Dear Colleagues,

For those awaiting A level results this week, we wish all your students a successful exam results day. For those of you who recently received Highers' results we hope that these were as expected. 

 This month we give you news of: 

-  A Reminder about the PSA Student Video Competition

-  The Last Spaces for Applying to Study Politics Workshops

- A Citizenship Education Survey for a House of Lords Consultation

- A Workshop on the EU for Teachers

- A PSA-PES Seminar Day on Minority Government

We wish you all a relaxing break for the remainder of the Summer. 

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.

Our programme of Applying to Study Politics continues in September. We will be holding workshops 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. 

A new House of Lords Select Committee is looking into Citizenship and Civic Engagement including the role of Citizenship education.

How you can help:

The Committee wants to hear from teachers, pupils and others. The PSA will be working with colleagues at the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) to develop a combined response to this consultation and we are very keen to hear our members views on this. To help collect a range of viewpoints on Citizenship education please complete ACT's survey before 31 August 2017.

The committee wants to understand the nature of the citizenship challenge for different parts of society; the aim being to identify new ways of building bridges within and between communities, and to support civic engagement.

The Committee will begin taking oral evidence in September 2017, and has to report by 31 March 2018.

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 Politics 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 period 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 and Dr Catherine Haddon from the Institute for Government. 

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.

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

The Teachers' Institute offers:

- A tour of the Palace of Westminster
- The chance to watch debates in the chambers
- 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

The next course will run from 22 - 24 January 2018. Applications for January 2018 will open 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.

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. 

Chris Prosser (Manchester) asks: What was it all about? The 2017 election campaign in voters’ own words.

Chris Game (Birmingham) looks at: Council leaders: the importance of being more than earnest.

Finally, Ben Worthy (Birkbeck) asks: Up, Down or No Change: What Happens When You Publish Pay Packets?

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.