- Grade 5 in GCSE English Language
- Grade 5 in another GCSE Humanities subject (e.g. GCSE History, GCSE Religious Studies, GCSE Sociology)
- Grade 4 in GCSE Maths
Assessment
- 100% Exam
- Exam Board: AQA
Why choose this course?
You will enjoy this course if you enjoy reading and learning the historical and political context around the theory and practise of how the UK and USA are governed and how the UK system can be compared to that of the USA in terms of democracy, the distribution of power and the protection of rights. Additionally, you will enjoy Politics if you are interested in current affairs and reading around ideas relating to how societies should and could be organised and how conservatives, socialists, liberals, and nationalists differ from each other on such fundamental themes, including the state, the economy and society.
Over the past few years, the Politics department has welcomed local MPs Daniel Zeichner, Charlotte Cane and Pippa Heylings as well as former MPs Lucy Frazer and Anthony Browne. We have also met with Bobby Dean MP in Colchester and Lord Balfe. The department has a link with the History and Politics team at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, and students have attended several talks held by the college involving veteran MP Diane Abbot and journalists Isabel Hardman and James Bloodworth. It is hoped that it will be possible at some stage to visit Washington DC.
Skills you'll gain
In A Level Politics, you will gain vital skills in researching, wider reading, analytical thinking and answering questions on topics as varied as the nature of modern democracy, the powers and role of Parliament in the UK, the Prime Minister, the protection of racial minorities in the USA and the extent to which humans are naturally selfish or co-operative.
You will gain confidence in reading, essay writing, source questions and how to answer political questions by carefully considering the evidence and coming to balanced and substantial judgements.
After Long Road
Politics students can go forward to study at university with several options open to them, including Politics, Politics and International Relations, History and Law, as well as Politics studied alongside a foreign language. Recent students have progressed to study Politics at UEA, History at the University of Birmingham and Philosophy and Politics at the University of Liverpool.
The subject is a useful A level for those wishing to progress onto further studies in History, Law, Economics or Sociology and the skills developed throughout the course would be a benefit to students wishing to work in law, journalism, local government or the wider civil service.
Politics allows students to understand both the ins and outs of how our government works and what our involvement means living in a democracy. Every lesson is varied and having a good teacher makes it worthwhile.
