The UK General Election Update 2015

What do teachers say about this resource? (5978)

A winner of a resource. An essential purchase for a comprehensive understanding of the campaign/issues and a comparison to 2010... gives students not only a comprehensive run through of the 2015 general election - but starts from a useful "no prior knowledge assumed" position and gives a brief overview of elections and FPTP right at the start. This makes the resource a useful stand alone booklet for beginners at AS level... A key strength is the use of chronological data tables to illustrate shifts over time (e.g changes in PM, % of votes, swing etc) and the Learning Grid exercises which were dotted throughout the booklet. These provide good opportunities to check knowledge and understanding which can often be assumed by students themselves at this stage - rather than demonstrated... For those higher order thinking skills the "i" boxes are great for stretching the more able and giving opportunities for students to go further in their independent study... a booklet like this also goes much further than the textbook - allowing for greater breadth and depth of study.

The author has shown his considerable knowledge (as is the norm) and has effectively produced a very useful guide which is applicable across a number of different units of the Government and Politics course... The figures from the 2010 and 2015 General Election are good for comparisons between elections... The overview of who is allowed to vote and the voting system which in itself is a very important topic of conversation within the Political spectrum at the moment... The figures for total donations during the General Election Campaign along with how elections are paid for... The Maps are very clear and concise including just the correct information needed... This is a perfect resource for essay planning, especially within the Democracy Unit (Unit 1) in terms of problems with FPTP alongside turnout figures and the functions of elections... This is also a very good exercise in showing how one event can throw up a number of different examples to use across the spectrum which ultimately helps with exams come the summer. e.g.: • Turnout – Democratic Deficit; Political Participation; Legitimacy of Government • Political Parties and Ideas – Where the parties stand on issues; How far they have moved away from their ideologies; areas of agreement with other parties • Elections – Electoral systems; Electoral Reform – problems with FPTP... It enhances learning enormously and this will be an independent study task for my students next year... The pupils are able to really understand and learn about key events in UK Politics in large detail and through differing perspectives and viewpoints.

A very useful source for both teachers and students of AS Government & Politics. It contains a range of useful statistical data. For example the conversion of seats from the existing plurality system to the D'Hondt method will be a strong teaching and learning point. The various sections within the update were clear and pertinent for someone teaching the OCR Government & Politics syllabus... A strong element of the resource is the range of examples that are provided. This is a fundamental requirement for students when developing their essay technique... I particularly like the use of bullet points, tables and charts. This will help both the teacher and student to break information down into small chunks... and highlighting key points... The focus on topics such as electoral systems and turnout closely tie in with the focus of exam questions at AS level... a valuable resource. It provides very useful information that a teacher [can] use within a lesson. When teaching essay technique or simply covering the relevant AS topics, the data for the 2015 general election is very helpful.

It brings together information from large amount of sources... [It is better than other resources because] it is more up to date.

I really liked the table illustrating the party platforms on page 15. It is clear and easy to read, and would be a fantastic revision resource for the political parties unit. I also liked the idea of having possible issues to discuss in the exams... I was pleased to see that all photographs included in this resource had captions underneath them explaining their significance, this was a definite strength of the resource.