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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Secondary education

A’level choice: Government & Politics

15 replies

Shimy · 09/02/2020 12:38

Is anyone’s dc doing the above for A’level? DS is thinking of choosing it as a fourth subject. How hard is it and is it well regarded?

DS wants to study Bus.Mgt, enjoys debates, current affairs etc and good at essay writing.

OP posts:

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Malbecfan · 09/02/2020 20:50

DD2 did it alongside Maths, Biology & Chemistry. She really enjoyed an essay-writing subject compared with her others. She entered a politics competition with 4 members of her group and won a trip to Parliament (on the day of the US election). She had a long talk with John Bercow and also visited the Supreme Court.

DD is studying sciences so it was more for interest and variety and didn't feature in her university offers, although she was offered a bursary if she achieved above a certain number of points and it definitely counted there. However, she is very politically engaged now and keen to express her views at the ballot box.

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Piggywaspushed · 09/02/2020 21:03

It's actually just called Politics now since the relaunch of new specs.

DS1 did it : it's a bit dry. Lots about parliamentary democracy and systems. Not much of the 'sexy' stuff: that said, he is doing a politics degree now!

What are the other three subjects?

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Piggywaspushed · 09/02/2020 21:04

Oh hi shimy. Only just noticed it was you !

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Shimy · 09/02/2020 22:33

Malbecfan Sounds like your Dd had an amazing time with it. DS would love to do something like enter a Politics competition, he’ll think it’s sooo cool!😃.

Piggy I get around a bit . At DS’s school it’s definitely called ‘govt & politics’, do you think perhaps that means they’re using the old syllabus? Wouldn’t put it past them. His other 3 are Biology, Georgraphy & Economics.

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Decorhate · 10/02/2020 07:27

Hi Shimy. My younger son is also planning on doing Politics A Level. He will also do Maths & Economics. His school is in a consortium for A Levels & will have to do Politics in one of the other schools.

I think it’s definitely called Politics now but in the results tables I’ve seen it’s still called Govt & Politics. Maybe just people still getting used to the change or having to compare data for the old & new version?

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MarchingFrogs · 10/02/2020 07:57

DD decided to do the A level having been introduced to our local Youth Council (where she held a committee position for a while during sixth form). She is now studying IR with French at university, with a possible view to going into teaching. Or trying for the FO.

Or something completely different.

Anyway, she did enjoy the A level.

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mimbleandlittlemy · 10/02/2020 08:42

Very popular subject at ds's school and certainly the most common combo is Politics plus History plus something, but there are several doing things like Maths, FM, Physics and Politics.

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Piggywaspushed · 10/02/2020 08:58

I doubt it shimy , they are probably just stuck in the past. They do that at DS school, too, sometimes. The name was changed to make it sound more academic, so I was told.

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Piggywaspushed · 10/02/2020 08:59

They sound like 4 good subjects to me.

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startalovetrain · 10/02/2020 09:28

I did it at A-level and loved it. Lots of lateral thinking and usually the class has different political backgrounds. We had a Middle Eastern lad who believed women shouldn't drive, and we had a girl on the other end of the scale with a polyamorous family. It's great for understanding different viewpoints and the history of Ireland and political systems etc.

It's very informative and there's usually a field trip to parliament as well!

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startalovetrain · 10/02/2020 09:28

Oh and I did Biology, Chemistry and English Lit and they all give different strengths

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Seeline · 10/02/2020 11:04

My DS is just finishing the course - definitely Gov/Pol for him.

He took it as his fourth subject, and ended up dropping one of the others as he was enjoying it so much. He has done the UK government - very lucky with the timing of his studies I think with Brexit and everything! Also some US, political thinking in other countries, and some ideologies - conservatism, feminism, Green etc.

They had a trip to the HoP, the Supreme Court and the Old Bailey. A couple of MPs have visited the school for discussions too. The school run a mock GE whilst the last GE was taking place with the Gov/Pol students representing different parties - held their own hustings etc.

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Piggywaspushed · 10/02/2020 11:09

It has been called Politics for four years now : honest! misses point of thread

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77seven · 10/02/2020 13:30

Hi OP, Politics, Geography and Economics go very well together and could lead to a degree in something like International Relations, etc. LSE has loads of courses for that kind of profile student. The only one he couldn’t study as a stand alone degree would be Economics, as most degrees require A-level Maths for that.
Not sure how the Biology really fits in, but if he likes it, he should do it.

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Shimy · 10/02/2020 14:37

This “Politics” A’level sounds so exciting I’m almost wishing I could take it. I’m starting to hope he likes it so much he ends up dropping Biology. There’s clearly a lot of overlap between them (except Biology of course) that will help with better framing each subject within context drawing ideas from all 3 subjects during exams. I know when ds1 was doing Economics they covered Brexit as well. We hadn’t really thought much about the “trips”, but now hoping they do some of those mentioned here at ds’s school.

Happy that he’s got a good range of subjects. He hands in his subject form today. Thanks all.