Politics A-levels

[OliviaSmiles]

DS is considering choosing Politics as one of his A-levels. The trouble is, he’s not particularly well-informed about current affairs at the moment, nor is he interested in reading much around the subject.

If your DC has recently studied A-level Politics, did they enjoy it? What were their general interests like beforehand? I'm also curious about A-level History I've heard it can sometimes feel a bit dry or tedious. Has anyone had any experience with this that they’d be willing to share?

DD did it and really enjoyed it, however she (and her classmates) had a really keen interest in current + foreign affairs even before they started the course. DD was always keen to watch the news etc from quite a young age.

Based on what you’ve said I don’t think it would be a very good fit for your DS - a general interest + good knowledge of current affairs is honestly really essential for the course and exams.

DS did History and Politics and loved both - he is now doing them as a degree. He has always been interested in politics though and has loved everything historical since his Playmobil castle! A lot depends on the course and the content. Some repeat what is done at GCSE and some do something different.

I teach Politics and History. The content for Politics is not that conceptually difficult, but they really do need to have an interest in current affairs, and be willing/keen to keep up with the news. Exam questions are quite topical and they can use any example up to something which happened yesterday.

The content for History is enormous and the subject is conceptually difficult but obviously I don't think it's boring at all!

As an experienced Politics teacher, I have seen students start the course in Year 12 with practically zero political interest (they chose the subject mostly because they didn't know what else to do and/or didn't do well in subjects at GCSE level and wanted to give a new subject a go) and students who have been politically interested for years. Those with no interest can go on to do very well - A*s etc. The key, I tell them, is that they need to be willing to engage politically from the start of the course. If your son is willing to read the news (UK politics in the first year) and take an interest, it might be something he learns to enjoy, as he matures through the Sixth Form. Many of my least interested pupils have developed a love of the subject and gone on to study it at degree level.

Ds has done history and politics A levels, is currently mid exams, and is planning to study politics and international relations for his degree. He’s definitely needed to have an interest in current affairs, he watches PMQs and every televised debate in the HoC and listens to politics podcasts constantly. It’s helped him answer many a mock exam question so far by providing current context. He has enjoyed history to a degree, he’s only really into the political side of modern history, so while some of the history syllabus has complemented his politics course really well he found the Anglo-Saxon history hard going. He did enjoy being able to choose his own topic for the coursework element of history as he could learn more about something he was interested in that also had a political element. He’s always had an interest in politics and is planning on eventually working in that field though.

When one of my DC was considering Politics A level, I paid for them to buy a GCP course guide for the appropriate exam board and encouraged them to download a recent set of past papers. This helped them understand what was actually to be studied (eg quite a lot on constitutional structures and workings) and the style and format of exam questions. It moved the decision-making concerning course selection onto a more tangible footing.

Our eldest has always had an interest in history (the political warfare geopolitics bits), the psychology of power, keeps popping in to tell us various current affairs news items, loves us all reading and discussing the newspaper, and laps up Have I Got News For You and squeaks when there is a new episode of Last Week Tonight on (we are working our way through the back catalogue which isn’t a bad thing)

I pointed all this out and said “a lot of your interests line up with politics as a subject”

He went on his desired 6th form website immediately looked at the syllabus and wanted to email them then and there to ask them if he could take it as a 4th A level subject

We suggested there is plenty of time after results day to thrash this out. But it does aline with his “hobby subjects to discuss”.

DD did Politics, English lit and History. They all tied together really well. Politics was the wild card but she ended up loving it and then onto Uni to do a degree and is just about to graduate and has a graduate Government role. I don't think she was particularly up with current affairs but soon started to get into reading more once the course started.

It’s good to hear that so many students really enjoyed the subject! I appreciate that while some may not have had much prior knowledge of current affairs, many clearly did.

For those whose children were already well-versed in current events did you purchase any subscriptions, such as to The Times or similar publications? And out of curiosity, did your dc tend to watch or read the news independently, perhaps on catch-up or online, or was it something you did together as a family? Are there any good book that could help ds figure out if politics is for him? He is also interested in psychology and perhaps philosophy. In terms of possible future careers he would not be interest in a civil service job or government type work at all. He knows he's going to do maths as one of his a-levels and has also been wondering about doing economics.

That's a good approach @frozendaisy

@OliviaSmiles
We (well me really) get a Saturday guardian delivered, and the guardian weekly magazine, we have had The Week junior delivered since eldest was about 7 and have recently switched to The Week.
He gets news via his phone (the teenage way) and we sometimes buy a weekend Times (but we find it difficult to support the Murdoch clan), The Telegraph has been winding me up recently (a whole separate post) and the Daily Mail is comic book (but influential) - shame The Independent isn’t what it was!

The Economist is usually interesting but we don’t subscribe (yet) but it has interesting in depth articles on politics and money.

DD got involved in the local Youth Council in about year 10, initially through being dragged along by a friend, but then ended up with a committee rôle. She took English Literature, Politics and French at A level. BA IR with French at Birmingham, then a sort of gap year before moving to Leeds for the LLM International Law and Global Governance. She is currently applying for PhDs and considering the possibility of an (unpaid) internship. In Ecuador. (I'm trying to come over as appropriately enthusiastic and encouraging about that bit. She is rather more adventurous than her brothers. Or her parents).

I'm not at all sure where this will ultimately lead her, career-wise, though, but she can always go back to being a lifeguard.

We didn’t get any subscriptions, beyond our regular Netflix, Prime and Disney+ (all of which he’s accessed political documentaries on) but, as a family we tend to take an interest anyway. His sixth form college gives him access to newspapers and journals through their library, and he signed up for a British Library membership during GCSEs. History and politics are very popular choices together, nearly all of ds’s politics class are also in his history class, sociology and English lit are probably most popular among those not doing history

I wouldn't worry about any subscriptions, but would recommend they read the BBC news website (politics section more than they might otherwise) and listen to as many podcasts as they can - financial times, rest is politics, whichever really. I saw a 12 year old the other day in the playground reading a copy of private eye and thought, "I wish all my students did that!" If they are doing the global route in Year 13 reading the economist is ideal, and the economist daily podcast. I don't teach the US stuff but it's more common for schools to do this, and they might benefit from a subscription to a US newspaper.

What you can really help with is encouraging them to read media with a critical eye and discussion the news with them and how events are reported - terrifying how many of them take newspapers completely at face value, politics does help with this!

DS was obsessed with question time from about the age of 7 - I had to record it for him.

I did Politics A Level back in the 90s and loved it. Even got to do work experience in the House of Commons at the time that John Major resigned, it was brilliant. I did watch the news and was interested in current affairs. I did it with Economics and English Lit. Ended up doing a Politics degree at Bristol and then the Law Conversion and I always felt that the politics a level was a good start into this.
I’m 47 now and still love politics, history etc!