Does it matter if politicians don't know the 'important' facts?
You may have seen or heard of the argument that broke out between Labour foreign affairs spokesperson Emily Thornberry and Sky News interviewer Dermot Murnaghan this weekend. A Youtube clip can be...
UCAS Politics Guide
No doubt many colleagues will currently be helping Year 13s through the tricky process of applying to university. Hopefully my latest UCAS Politics Guide will save you lots of time and effort!
Should we temporarily move Parliament to Birmingham?
I know I've blogged about this issue before, but the full costs and proposals for repairing Westminster Palace are starting to emerge this week. The possible cost of refurbishment (due to leakages,...
Getting started on US Politics - red, blue or purple?
Here's another introductory activity you could use with new students of US politics. This lesson idea focuses on which parties dominate (if either!) in various US states.
Join our Politics Teacher group on Facebook
Teaching Politics can be a lonely business - often small departments, with busy teachers also teaching other subjects. When you need some advice, guidance or support, who can you turn to? Here's...
A introductory US politics homework task
It can be tricky knowing what to set for homework in the first few weeks of a new course. Here's a simple "comprehension" task. Ask students to read this article Downballot Blues from the latest...
Getting started on US politics - Great Presidential Speeches!
A great way of building some historical context and understanding for students of US government and politics is to build in some drama to your lessons. Here's a suggestion for encouraging students...
Getting started on UK politics- In the News Speed Dating
Here at tutor2u we love the speed-dating approach to student knowledge sharing. The introductory activity outlined below gives new AS politics students the chance to get to know one another, as...
Advice for Starting Out on Politics A Level
Last year I blogged the original post titled 'Advice from my Politics teacher to you' and I thought it would be rather appropriate to reblog it at the start of the academic year again! When I was...
Getting started on AS politics - PowerPoint games
This is the third blog post in the "Getting Started on AS Politics" mini series; this post includes links to a few PowerPoint games that you could use as part of your introductory Unit 1 teaching....
While you were away - Quick multi-choice quiz on the Political news stories over the summer
Here's a quick, 6 question multi-choice quiz about political news stories over the summer as a fun introduction to your new-term classes. The questions are on a Powerpoint file and meant to be...
Getting started on AS politics - who am I?
One of the first things that all new students of AS Politics need to know is that a huge proportion of the marks available in their AS exams are for knowledge about examples. So why not get them...
Getting started with US politics - Who Said What?
What a great year for studying US politics with a presidential election looming! A great way of engaging students from the word GO is to get them to closely examine some of the things said by the...
Getting started with US politics - What's My Party?
This week I'll be posting a mini-series of blog posts that focus on lesson ideas and resources you can use with returning Year 13s who are following the US politics options for their A2. This first...
Getting started on AS Politics - introducing constitutions
Every day this week I'll be posting a teaching resource or lesson idea for kickstarting your AS Politics teaching. The first resource is one of our favourites here at tutor2u, and has been a winner...
The EU referendum was 'dire' - the Electoral Reform Society
The Electoral Reform Society (which campaigns for greater democracy in the UK) has described the EU referendum as 'dire' in its report, released this week. The report claims that the impact of big...
There's No.9 and a No.12 Downing Street too!
Here's an interesting little article on what goes on where in Downing Street published by the Guardian. It may not be something that A Level Politics would need to know for an exam but fascinating...
Study finds that fracking benefits Republican candidates
Voters in US congressional districts that experience shale oil and gas booms are more likely to kick out Democrat politicians and replace them with less environmentally friendly Republicans. That's...
A Level Politics Continues to Grow in Popularity
The entry statistics by board and in total for AS and A2 Politics are summarised in the charts below.
It's 3am, the phone is ringing in Springfield
Back in 2008 during the primaries when Hillary Clinton went head to head with Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, the Clinton campaign released the 3am attack ad all about a phone ringing...