Sixth years are preparing for, or have just sat, their Politics and Society mocks. They’ve just been asked to deal with the whole course in two and a half hours for the very first time. Everyone’s stressed and can’t wait for the midterm to gather their wits and stare down the run into Easter. It’s just that time of year…

So, why not sit back and get a handle on at least one part of the course with the next installment of the Pol-Soc Podcast! In this episode I’m joined by Professor John O’Brennan, the Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration at Maynooth University. He helps us to get to grips with the broad challenges that Brexit poses to the EU, the UK, and Ireland. This is NOT a comprehensive analysis of every facet of Brexit, but is designed to give Leaving Cert Students, previously unfamiliar with European politics, a good grounding on some of the big issues of which they should be aware. It also hopes to frame discussions around Brexit in a way that makes it useful for them in their terminal exam in June by showing how aspects of the discussion relate to the key requirements of the course.

Why not try out the “Key Thinker Quizzes” that help you get to grips with some of the key terminology. It’s a great way to ‘bed in’ some of the more detailed and specific aspects of the course! If you’d like to support the website and podcast with a ‘teeny-tiny’ donation to help cover some of the costs, I’d be grateful for any support that you could give here. You’d be surprised how the costs add up. (Sad Face Emoji… that I have yet to figure out how to import into a blog post!)

In the meantime, if you find this useful, help me spread the work. You can follow along on my twitter feed @khpolsoc where I’ll be circulating relevant articles, videos, and highlighting the experiences of some of my own students, or use your own wits and social media to let your fellow Students & Teachers know about the resource. I’ll be updating the “Episode Notes” page in the next few day, adding lots of other additional resources for students who want to go that step further. These episodes were always meant to be a starting point for your own investigations, not just and end in themselves…

I hope you enjoy this episode, and find it useful. As always, all (constructive) feedback is most welcome!

Best,

Jerome