The Hunger Games has become a pop culture phenomenon. To a greater extent than many of the other books in the young adult fiction genre, The Hunger Games series has themes relevant to the study of politics. This study explores the usefulness of The Hunger Games trilogy for teaching and learning about international relations. In particular, I examine The Hunger Games in relation to major paradigms of international relations and normative issues related to war. As a series rooted in conflict in the arena and more broadly in Panem, the trilogy raises a number of questions relevant to the study of war, peace, and justice.

This article discusses the challenges of moving towards student-centredness in East-Central Europe through the example of Hungary’s subject-focused academic culture and the (re-)design of a political science research methods course at the University of Szeged for Spring 2012. Although countries participating in the Bologna Process undersigned the importance of student-centredness, few countries have actually yet moved in this direction. In addition, we know very little about how these instructional methods work outside the Western democratic context. I show that research into teaching is an important means to improve the process of education and that there are specific problems in transferring student-centredness into post-Communist higher education settings. Finally, I argue that knowing one’s teaching context is vital for planning student-centred courses effectively, which would be greatly fostered by experiencing other teaching contexts through early-career teacher exchanges. The European Commission has recently affirmed its commitment to staff exchanges, but such opportunities are only likely to be beneficial if they go beyond the current 6-week long exchange scheme that the Erasmus programme offers.

What have been the losses and the gains of the shift from women’s studies to gender studies for political science in The Netherlands? What are present-day opportunities and how should we move forward? Our systematic analysis of the Bachelor programmes offered by four Dutch political science departments shows that gender is not a central feature in the current curricula. Gender in political science has become dependent on personal interests and engagements at the individual level rather than being sustained by structural commitments at the departmental level. This article argues that a gender perspective should be part of the analytical toolkit of anyone trained as a political scientist. Students should be made aware that gender is a fundamental aspect of the organisation of power and therefore unambiguously political. Gender awareness impacts upon both students’ academic development and Dutch politics given that many graduates take up jobs in or close to the political environment. With this in mind, being equipped with a ‘gender lens’ will enable students to identify and explain gender inequalities and more importantly stimulate them to develop innovative strategies to close the gaps.

The succession of economic and financial crises, the migration crisis, and, of course, Brexit have raised many questions about the future of the European Union. Such crises present challenges for teaching and learning European Studies. This article discusses the question how to maintain a relevant study programme while taking into account ever-changing societal developments. Based on a survey conducted among students of a Bachelor in European Studies, and a subsequent focus group discussion, we look at programme relevance and programme capacity to deal with societal change in the context of a problem-based learning environment. Our study reveals that problem-based learning, when applied consistently and correctly, is a good educational approach to ensure that a study programme is relevant and capable of capturing societal change. At the same time, students seem to prefer a more guided version of problem-based learning, which presents challenges concerning its possible contribution to teaching and learning in times of crises. While we discuss the situation in one specific BA programme, we will do so in light of general challenges in the fields of European Studies, International Relations, and Politics.

Following the establishment of citizenship as a compulsory component of the National Curriculum for pre-16 year-olds in England in 2002, attention has turned to the role that universities can play in cultivating civic values. Against this background, the POLiS project has been developing, piloting and evaluating free-to-access, web-based learning activities that aim not only to teach students about current academic debates on citizenship, but also to challenge them to consider their own role as citizens. This article describes the ambitions and principles of the project and the educational context within which it has evolved before turning to an analysis of the lessons that can be learnt from our experience for those wishing to promote the teaching of citizenship in higher education.

