Today (3rd November) the Department for Education and Ofqual published public consultations on revised subject content for new GCSEs and A levels which will be taught from 2017, including AS and A Level Politics.

Details of the DfE's consultation and how to respond to consultation are here:

• https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gcse-and-a-level-reform-geology-and-politics-pe-short-course

Ofqual are consulting in parallel on proposals for assessment arrangements in these subjects. These documents can be viewed here:

• https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/developing-geology-politics-and-pe-short-course-for-2017-teaching

Please do take the opportunity to share your views and encourage others to do so.

Additionally, we would be very grateful if you could also share your submissions with us.

Please send these directly to james.ludley@psa.ac.uk

The deadline for submissions is 15th December.

The Association will be contributing a response as part of the consultation which we will share with members once submitted.

We're delighted to add the Teachers’ Topic Guides series with the following guide:

• Environmental Policy and Politics - Professor Elizabeth Bomberg and Dr Paul Tobin

Further guides are currently being finalised and details will be outlined in due course.

Additionally, if there is a particular area of the curriculum that you feel would benefit from a PSA Teachers' Topic Guide, then please get in touch and let me know: james.ludley@psa.ac.uk

Teacher Members can download PSA Teachers' Topic Guides for free from the PSA website here: www.psa.ac.uk/psa-teachers'-topic-guides (login required)

Parliament Week is a programme of events and activities that connect people with parliamentary democracy and what this means to them and their community.

Organisations, schools and universities across the UK run events and activities throughout Parliament Week which explore this theme. Parliament Week is coordinated by the House of Commons with support from the House of Lords. All events can be found online here.

Monday 16th November, 1pm - 4pm. Manchester.

There is still availablility to join the PSA for our flagship Parliament Week workshop, Change your future: understand Parliament, at the People’s History Museum, Manchester.  The workshop is taking place between 1pm – 4pm on Monday 16th November 2015.

Workshop Details:

The workshop is aimed at Key Stage 4 and 5 students – of all subject disciplines – looking to better understand Parliament.  It will consist mainly of small group discussions facilitated by academics to encourage engagement about what parliament should look like in the future and how it should carry out its work.

With the help of leading acadmics including the PSA's Professor Matthew Flinders (Sheffield), Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira (Leeds), and Dr Louise Thompson (Surrey), it will aim to promote reflection on the value of Parliament to different subject areas and disciplines. The afternoon will engage students in debate around how Parliament could improve in the future.

Registration:

Attendance at the workshop is free and registration is open online here.

Sixth Form students are welcome to attend individually, however, please let the PSA have a list of names prior to the event. Key Stage 4 students must be accompanied by at least one member of teaching staff.

Cardiff University and Dr Stephen Thornton ran the PSA's first 'regional' Parliament Week 2015 workshop, which had excellent feedback, and more will follow at other universities and voluntary groups over the next few weeks. You can read about this here.

Workshops
We want to encourage PSA teacher members to lead a workshop about Parliament in your classroom. Each workshop would be divided into two parts: one identifying what Parliament does; the second reflecting on what it should do better in the future.

Workshops could be led by students for a non-politics audience. Target audiences could also include Key Stage 4 pupils thinking about Government and Politics at A-level (although this doesn't apply in Scotland). Last year, we had 15 regional workshops (for details, click here)!

Where possible we will also endeavour to link you up with PSA academic members near your school/ college.

Resources
In order to support these workshops, we have produced a a Resource Pack. This contains support, ideas and guidelines to undertake a successful workshop. You can find the Pack by clicking here.

Signing-up
Workshops can be held at any time up to 22 November 2015. If you are interested in running a workshop, please let us know by completing this online form here.

This year's ESRC Festival of Social Science takes place from 7-14 November.

The ESRC's Festival of Social Science offers a fascinating insight into some of the country's leading social science research and how it influences our social, economic and political lives - both now and in the future.

This celebration of the social sciences takes place across the UK - via public debates, conferences, workshops, interactive seminars, film screenings, virtual exhibitions and much more. 2015 is the thirteenth year that ESRC has held the Festival of Social Science.

Full details can be found on the ERSC's website here.

Follow the PSA on Twitter or search for the #PSAschools hashtag for real time updates for 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 Speakers Programmes for Schools sessions
•         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.

I’m always keen to hear from you, so please keep in touch or let me 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,

James Ludley
Programme Development Officer

james.ludley@psa.ac.uk
020 7321 2545
PSA Head Office, 113a Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6HJ.