Scotch College

HISTORY/POLITICS Year 10 — 2012

Contemporary Issues in Politics [Semester Unit]

Rationale 

The Politics course is designed to develop students’ political knowledge and awareness through both breadth and depth of analysis of contemporary issues.  CIP investigates ‘what is making news in Australia today’.  It exposes issues of relevance to Australians, to sensitize students to the depth of the issues, to enable them to explore the underlying conflicts and the relevant political processes.  The course is designed to be flexible, enabling a changing focus according to changing issues from time to time.  The issues chosen will be as relevant as possible to the current political scene and will normally be those currently on the international, federal, or state political agenda.

Student Outcomes 

• learn to follow and understand news coverage and political commentary – newspaper, television, radio, internet, cartooning and satire
• place themselves in the context of the wider world and better understand the human condition in a political context
• develop a sense of personal relevance to the broader world through studying a range of domestic and international conflicts and problems
• develop a range of understandings and skills to enable them to participate more fully in contemporary debates
• develop an understanding of the political spectrum, including definitions of Left and Right, libertarianism and authoritarianism, and major political ideologies such as socialism, liberalism and conservatism

Course Content 

To retain currency and allow responsiveness to current issues in domestic and international politics, the course content is highly flexible.  However, the course will broadly cover:

• The International Political Agenda.
• The Domestic Political Agenda.
• The Political Spectrum.
• Parliament and the Executive.
• Voting, Voting Systems and Election Campaigns.

A highlight of the semester is a mock election campaign in which students create their own political parties with policies, candidate speeches, videos, websites and promotional merchandise.  In 2010 this was based on the contemporary UK and Australian federal elections.  In 2011 the NSW state election provided the model.

Issues explored in recent years have included: Terrorism, human trafficking and slavery, refugee policy, banning the burqa, euthanasia policy, drug injecting rooms, climate change, genocide, and the American Tea Party movement.  Students undertook detailed studies of current election campaigns in Australia and overseas, including the UK and USA.  Experts in the political process visited and gave lectures.

Assessment 

Examination

Reflection and Analysis Tasks

Research Tasks