Relevant, exciting, contemporary and full of current debate, the Politics course should equip any Reptonian who studies it to make intelligent sense of the political world around them.
AS Units
In the Lower Sixth all students take two units:
Unit 1
What is Politics?
Active citizenship
Power and Authority
Political Participation through Democracy
Referendums
Democracy and ways it can be enhanced
Elections
First Past the Post
Devolved Assembly elections
Electoral Reform
Pressure Groups
Different types of Pressure Group
The role of Pressure Groups
Methods Pressure Groups use
Do Pressure Groups enhance/detract from democracy?
Unit 2
Nature of the UK Constitution
Define constitution
Lack of codification
EU membership
Constitutional Reform
Role and Significance of Parliament
Functions of Parliament
The Commons and the Lords
Parliamentary v. Presidential Government
Parliament and the Executive
Parliamentary reforms
Prime Minister and Cabinet
Prime Minister
Cabinet
Ministers and Civil Servants
Judges and Civil Liberties
Types of judges in the UK
Independence and Neutrality
Impact on civil rights and liberties
EU membership
Civil Liberties
A2 Course
(following Route C)
The department has chosen to offer the American A2 course, allowing students to examine the world’s biggest super power. This encourages students to study the Representative processes in the USA (Unit 3).
This includes looking at Elections and Voting – using case study examples such as the 2008 Presidential Election of Obama, the differences between the Republican and Democrat Parties and also the different Pressure Groups in the USA. Through this debate students can question why, for example, the NRA is such a powerful Pressure Group in the USA.
There is also opportunity in this module to look at Racial and Ethnic Politics within the USA and the tensions that still exist today, with their roots in the slave trade. The second module of A2 – Governing the USA (Unit 4), allows students to look at the US Constitution and its in-build Separation of Powers.
It then goes into detailed study of the three branches of Government – Congress, President and the Supreme Court. The students by the end of the A2 Course will have a good understanding of the US Political system and how it works, with contemporary examples and debate.