Major changes have occurred in the teaching of gender since the shift from women’s studies to gender studies. In some institutions gender studies became a separate and interdisciplinary track within social sciences and humanities, while in others it either lacked integration or disappeared altogether. What do these developments mean for gender in political science curricula? In this symposium scholars from different European countries, including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom reflect on the state of gender within political science education. This introductory essay places national experiences within a broader European perspective; highlighting that gender is virtually absent from much of the political science curriculum. Gender and political science courses suffer from issues of supply (rather than demand), such as the persistent under-representation of women academics within political science as well as tight budget constraints. We argue that this is problematic and that gender should be a core part of the political science curricula for three key reasons: (i) politics is about power and power is always gendered; (ii) embedding gender in the core of political science education may positively affect gender equality in the profession and politics; and (iii) it reflects the contemporary resurgence of feminist activism across Europe. We conclude with concrete recommendations about how institutions and individuals can help address the virtual absence of gender, including: the integration of gender-related courses in politics programs; Gender & Politics related awards; big data collection projects regarding women in the profession and gender and politics teaching; and the development of leadership courses for women in politics.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the need of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) to provide services for its members to assist them in the provision of teaching and learning supports for their students. Moreover, this article outlines what the newly established ECPR standing group, Teaching and Learning Politics, can do to support ECPR members in their teaching role. It begins by discussing the perceived need for advancing political science education in Europe. The article continues by describing previous activities of the ECPR and of the European Political Science Network in promoting the teaching and learning of politics. It provides a comparison of the ‘teaching and learning’ support activities in Europe and the United States. Finally, the article introduces the newly established standing group of the ECPR, Teaching and Learning Politics, and outlines its activities and plans to support political science teachers, in particular beginner teachers, in Europe.

The article analyses how the setting of EU simulations influences negotiation outcomes, that is, the content of the simulated directives. We have played the same simulation of the chocolate directive – the same roles and the same Commission proposal – in various settings (with different kinds of participants, various group sizes, for one or two days, with instructors or participants playing the European Parliament (EP)). A quantitative analysis elucidates relations between settings and outcomes we would not see when considering only one simulation at a time. First, the simulation scales well. Simulation duration, number and kind of participants have little impact on the range of outcomes. Second, the directive is more liberal if participants play the EP, indicating that our instructors play the EP too tough. Third, Swiss participants negotiate stricter and more consensual directives. These results can inform the further evolution of the simulation based on hard data.

The articles presented in this symposium explore approaches to political science education that involve students in experiential learning through placements, service learning and community engagement projects. This introduction identifies key themes emerging from the articles and situates these within the wider context of debates on politics, teaching and learning.

Many subjects within the arts, humanities and social sciences are judged harshly by some within society, particularly those who believe that they lack the heft and intrinsic usefulness of the hard sciences. Rishi Sunak, the former British Prime Minister, implied the primacy of maths within the subject hierarchy when he argued it should be privileged amongst subjects by being taught to all students in the UK in some format until they were 18. He also implied within this that some students were taking other subjects rather than maths and that this was detrimental to British business, although it was not stated so overtly (Sunak, 17th April 2023, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-outlines-his-vision-for-maths-to-18). The necessity of social sciences, particularly Political Science within the UK context will be discussed in this paper. Political Science as a subject area has always been viewed with some suspicion by those who fear the education of individuals on the mechanisms of power within a nation and those who confuse education with indoctrination. This fear has, yet again, become a prevailing concern in many countries and this paper will explore that concern. It will conclude that the social sciences and humanities perform a vital role within society and academia and the elevation or denigration of subjects focusing on contentious issues should not be tolerated when driven by political expediency or the desire of some to close down debate.

The phenomenon known as emergency eLearning saw many institutions of higher education switch from face-to-face learning to virtual or online course delivery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The transition posed a unique suite of challenges to instructors and students alike, especially in the case of active learning pedagogy. This article reflects on the experiences of a multi-institutional, multi-term pedagogical project that implemented peer review assignments as opportunities for asynchronous but nevertheless active learning. We shared instructor experiences through the course design and application stages of courses in International Relations and political economy, discuss the ability of peer review assignments to create active learning opportunities in online courses, and reflect on our own pedagogical development benefited from the community of practice.

This article considers the introduction of an Audience Response System (ARS), with a first year politics class at the University of Ulster, to encourage student interactivity and participation via innovative teaching and learning technologies. Four key student-centred benefits are identified: increased student engagement, increased motivation and attendance, a progressive learning experience, and opportunities for self-reflection. Amid the concerns about students' political apathy and/or deficiencies in political literacy, the paper suggests that political science and the ARS might be natural bedfellows.

