A-Level Politics Bridging Course Welcome to A-Level Politics! In this age of widespread misinformation and political polarisation, there has never been a better time to study in Politics. Over the two year course you will study and compare politics in the UK and US as well as learning about the development of dominant political ideas. Meet the team: If you have any questions about A-Level Politics, please don’t hesitate to send us a question via email. Mr Crabtree j.crabtree@huntington- ed.org.uk Mrs Wood k.wood@huntington- ed.org.uk A-Level Politics – Bridging Course The aim of this course is to give you a taster of some of the main ideas and processes involved with UK Politics. 1) Keeping on top of the news - One of the most important aspects of the course will be following politics in the news and being able to apply news stories to the topics we cover. Therefore, one really useful activity would be to keep a regular weekly journal of UK news stories using the resource provided. 2) 2019 UK General Election case study – In 2019, UK voters went to the polls in surprise ‘snap election’. We will make regular reference to this election over the course of the A-Level. Follow the instructions on the sheet to complete your case study and gain a good background understanding to the election. 3) ‘Left or Right’ – Visit https://uk.isidewith.com/ Take the quiz to find out more about your own political opinions. 4) What do UK parties stand for? In the build up to the 2019 election, the political parties wrote manifestoes – a list of things they would promise to deliver if elected in to government. Follow the instructions on the sheet and gain a good background knowledge to the kind of things each party currently stands for. 5) Who’s who? Use the following link to create profiles of the main members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49043973 Recommended resources: A-Level Politics – Recommended reading and resources Online news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news https://www.theguardian.com/uk https://www.independent.co.uk/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ TV: Channel 4 News – Channel 4 – Monday-Friday 7pm Question Time – BBC ONE – Thursday 10:45pm Andrew Marr – BBC ONE – Sunday 9am Podcasts: The A-Level Politics Show (Spotify) Keeping on top of the news Record interesting headlines and then make a summary of the main political news stories of the week. Look out for new ideas suggested by the prime minister and the government including in relation to the current public health crisis, responses and ideas from other UK political parties, protests and evidence of people participating in politics, findings from polls and surveys and the way the media shapes UK politics. It is also worth keeping on top of the main headlines coming out of the USA, as we will be studying US politics in Y13. Here are some hand websites to get you started. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news https://www.theguardian.com/uk https://www.independent.co.uk/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ The first 15-20 minutes of the Andrew Marr show (available on BBC iPlayer) are also well worth watching as the week’s main political news stories are analysed. Date Headline Summary Date Headline Summary Case study: 2019 UK General Election In 2019, UK voters went to the polls in surprise ‘snap election’. We will make regular reference to this election over the course of the A-Level. Use the following websites to add detailed notes to the mind-map on the following page. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2019/results https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2019-election https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/13/five-reasons-why-labour-lost- the-election https://www.vox.com/world/2019/12/13/21004755/uk-election-2019-jeremy- corbyn-labour-defeat What to look out for: Results: Make a note of the main results of the election – you could think about the popular vote as well as the number of seats won in parliament Turnout: How many people turned out and voted. – you could analyse this by different groups such as by age, gender and race etc. Campaigning: What sort of policies did each party put forward? How successfully did they present their ideas? Context: What were the big political issues in the run up to the election which may have impacted the way people voted? How were the different party leaders being presented in the media? Voting behaviour: How and why did different groups of people vote the way they did? What do UK political parties stand for? Use https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50291676 to find out what the different political parties stood for in the build up to the 2019 General Election. Add key details to the grid. Economic policy Public services Climate change Other and welfare Conservatives Labour Lib Dems Economic policy Public services Climate change Other and welfare SNP Green Brexit party .