Essential viewing. Dispatches: the children left behind
With up to 300,000 young people leaving secondary schools in England each year with less than five GCSES, Dispatches investigates whether the size, design and organisation of comprehensive schools is a key factor in how pupils fare. James Wetz, author of the film, is a former head teacher at two large comprehensive schools and now an education researcher at Bristol University.
Channel 4 Monday 11 February 8.00pm
read more...»Paxman
My top 5 favourite Paxman videos from YouTube
read more...»Pick of the papers
Brown = Blair Mark 2?
Andrew Rawnsley writes that all three of the leaders of Britain’s main parties are fighting over the same patch of narrow ground when it comes to management of public services. This has important implications for the old or new Labour debate and also the question of whether a consensus exists between parties. It also impacts upon voting behaviour since this will be one of the defining issues at the next election.
read more...»It’s the coffee, stupid?
Gerard Baker in today’s Times has written an excellent article on the race for the White House and the importance of whether voters choose Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts.
read more...»Sauce for the goose?
You will no doubt be aware of the comments made by the Archbishop Rowan Williams. But beyond the sound and fury, what relation does the debate over his opinion have to the A level course?
read more...»The towel
The US primary contests are never short of no-hopers – can anyone tell me who Duncan Hunter is? But news is made when credible candidates go by the wayside. Many people’s favourite Rudy Giuliani hit the kerb last week (after spending at least $40m and amassing no delegates) and now Mitt the Mormon has apparently ‘suspended’ his campaign.
read more...»Tim Harford’s Logic of Life lecture at the LSE
Tim Harford delivered an excellent talk to a packed lecture hall at the London School of Economics as part of a series of events promoting his new book, “The Logic of Life”.
read more...»Significant Tuesday?
Who has come out looking better from yesterday’s vote in the presidential primaries? Here we give you the lowdown and speculate on what direction the two races will go.
read more...»Good riddance?
There is a lively and informative review of a new book on the Bush presidency in today’s Sunday Times culture section by ex-British ambassador to the US Christopher Meyer.
read more...»Summary guide to Super Tuesday
Anticipation of Super Tuesday is reaching fever pitch. It is what the Sunday Times calls the “biggest day in the parties’ nomination race”. Here is a summary guide:
read more...»Question Time - 3 February 2008
Question Time, the weekly politics quiz, returns for a new run
read more...»Politics Categories
Economist in your ears
Too busy to read the Economist but face a long commute to school? Why not download the audio edition of the Economist?
read more...»Democrat candidates debate in campaign ‘08
With Super Tuesday a matter of days away the two frontrunners for the Democratic nomination went head to head again yesterday in Los Angeles, fielding questions on a host of topics. It was all smiles, in stark contrast to the tense and bitter exchanges witnessed during last week’s debate. Clearly the advisers to the candidates had told them to tone things down a bit since the negative attacks were not playing well with voters.
read more...»Some classic political interviews by Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman has established a fearsome reputation for grilling politicians. This collections of clips shows Paxman at his interrogative best…
read more...»Primary stocktaking: the road to 5 February
The man whom many thought would be the Republican nominee bows out and pledges support for John McCain:
read more...»Indy’s US Election Specials
The Independent newspaper is producing two specials ahead of Super-Duper Tuesday on February 6th. The giant poster in today’s edition will look great in your classroom or departmental resource room. Make sure you get your cope. And tomorrow there is a special 22 page booklet. Naturally there will be plenty of coverage of the US Presidential elections right here on the Tutor2u blog.
New edition of First Past the Post is out now (Jan 2008)
The latest edition of tutor2u’s hugely popular digital Politics magazine First Past the Post is online now. This month FPTP features articles on a wide range of topical issues by a team of writers who are all experienced teachers aware of the need to provide informative and accessible material.
read more...»A levels at McDonald’s
According to the BBC website:
“Fast-food giant McDonald’s has become one of the first firms to offer its own nationally recognised qualifications. It will offer a “basic shift manager” course, training staff in skills such as human resources and marketing. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said the company had been approved to develop courses up to the equivalent of A-level standard. The QCA will also allow Network Rail and Flybe to award qualifications based on their workplace training schemes.”
