Teaching Activity: 'Maybe, Prime Minister' (Political Campaign Simulation)

Ideal as an activity for a taster session or as consolidation for year 12 Politics students, here's an updated version of our ever-popular 'Maybe, Prime Minister' political campaign simulator.

In this new edition we've created a spreadsheet version so that teachers can run their game with large numbers of students or even run the activity remotely with students sending answers via email or their online learning platform.

HOW THE 'MAYBE, PRIME MINISTER' SIMULATOR WORKS

In the 'Maybe, Prime Minister' Game, students are given a list of 28 possible policies that their party could include in an election manifesto. They must chose 12 of these over the course of the game and attempt to get the highest score and win the General Election!

The score is calculated using research data on the relative popularity of each policy choice, divided into sections on voters' confidence in the party's ability to run the economy, have a vision, to spend public money wisely and to run a successful foreign policy. There is an additional measure of voters' confidence in the party leader.

Students can work independently or in small groups. They send their answers through to their teacher (by simply indicating the number code of their chosen policy) and the teacher can then feedback the outcome of their decision. The activity can be a genuine competition (who can be the winning student/team) or the starting point of a discussion.

The download includes a spreadsheet for teachers to manage the game and make calculations, a teacher instruction sheet and a worksheet for students.