Politics and Society aims to develop the learner’s capacity to engage in reflective and active citizenship, informed by the insights and skills of social and political sciences.

The objectives of Leaving Certificate Politics and Society are to develop

an understanding of the social systems within which people act, locally, nationally and more widely

an understanding of concepts which underpin contemporary systems of government and of the diverse models for making these concepts operational

an understanding of and a respect for human rights and responsibilities, for human dignity and for democratic modes of governance

an understanding of and a respect for sustainable development

a commitment to and a capacity for active participation in the student’s social and political worlds

a commitment to and a capacity for critical, discursive and independent thinking

a commitment to and a capacity for engagement in peaceful and democratic means of resolving conflicts

a sense of care for others and a respect for and a valuing of diversity in all areas of human life within the parameters of human rights principles

the capacity to analyse and interpret qualitative and quantitative social and political research data, and to use such data carefully in coming to conclusions.

Politics and Society is organised in two units, each structured around key concepts. These are

• Unit 1: Interdependence and conflict
• Unit 2: Globalisation and localisation.

These units deal with key ideas in the social and political sciences, including democracy, culture, conflict, globalisation, equality, diversity and sustainable development.  Through an exploration of these ideas and their practical relevance in their own lives, learners will be exposed to the ideas of key social and political thinkers like Kate Millett, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Milton Friedman, John Locke, and Edward Said. (Each one will link to a short Biog of the key thinkers)

Learners will approach these ideas in an active way, though applying them to the world they know.  They will use a wide range of participatory and enquiry-focused teaching and learning activities that are appropriate for Politics and Society, including, among others, class discussions and debate, photo and image work, ranking exercises, simulations, scenarios, role-playing, research projects (including surveys, interviews and case studies) and reflections on other life experiences.

Central to the student’s learning in Politics and Society is the application of key ideas to the student’s own local context and the use of comparisons between local contexts and national, European or wider world contexts.  They will, for example, be able to explore democracy in their local sports club and in the school and to compare this to the operation of democracy in the wider world.  Through this they will gain a rich and applied understanding of concepts and ideas.

In order to show how the syllabus might be communicated in the classroom, some examples of teaching and learning approaches in Politics and Society have been prepared.  The examples chosen show one way in which one of the topics of the syllabus (Topic 10: Perspectives on Development) could be taught.  This should not be taken as implying that this is the best way of teaching this material: as all classes have different students with different skills, interests and local contexts, the same material might be effectively taught in a different way in a different context.

The learning activities are intended to show

• how participatory and active learning methodologies can be used in teaching the subject
• how the comparative method (comparing the application of ideas in the local context with their application in another context) can be used
• how data analysis skills can be integrated into teaching and learning approaches
• that the ordering of material may well be different in practice to its order in the syllabus document
• how to teach complex ideas and the depth of treatment required.