The article can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7211958.stm
A report in the Telegraph has the PM defending the plans:
“Gordon Brown has denied that allowing McDonald’s and other firms to offer A-level-style qualifications represents a dumbing down. He insisted the new courses would be tough and intensive. Speaking ahead of the formal launch of the qualifications this morning, he said: “If McDonald’s do it, it is not that standards are going to fall, in fact it is going to be a tough course. Once you have got a qualification in management you can probably go anywhere. I think that is the important thing - companies prepared to train people up which they weren’t doing before, in the way that we want them to do, in a far greater number, so that people have the qualifications for the future.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/28/nmcd228.xml
But in today’s Guardian there is severe criticism:
“Working more closely with companies via apprenticeships and training schemes might be a good way of achieving these things, but giving them A-level equivalency is a bad idea. Why? Because the kind of education you get in a formal educational institution is different to the kind of training you get inside a company.”
Read more here: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rowenna_davis/2008/01/the_big_mac_questions.html
The heat is on
With just days until super duper Tuesday, we bring you an excellent overview of the Democratic race from the Guardian newspaper. For American politics watchers there is a danger of drowning under sea of election coverage. This short article focuses on the main points
read more...»Judicial neutrality
A Front page in the Guardian today carries a story on how changes introduced by Labour to judicial selection procedure have not ushered in a quiet revolution
read more...»Primary consideration
I am sure that blog readers have been following the fascinating primary battle with interest. Here we take a look at the arguments for and against the primary system in light of evidence from the current race.
read more...»Bush’s religion
The forgotten man’s faith
In today’s Sunday Times there is a fascinating excerpt from a new book on George W Bush which provides an analysis of the president’s faith and how it has affected his politics.
The hypothesis presented in the article is based on the idea that Bush has used evangelism for political reasons.
One of the defining aspects of George W Bush’s presidency is his professed belief in God. Yet what really are his religious beliefs? The question, which seems central to understanding his presidency, never receives a satisfactory answer. Indeed, one religious figure close to him soon after his conversion was shocked to find that he talked about sex rather than theology and says that a lot of his faith seemed to be politically calculated.
Bush’s religion has often been described as evangelical. But unlike most other evangelicals, he blithely uses profanity and as governor of Texas he would play poker. He doesn’t pay tithes, he doesn’t try to convert others – one of the central obligations in most evangelical denominations. And he didn’t raise his daughters in the faith.
Read the full article here:
Author of the Bush Tragedy, due for publication in mid February:
Academic analysis of US elections
Want Bill get Hill?
This week we were fortunate to welcome Professor Robert McKeever to the school’s Politics Society to deliver what was for us the third instalment in a series of talks by academic specialists in US Politics on the race for the White House 2008.
Robert Singh spoke in October: http://www.tutor2u.net/newsmanager/templates/?a=2637&z=15
David McKay spoke in November: http://www.tutor2u.net/newsmanager/templates/?a=2706&z=15
McKeever began with an overview of the contest, working backwards from the key date of 4 November through the campaign proper around September time onwards, the National Party Conventions in August and to where we are now; post the early primaries of Iowa (okay, technically a caucus) and New Hampshire.
McKeever suggested that these early contests were not as significant as people tend to make out. They are atypically representative and have a small number of delegates. Although occasionally they can shoot some candidates into the national limelight.
The big day is of course super duper Tuesday on 5 February where a sizeable number of big states come into play. (McKeever pointed out, looking ahead to the GE, that if a candidate wins the 11 biggest states they can carry the election.)
What about the candidates?
The Democrats are largely undifferentiated in terms of policy. Clinton is pitching on the basis of experience. Edwards focuses on his southern-ness and his ability to reach out to a core constituency (southerners) that most Democrats can’t. Obama presents himself as the new generation, a theme that JFK campaigned on over 40 years ago.
On the Republican side, the party is in a bit of disarray – mainly due to an attempt by candidates to distance themselves from GWB.
The GOP is unsure what comes next, due to for instance an apparent decline in the influence of religious and social conservatives.
The big one: who will win?
First, the nominations. Hillary will win. Why?
(1) The Democrat party machine is on her side (partly due to the influence of her husband)
(2) Experience. Differentiating from Obama’s newness.
(3) Base appeal.
For the Republicans, McKeever was less certain.
Giuliani hasn’t actively started campaigning and current frontrunner McCain has no appeal with the base. Romney has no appeal and the GOP faithful are unlikely to fall in love with him.
