A Level Course Listing
By choosing to study Politics you will acquire knowledge and understanding of political systems within our own, and other, societies. Studying the different levels and systems of government will facilitate the understanding of diverse political systems.
The British system of government will be examined by looking at its local, national and current European dimensions. This will include studying the essential characteristics and interrelationships of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary and examining voting structure, behaviour and participation; all whilst interpreting current political debate.
The understanding of our own system will be developed further by looking comparatively at the politics and government of another country – America. This study will be further enhanced through learning about political ideologies such as liberalism, conservatism and socialism, as well as a further ‘new’ ideology from a choice of feminism, nationalism, multiculturalism, ecologism or anarchism.
In taking A Level Politics, you will learn to interpret political information in a variety of forms such as, written, oral, visual and numerical. There will be the opportunity to debate and to make connections between the similarities and differences of the different political systems and political institutions studied.
Your understanding will be aided by the use of a variety of sources such as, journals, newspapers, television and internet. This will be further enhanced by a number of conferences and a trip to the Houses of Parliament. In a similar way to the study of History, Politics is essentially about the study of people and society, in this case past, present and future. It is about the responsibility of individuals.
Politics A Level encourages constructive argument through debate and also the discipline of creating concise, structured and analytical written responses to key political questions. Many students go on to study Politics or International Relations at university.
As citizens who are on the verge of gaining the right to vote, it is a subject that in our rapidly changing political world, is relevant to all students embarking on Sixth Form studies and as such is an ideal choice at A Level.
Examination board: AQA 7152
At least a grade 6 at GCSE (Politics, if studied), or at least a 6 in English Language or English Literature.
The A Level will be 100% final exam. You will sit three papers at the end of the course. Each paper is worth 33 1/3% of the final mark and are a combination of short, medium and essay based questions.
The government and politics of the UK.
The government and politics of the USA. Including a comparative element between the UK and the US systems of government with reference to the three theoretical approaches of rational, structural and cultural comparison.
Political ideologies. The traditions of liberalism, conservatism and socialism plus one further ideology from: feminism; nationalism; multiculturalism; ecologism or anarchism.