Education: Politics A-level

Lord Grocott Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I agree with the noble Lord, and certainly the reason for the new focus for the politics A-level is that universities have indicated that, if students study the three core political theories—conservatism, socialism and liberalism—at A-level, that best prepares them to be undergraduates. There has been and will continue to be close consultation on this. But, as I have said, there has been a public consultation which is now closed and exam boards are looking at the responses.

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

Would not a useful module in a politics A-level course be the subject of politics in the House of Lords? Students would discover essential facts such as that, under this five-and-a-half-year Government, there have been 123 government defeats in the House of Lords, whereas under a comparable five-and-a-half-year period under the last Labour Government, there were 325 defeats. Would not a splendid A-level question be: “Labour Governments get defeated three times more often than Tory Governments. Discuss”?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

As someone who studied politics at A-level, I can certainly say that an understanding of the House of Lords would have helped me.