Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back to the new academic year! We hope that you all had a relaxing and refreshing Summer and are feeling energised for the school year ahead. 

 This month we give you news of: 

- The Last Spaces for Applying to Study Politics Workshops

- New Grants for PSA Teacher Members

- The 2017 Student Video Competition

- A Workshop on the EU for Teachers

- A PSA-PES Seminar Day on Minority Government

The final places for our Applying to Study Politics workshops are available. We will be holding workshops later this month in Belfast, Cardiff and Nottingham. 

These events enable students who will be applying for university in Autumn 2017 an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the reality of studying Politics at undergraduate level and its benefits.

The Nottingham workshop will take place on Friday 22 September. See here to sign up. 

The Belfast workshop will take place on Tuesday 26 September. See here to sign up. 

The Cardiff workshop will take place on Thursday 28 September. See here to sign up. 

For more information please contact Josh Niderost via: josh.niderost@psa.ac.uk. 

The PSA is now offering a termly grant of up to £500 for PSA teachers to organise and run an event in their local area.

The PSA hopes that this grant system will give PSA teacher members the opportunity to organise activities to benefit their pedagogy and their students’ education as well as support the PSA’s aim to develop membership, outreach and activities across the regions and nations of the UK.

Please see here for the application form. 

The deadline for applications this term is Monday 2 October 2017.

For information on this and the application please contact Josh Niderost via: josh.niderost@psa.ac.uk.

FAKE NEWS: IS THIS THE END OF FACTS?

This year's Student Video Competition focuses on the relationship between politics and the media by exploring the issue of fake news and its effects on contemporary political life. 

For more information on the competition theme and entry requirements see here.

Finalists will be shortlisted and invited to attend a Jury Meeting in the House of Commons on 7 November and the winners will receive their prize at the PSA Annual Awards in December.

The event is supported by YouGov and the winners will have the opportunity to do a week's work placement with the polling company in their London offices.

The deadline for entries is 12 noon on Monday 30 October 2017.

See here for a ready to print competition poster.

For more information on how to enter please contact me via: josh.niderost@psa.ac.uk.

The PSA is working with partners at Royal Holloway and Erasmus+ to organise a workshop for teachers on the European Union. 

This one-day course entitled: The European Union, Its History, and Its Policies, takes place at the central London base of Royal Holloway, University of London on Saturday 25th November from 10.00 to 16.15. It introduces participants to the European Union as a political system. Time will be given to exploring the EU’s history since the 1950s before discussing some of its key responsibilities today, such as the single market and the migration crisis. The course will take a workshop/seminar format that will rely on presentations from the instructor and small group discussion.

The instructor is Dr Giacomo Benedetto, who holds the Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Budget Policy at Royal Holloway, University of London. Further information about him is available on his website: www.giacomobenedetto.eu. 

For more information and to register please see here. The event is FREE and a lunch will be served for attendees. The workshop is co-funded by Erasmus+.

The next PSA-Parliament Education Service Seminar Day will take place on Tuesday 10 October. The theme of the day is Minority Government. 

This Seminar Day will bring together Politics teachers, politicians and academics to share in a dialogue around minority government, including the Labour minority governments and the Lib-Lab Pact of the 1970s and the minority government at the end of John Major's premiership in the 1990s. 

The strategies of the executive during these periods as well the role of parliament and backbenchers at these times will be examined. Links will be drawn to the current government and its confidence and supply agreement with the DUP. 

This event will take place on Tuesday 10 October at the Houses of Parliament in central London from 8.45am to 4pm.

A full agenda of the day will be published in due course. However confirmed speakers include Heidi Allen, Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire. Dr Catherine Haddon from the Institute for Government will speak on Minority Government in the 1970s and Dr Kevin Hickson (Liverpool University) will speak on the last days of John Major's premiership. 

In order to book a place please complete the Booking Form via this link and email this back to David Carr via teachertraining@parliament.uk.  For more information please email me via: josh.niderost@psa.ac.uk.

Teachers of Government & Politics, Citizenship and related subjects, and other education professionals, can apply to experience the Teachers' Institute - an intensive, informative and unforgettable course based at the Houses of Parliament.

