Dear Colleagues,

This month our thoughts are all with the victims and survivors of the terrible events in Manchester and our teacher members and their students in the Greater Manchester area. 

News items this month include:

- News about the AQA A level Politics Qualification

- Information about Applying to Study Politics Workshops in Edinburgh and London

- An Invitation to a Teachers' event in the West Midlands 

- Final Spaces for the PSA-PES Seminar on 'Parliament, Globalisation and Ideology'

- Resources from our Media Briefing on #GE2017

- A Discount to attend ACT's 2017 Conference

- FreeTickets for Students to attend Byline Media Festival 

As many of you will know, AQA's new AS and A level Politics qualification has been aproved by the regulator OfQual. This will be first taught from September 2017. 

See here for the A level specification and here for the AS level specification. 

The PSA is pleased that both exam boards who have decided to offer the reformed A level in Politics have had their qualifications approved and we look forward to providing you with new resources and events to assist you and your students. 

As with previous years the PSA will again be holding Applying to Study Politics Workshops across the country over the coming months. These events enable students who will be applying for university in Autumn 2017 an opportunity to gain a better understanding about the reality of studying Politics at undergraduate level and its benefits.

This takes place through a series of talks including an academic lecture; a talk on admissions and career options; a talk by current students; and often a guest speaker who works in the political sphere and can give a practitioner’s view point.

The Edinburgh event will take place on Tuesday 27 June from 11.00 - 15.00. 

Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife will be speaking at this event. 

To sign up to attend this event please click here. You can register a class or encourage your students to register individually. 

The King's College London event will take place on Wednesday 28 June from 11.15 - 14.45.

To sign up to attend this event please click here. You can register a class or encourage your students to register individually.

For more information and to register for this workshop please email me via: josh.niderost@psa.ac.uk. 

Watch this space for details of the other workshops!

The PSA is pleased to announce the first event within our West Midlands Teachers' Regional Hub. These Hubs sit within the wider Teachers' Network and aim to provide events and activities closer to our teacher members. 

The event: Your Voice: Brexit Conference is focused on youth engagement and Brexit. Students will receive seminars on the causes and potential consequences of the Brexit referendum. They will also take part in writing youth manifestos in relation to issues such as the economy, education, immigration and welfare. In the afternoon there will be a session for young people to put their manifestos before politicians for their views. Chris White, MP for Warwick and Leamington before the dissolution will attend this session. 

The event is for GSCE students and teachers. It will take place at King's High Warwick on Saturday 24 June from 9.30 - 15.00. 

In order to attend or for more details please email:

co-curricular@kingshighwarwick.co.uk. 

Please let me know if you would like to set up a Hub within your area by contacting me via: josh.niderost@psa.ac.uk. 

The final spaces for our Joint Seminar with the Parliament Education Service on Parliament, Globalisation and Ideology are available. 

This Seminar Day will bring together Politics teachers, politicians and academics to share in a dialogue around the current place of the nation state in the global order, with a particular focus on how ideological frameworks conceptualise the state within global politics today.

An agenda for the day is here. 

This event will take place on Tuesday 13 June at the Houses of Parliament in central London from 8.45am to 4pm. 

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. 

Earlier this month the PSA organised a media briefing on the General Election. 

Professor Tim Bale (Queen Mary University of London), Dr Jennifer Hudson (University College London), Professor Ailsa Henderson (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Chris Prosser (University of Manchester and British Election Study) discussed voting behaviour, polling, candidates and party politics ahead of the 8 June 2017 UK General Election.

See here for the Briefing Pack and here for the Podcast. 

This was also broadcast by BBC Parliament and this can be viewed on the iPlayer here. 

The Association for Citizenship Teaching are offering PSA teacher members a discount to attend their National Conference. 

This will be taking place on 4 July at Middlesex University. 

The discount for the conference is: PSASPECIAL2017. Colleagues can either pay direct or request an invoice. 

Details of the conference are available here. 

The Aziz Foundation are offering free tickets to Byline Festival and a special programme for young people who are interested in finding out more about journalism or considering it as a career. There is also a travel bursary of up to £25. They need to apply to Stephen@byline.com as soon as possible. 

The Byline Festival is the world's first festival of independent journalism. It is a unique opportunity to hear from, attend workshops and meet top journalists and commentators as well as enjoy comedy and music. Taking place just over an hour from Central London at Ashdown Forest, East Sussex from the 2-4 June this is an amazing way to find out about online, broadcast and offline journalism. 

Interested individuals will have to act quickly to secure free tickets. The line up includes John Cleese, June Sarpong, Martin Bell and many many others. Please see here for a full line up. 

The Aziz Foundation is an independent grant-making body dedicated to supporting the most disadvantaged communities in Britain. For more information please see here. 

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. 

Rebecca Tidy (Exeter University) asks: Has the June 2017 General Election given the Lib Dems the Opportunity to Regain their Cornish Heartlands?

Sharon Feeney et al (Dublin Institute of Technology) writes about: Comparing the elitist higher education backgrounds of political leaders. 

Finally, Jose Angel Garcia (Sheffield University) explores contemporary Mexico in: Festival of Life or Deadly Conflict Zone: What is the real Mexico?

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 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.

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.