In civic education and political science classes, simulation games are increasingly recognised as a teaching tool to promote active learning, expecting them to enhance participants’ motivations and to convey transferable knowledge and skills. Furthermore, they have been described as a promising teaching approach with regard to the complex multi-level system of the European Union (EU). Empirical studies have underlined positive effects of simulation games; however, they usually either use purely qualitative or very small-N quantitative approaches. More systematic studies conducted recently didn’t focus on causes of the measured effects and have lacked depth due to a closed items design. The study presented here uses a mixed-method approach, analysing the effects of simulations of European Parliamentarian decision-making conducted with secondary school classes in Germany on students' political knowledge, motivations and attitudes. In addition to a standardised questionnaire with pre- and post-tests (N = 308), qualitative interviews were conducted (n = 12). The paper focuses on the relation between participants' conceptual changes and changes in perceived responsiveness of the EU. The results highlight relevant learning effects students experience in EU simulation games that are not yet captured appropriately by questionnaire studies and can stimulate the development of measurement tools for assessing process-oriented learning outcomes more adequately.

This paper provides an introduction to the symposium on e-learning in politics. It draws out a number of common themes explored in the papers and places these within the context of wider debates relating to both the teaching and learning of politics and e-learning.

This collaborative piece provides our collective thoughts and experiences on teaching related to Hyflex and Hybrid environments within higher education (HE) institutions across countries. The piece is the evolution of discussions which started at the ECPR’s TLP Conference in Bratislava (and online) in June 2022 on this topic of hyflex and hybrid learning, and the changing HE environment we are all seeing and experiencing. We offer our thoughts and experiences, but also ask colleagues within our discipline to consider the questions and implications of many of the choices being made for ourselves as teachers, and for our students in the evolving learning environment in this period coming out of the pandemic.

This paper provides an introduction to the symposium on teaching European Studies. It draws out a number of common themes explored in the papers and places these within the context of wider debates relating to both the teaching and learning of European Studies.

Anniversaries are milestone events. They invite those involved to celebrate their achievements, but also reflect about the past, present and future. The 20th anniversary of European Political Science (EPS) is such a landmark. It marks a success story; the development from a news style magazine to a major political science journal. Over the past 20 years, EPS has developed into an outlet in which political scientists exchange about their profession, best practices in teaching and learning, as well as shared authoritative research. We have shaped many professional discussions such as debates about gender equality or the relevancy of political science and have become an authoritative voice in the deliberations of innovative teaching techniques such as simulations or role plays. And in our research section, we have covered the big events in Europe and beyond such as the War in Iraq, Brexit and the European Refugee Crisis. We can be proud of what we have achieved in the past 20 years. However, we are not without challenges, which include among others practicing greater diversity in terms of authorship and the types of articles we publish. This anniversary issue is a first step in this direction. By discussing the political science profession in Europe and beyond, it includes a balance of authors from different parts of Europe and the world, a gender balance in contributors and, above all, it raises some of the largest challenges we, as a discipline, will have to tackle in the next 20 years. These include academic freedom, inequalities in the profession and the relevancy of political science as a discipline.

This article follows a session on ‘Using AI in the Classics Classroom’ delivered at the University of Cambridge Mentors’ Day for the Classics PGCE (Initial Teacher Education programme). The first half of the article provides a brief introduction to how generative AI operates and the impact AI has had on education in the UK. In addition, this section considers the advantages of AI for educators in supporting PGCE students and early career teachers, aiding with planning and resource creation as well as the advantages for pupils. It also sets out practical limitations such as AI hallucinations, biases, database limitations, data protection concerns, and the potential risks of pupils developing reliance on AI usage and how teachers can avoid this. The second half of this article provides guidance and examples of how teachers can use AI to support their workload outside of the classroom and for using AI with pupils in the classroom. This includes advice on how to improve AI prompts, example prompts, and prompt scaffolds, as well as recommendations of AI tools for teachers to use in the classroom.