The Teachers' Institute offers:

- A tour of the Palace of Westminster
- The chance to watch debates in the chambers
- A Q&A with Members from both Houses
- Informative sessions to improve delegates' knowledge of Parliament and democracy
- Activities that will help to develop classroom resources
- All the resources you'll need as a UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador
- Networking opportunities

Parliament covers your travel costs, residential accommodation and most meals. All resources, workshops and events are free of charge.

The next course will run from 22 - 24 January 2018. Applications for January 2018 opened on 4 September 2017.

The Teachers' Institute is open to teachers, trainee teachers and education professionals in the UK.

For any enquiries about the Teachers' Institute or the Teacher Ambassador Programme, please contact: teachertraining@parliament.uk.

New online course - UK Parliament Explored: Petitions

Find out how petitioning the UK Parliament works and explore the possible impacts and outcomes. Discuss what makes a petition successful, understand the role of the Petitions Select Committee and explore case studies of petitions that have achieved change.

Sign up now to begin online from 13 November 2017. 

The National Justice Museum invites teachers and educators to an interactive Education Open Evening. This will take place on Thursday 12th October 2017 5pm-6.30pm at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, WC2A 2LL

The event will provide you with an opportunity to:
• Explore key spaces inside this iconic building
• Network with other professionals, meet new people and share ideas
• Find out about the NJM's exciting new Creative Court project
• Be inspired and supported to take part in the NJM's educational visits for schools, colleges and groups

Please RSVP by emailing: london@nationaljusticemuseum.org.uk by Thursday 5 October.

Another education evening will be held at the National Justice Musuem in Nottingham on the evening of Wednesday 27 September from 4pm - 6pm. Please RSVP for this event by emailing: Naomi.Garnett@nationaljusticemuseum.org.uk. 

For more about these education events information see here. 

The National Justice Museum exists to inspire people of all ages to become active citizens.Their education programmes are delivered in Nottingham, London and the North West and focus on gaining a practical understanding of the law and justice system. 

Sam Bright, a freelance journalist who works predominantly for the BBC, is conducting market research into a forward-thinking news service for digital readers.

News is now predominantly consumed on smartphones. Yet, there’s a saturation of information on social media: thousands of articles published daily by hundreds of publishers (not all of them reliable). My idea is to set-up a WhatsApp-based news service – delivering the day’s most interesting stories straight to your inbox (like a virtual mini-newspaper).

A German study recently found that young people are highly likely to click on news stories that are sent to them on WhatsApp (more likely than they are to access news stories on Twitter and Facebook). This makes WhatsApp an ideal place to distribute reliable, balanced information on current affairs.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on whether your students would benefit from this service. I would also like to hear your ideas on what you would you like to see included (should we prioritise video content, rather than text pieces, for example?)

If you have any thoughts, or would like to discuss the project in more detail, please email me directly on bright@bbench.co.uk

I have also published a website template for the project, which can be found here: https://bright014.wixsite.com/notification. 

Pearson currently have exciting opportunities for qualified teachers to join their Assessment Associate Team, as Examiners for their GCE A Level Government and Politics qualification.

If you have any queries regarding the role, please contact the AA Recruitment team on aaresourcing@pearson.com. For more infromation about Examiner opportunities at Pearson please click here.

The PSA Blog features contemporary content from academic members of the PSA in response to news or fresh research findings. 

Alex Waddan (Leicester) & Daniel Béland (University of Saskatchewan) examine US Politics in: Walking Dead: The Republican Effort to Repeal Obamacare. 

& Alexandra Meakin (Sheffield) explores closer to home in The clock and an impending crisis: The Elizabeth Tower, Big Ben and the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster. 

Follow the PSA on Twitter or search for the #PSAschools hashtag for real time updates on all our schools' activities, news and campaigns.

As a PSA Teacher Member you have full access to the Schools’ Area of the PSA website.  Here you can find all the latest information about the following initiatives we offer to schools:

•         Free Seminars for Schools programme
•         Free professional development resources
•         Free subscriptions to leading publications, including Political Insight
•         Priority registration to PSA schools' events
•         Priority registration for student career workshops

Don't forget, members can access the Teachers' e-News archive online here.

We're always keen to hear from you, so please keep in touch or let the PSA know how we can serve you better. If you feel any colleagues would be interested in this e-Newsletter, please forward them a copy.

With very best wishes,

Josh Niderost

Programme Development and Outreach Officer

020 7321 2545
PSA Head Office, 113a Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6HJ.