And the election itself? McKeever states that the Democrats are in a win-win situation since if they select Hillary they will turn out in numbers to vote. And if they select Obama they will turn out in numbers to vote.
But on the GOP side Republicans are less energised and either Democrat would beat any Republican nominee. But bear in mind that Hillary is predicted to win the nomination. So this means that despite the fact that over 40-45% of the American electorate have stated that they would not vote for Hillary under any circumstances, she is odds on to become the 44th president.
Edexcel AS Modules January 2008 Exam Technique
Edexcel AS modules: January 2008
Some last minute hints and tips with the AS Politics January modules just days away.
Prior planning and preparation
By this stage you should hopefully have all of your notes in your file organised into some sort of clear order parallel to what’s in the syllabus.
Careful reading of past papers is extremely important since there are unlikely to be any surprises in the exam, i.e. the question topics and format will be almost the same as what has been set previously.
Looking through your notes make sure that you could confidently answer as many questions as possible if the exam was ‘open book’. If you can’t do this then you have to fill in any gaps since it is unlikely that you will be able to pluck an answer out of thin air in the exam hall.
One of the key things you should bear in mind when checking the contents of your file with the past questions is that Edexcel is an examples based course, so wherever possible provide an example to back up your points. Indeed try to give more than one if you can since the quality and depth of examples are what examiners use to differentiate between good and very good answers. On a related note, a little bit of exposition/detail with your example can add marks. For instance, rather than just stating an example of a pressure group you should try to explain what they campaign for and any recent activity.
Once you are reasonably satisfied that you have your notes in order you may want to go through any essays you have done throughout the year and see if there are any patterns in where you have gone wrong; do you have a habit of answering one side of the question, or do you have time management issues? If so, try to keep these in mind when setting about the task that will essentially determine what grade you get: practising answers under timed conditions.
There really is no secret to exam success. Doing lots of past papers is the best thing you can do to help yourself. The concepts and ideas in Politics at AS level are probably not the most challenging you have encountered. But what is a challenge is committing the breadth and depth of material to memory. Occasionally I get requests to provide private tuition or am asked by parents if I think that their son or daughter would benefit from a tutor. I know it is slightly different in the case of Maths and Sciences, but I think a far better answer is for students to do extra exam practise and get their teachers to mark the papers.
How much time you devote to each AS paper will depend on your individual workload. Some students will have as many as a dozen modules this month (including retakes) whilst some may only have one. But if you can find the time then aiming to have 4 or 5 attempts at a full question paper is a reasonable target.
Try also to get your answers to a similar standard. Often candidates will provide a very good answer on one topic (usually pressure groups in Unit 1 and Prime Minister/Cabinet in Unit 2) but be much weaker on their second question.
Answer technique
Each sub-question in the AS papers places different demands on candidates. For part (a) - which is essentially a test of the breadth of your subject knowledge - you should make two short points with examples. Try not to spend too long on this part since it only carries 10% of the overall mark allocation.
Part (b) questions in units 1 and 2 often specify 3 points, so answers are differentiated by the quality and range of examples. Looking at pressure groups again (always the most popular topic on Unit 1) if you were asked about typology and therefore discussed insider/outsider groups then you could develop your points by seeking to explain why some groups are insiders and some outsiders. If the question doesn’t specify 3 then I find that going for range rather than depth is successful.
For part (c) in units 1 and 2 be conscious of the need to tackle both sides of the question – answers do not have to be perfectly balanced in terms of the number of arguments, but do have to show an attempt, e.g. 5 for and 2 against is equally as acceptable as 4 for and 3 against
Time management
Note that 60% of the total marks in units 1 and 2 are carried by the last question. For this reason you should obviously devote more time to this part than (a) and (b).
As I alluded to above it is tempting to spend too long on part (a) - especially since the exam booklet provides a full page for the answer. But with only 5 marks up for grabs, keep in mind that if you haven’t said what you want in a few lines then a full page of writing is unlikely to add much.
If you approach the questions in the order set, timing is 3 minutes, 9 minutes, and 18 minutes.
So this equates to 12 minutes and 42 minutes after the exam starts.
If you want to try and play it safe and tackle the big questions first then adjust accordingly.
