BREAKING NEWS

This afternoon (March 26) there has been very positive developments from Ofqual who have now published the outcomes of their "Completing GCSE, AS and A Level Reform" consultation results for subjects in the 'third wave' of reform.

Government and Politics A-level is included in Ofqual's list of proposed subjects for reform in 2017 in which they consider content requirements could be developed to meet their reform principles. (Part II, Page 5)

The subject is a valued and important element of sixth form study and the Association will continue to play an important role to help facilitate dialogue with the main awarding bodies around new course content. Further updates will be outlined on our website.

The Political Studies Association held its first General Election Media Briefing on 24th of March at the Institute for Government. Three academic experts discussed 'The State of the Major Parties' in the run-up to the election on May 7th. We have now made available for PSA Teacher Members a number of resources (including podcasts and videos) to download from this briefing:

The Conservative Party - Professor Jane Green (University of Manchester)
Video - Podcast - Slides

The Labour Party - Professor Tim Bale (Queen Mary, University of London)
Video - Podcast

The Liberal Democrats - Dr David Cutts (University of Bath)
Video - Podcast - Slides

We hope that you find these useful for your teaching.

Our next media briefings will take place next month:
14 April 2015 - The local elections and rise of the small parties
16 April 2015 - The latest forecast and likely coalition permutations

Further resources will be produced from these briefings, as well as our forthcoming Annual Conference, and can be found online in the schools' section of the PSA website here.

Join the PSA this Friday for an online discussion regarding women voters in the UK. Are women really less likely to vote than men? Will they use 'the feminist vote'? Ask our experts questions during the broadcast by using the Twitter hashtag #PSAHangouts

Participants:

• Dr Rosie Campbell (Birkbeck, University of London) (Chair)
• Professor Sarah Childs (University of Bristol)
• Dr Lisa Harrison (University of the West of England, Bristol)
• Dr Meryl Kenny (University of Leicester)
• Dr Angela O'Hagan (Glasgow Caledonian University)
• Nan Sloane (Director of the Centre for Women & Democracy)
• Dawn Foster (Journalist for for The Guardian, Vice Magazine, London Review of Books, New Humanist, Open Democracy and others)
• Frances Scott (50:50 Parliament)

Tune in live on YouTube or on Google at 2pm on Friday 27 March

The session will be recorded and made available to watch back on YouTube also.

For the fourth consecutive year, we are running a series of free one-day workshops in late June and early July for students who are thinking of studying politics as a single or joint honours degree.

The workshops will cover areas such as: selecting the right course and institution, the application process, and what to expect when you get to university.  New for 2015 - all workshops will include a session called "Working in Politics" delivered by a practitioner to talk to prospective politics students about their experiences of working in political roles and how a degree in politics could relate to this. This year’s dates are as follows: 

University of Stirling - Tuesday 16th June
University of Manchester - Wednesday 24th June
Warwick University - Thursday 25th June
University College London - Monday 29th June
University of Bristol - Wednesday 1st July

Students who have attended these workshops in the past have always found them to be extremely useful. In particular, the session on the application process, which is led by a politics admissions tutor, outlines the process in much more detail than time permits during an Open Day. Lunch will also be provided for students and their teacher(s).

Registration for this year's workshops is now open via the PSA's Eventbrite page:

www.polstudiesassoc.eventbrite.co.uk

Please note: there are limited places at all workshops and places are available on a first come first served basis.