Politics Curriculum Map

Intent 

Politics is an engaging course where students learn about, discuss and debate current affairs and issues that are in the news that effect the running of our country. Students learn about the essence of democracy, how political parties operate, how the country is governed and how the law courts work. An appreciation of how different political systems are run is developed, as UK politics is then compared to American politics. The different political ideologies are also taught, providing historical context and then detailed analysis of each mainstream political school of thought, along with a non-mainstream one also. 

Implementation 

Students are taught two units simultaneously in Year 12 about UK Politics. The first unit is about UK Politics, which covers democracy, elections, political parties and the role of the media. The ideologies of conservatism, liberalism and socialism are also covered. The second unit is about governing the UK, which looks at the UK Constitution, Parliament, the Prime Minister and the Judiciary. The non-mainstream ideology of anarchism is covered in this unit. In Year 13, students learn about American politics, including the US Constitution, Congress, the Presidency, the Supreme Court and the political parties. There are debate lessons, discussion on articles and news events and visits to Parliament and MP visits to school to enrich the course. 

Impact 

Over the course of the two years, students build up detailed knowledge to be able to explain political features of the UK and USA and analyse different sides of an argument, then form conclusions. They can evaluate different political information from a range of sources and compare and contrast the political systems of the two countries.