Similarly on Unit 3 you may want to tackle (c) and (d) first. A normal time guide (allowing 5 minutes reading time) goes: 5, 10, 17, 23. But (a) and (b) are difficult to do well on so you may want to try and make sure that you don’t spend too long on them by doing the big questions first. If you do this then there is a 45 minute rule: 5 minutes reading, then attempts at (c) and (d) leave you 15 minutes for (a) and (b).
Note also that for part (a) in Unit 3 you must add something to the extract in the form of an explanation, or examples.
For part (b) it is half marks for use of the extract and half marks for own knowledge, i.e. 2 points from the source and attempting to bring 2 of your own related points
This is an edited version of the exam hints and tips contained in tutor2u’s bestselling AS Edexcel revision guide:
http://www.tutor2u.net/acatalog/Edexcel_AS_Politics_ExamBuster.html
Primary interaction
Primary interaction
With only days to go until American voters (well just over 100,000 of them in Iowa’s case) begin the formal process of deciding who will become the nominee for the two main parties, the blog suggests a site to get readers up to speed.
read more...»
Primary defence
Primary defence
Browsing through the Christmas edition of the Economist the first time I somehow managed to miss this excellent leader article on the presidential primaries. It is an excellent supplement to revision on this always popular exam topic, but could also be used as an introductory piece.
IT IS easy to make fun of Iowa and New Hampshire. These two states, with a combined population of 4.3m mostly white people, will soon kick off the 2008 primary season and also influence the presidential race out of any possible proportion to their size. Ethanol subsidies for greedy farmers, bleak midwinter meetings in rural diners, humourless men in lumberjack shirts: all come in for their share of ribbing. What an absurd way to choose a president, sneer many non-Americans.
In fact, the primaries system, once again, is working pretty well. There is a basic reason why Americans don’t seem seriously interested in challenging the position of the kick-off states: in the end, it doesn’t really matter which states start the ball rolling, so long as they are small. For the past four months or so, and now at a hysterical pitch, America’s presidential candidates have been forced to campaign for their lives in these unlikely arenas. Slick TV ads alone will not cut it, as they must in bigger states where meeting more than a fraction of a percent of the electorate is an impossibility. Iowa and New Hampshire want their candidates up close and personal.
This imposes immense, and immensely testing, challenges. Money and organisation matter far less than stamina, agility and that most unfakeable of all political attributes, charisma. Anyone deficient will be found out: anyone with the right stuff has a chance to shine.
Read the rest of the article to find the all important examples to back up the points made in this last paragraph, as well as further arguments for and against the primary system:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10328996
Scottish Parliament free resources
Scottish Parliament: free stuff
John Harris in the Guardian comments on the implications of the current Conservative leader’s views on the state of the union and it reminded me that there is a stack of useful resources available via the Scottish Parliament website.
Harris writes
Edinburgh was treated to a visit a couple of weeks ago by David Cameron. Ignoring clear signs of a rapprochement between the Tories and the SNP, he strayed close to politely telling the Scots off, bemoaning “the stain of separatism seeping through the union flag”.
If the Conservatives win the next Westminster election, political logic would push things in one of two directions: towards an autonomy at the outer reaches of what Scots politicos call “devolution max”, or full-blown secession. As Cameron’s turn in Edinburgh proved, the latter prospect is obviously causing Tories hair-raising disquiet.
If the “devolution max” option was pursued - possibly in tandem with a Tory-led scaling-down of Scottish representation in the Commons - the resulting tensions might just about be managed. The advent of a Cameron government could conceivably give the Scottish Labour party a new tactical freedom, and revive its fortunes at the SNP’s expense. But even then, separation could prove to be only one watershed move away. Imagine, for example, Cameron lending British support to another US-led military action, the Scots taking the same bitter umbrage as they have over Iraq, and the nationalists seizing their chance.
See the full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2232244,00.html
Download a colour poster illustrating the composition of the Holyrood assembly – ideal for electoral systems: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/education/resources/teachingResources/wallChart.htm
A poster of this can be ordered free here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/education/contact/index.htm
Lots of other resources can be found here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/education/resources/teachingResources/index.htm
Why democracy matters
Today democracy was the topic of discussion at one of our school’s PSHE sessions
read more...»Edexcel Unit 1 revision: political parties (Dec 2007)
To what extent do Labour and Conservative party policies overlap?
This is an area of the course that presents problems for students. One of the reasons for this may be the fact that respondents have to craft answers on apparently shifting sands, with the parties constantly changing their stance on policy.
read more...»
