Welcome to Lancaster University’s Politics and International Relations (IR) Outreach site. The resources contained within are aimed at teachers seeking to explain and explore Politics and IR as subjects and to run university-style modules which engage with issues of great political significance.
This page contains a PowerPoint walk-through of studying Politics/IR at Lancaster, as well as a series of videos produced by 3rd year undergraduate students which explain politics and seek to explore its relevance to young people.
Public Lectures: Big Political Ideas
This page hosts videos of online public lectures on big political ideas. The lectures stem from PPR’s outstanding research and reflect our cutting edge undergraduate teaching.
‘Research in a box’ Outreach modules
We have designed two outreach modules grounded in university-style teaching to address two key agendas: Prevent and Widening Participation. The modules are intended to be run over three weeks by schools themselves. We are keen to engage with schools to explore means of supporting teaching by providing Outreach visits, particularly in the case of the role play in ‘Radicalisation engagement’, which we have supported in schools on a number of occasions. All support is subject to staff availability and financial viability.
This research in a box contains teaching resources developed as part of Lancaster University’s Politics and International Relations programme of outreach and the work of The Richardson Institute, Britain’s oldest Peace and Conflict research centre. It uses the case of conflict involving ISIS in the Middle East to enable students to engage with the international issue of radicalisation, before considering local responses to extremism in a range of contexts.
This rethinking disadvantage module tackles one of society’s major problems: the radical inequalities which prevent young people from accessing, and taking advantage of, opportunities to further their, and their communities’, interests.
New Political Minds Summer School
This is our annual three-day residential for Year 12 students held at the end of August each year. In this unique event, successful applicants will work with Politics/IR academic staff and the Richardson Institute, the UK’s oldest Peace and Conflict Research Centre, over three days to produce a series of reports on the future of Britain as seen through the eyes of people entering into the world of politics.
EPQ Mentoring and planning support
As part of one of our 3rd year modules, PPR389: Politics Employability and Engagement through Outreach, Lancaster students mentor EPQ pupils from local schools during November each year. Pupils must be in the September-September EPQ planning cycle so as to ensure relevance of support. Students and pupils are paired and meet for two 60 minute meetings on campus at Lancaster University. These meetings aim to grant focus and added value to the projects. At the end of the second meeting, EPQ pupils complete a 1,000 word planning document. Our students then provide 1,000 words of written feedback to the pupils aimed at maximising the value and ambition of the project. Our students are assessed on the appropriateness of feedback to the particular project and student. All feedback is moderated by the course convener before being returned to pupils (usually within two weeks of submission) so as to ensure quality of support.
To help schools incorporate active learning into teaching of Politics/IR, Lancaster University 3rd year students have produced a series of role play outlines on a range of different topics as part of their assessment for PPR389: Politics Employability and Engagement through Outreach. These outlines have been moderated and vetted by academic practitioners and are provided below for use by teachers and lecturers in schools and colleges. While the scenarios are aimed at KS5 pupils, they may also be used with KS4 students, should teachers deem them appropriate.
To enquire about Outreach modules, EPQ Mentoring, Outreach visits, Campus Visits or Conferences, please contact Katherine Young by email at k.young1@lancaster.ac.uk or by phone on +44 (0)1524 592710.
Details of Outreach activities in Philosophy and Religion can be found on the Department website.