PPE Summer School - Detailed Outline (In-Person)

This page provides a detailed outline of the in-person PPE Summer School, a five-day course for students aged 15-18 who are considering studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, or related subjects at university. The programme below explains what students study on each day, moving from political institutions and economic systems to questions of liberty, rights, justice, democracy, and power.

The course is designed to reflect an undergraduate approach to Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, focusing on discussion, analysis, argument, and interpretation rather than exam technique. Students engage with important political, philosophical, and economic ideas, and apply them to real-world problems and practical simulations.

Teaching takes place through small-group seminars, structured discussion, textual analysis, institutional design exercises, and crisis simulations, giving students a clear sense of how PPE-style questions are explored at university level.

Prefer to view and download the PDF version of the PPE Summer School outline? You can do so here.

Jump to a particular section:

Day One – Power, Representation, and Constitutional Design
Day Two – Money, Banking, and Economic Confidence
Day Three – Liberty, Equality, and Justice
Day Four – Rights, Democracy, and Political Crisis
Day Five – Plato’s Republic – Justice, Power, and the Ideal State

Across the week, students explore a range of topics and approaches, including constitutional design, representation, banking and economic confidence, central bank independence, theories of liberty, Rawls’s theory of justice, human rights law, democratic crisis, and Plato’s Republic. The course emphasises how political institutions, economic systems, and philosophical arguments interact when societies try to make collective decisions.

By the end of the course, students will have developed a clearer understanding of how to analyse political and economic systems, evaluate competing arguments about justice and rights, and think critically about how societies should be organised.

Please note that for some groups, sessions may run in a different order.

10.30 – 1.00 Who Should Hold Power?

The course begins by asking what political institutions are actually for. Should a state protect individual rights, provide security, represent the views of its citizens, promote equality, or simply keep order? Students will consider how different societies answer these questions, and why there may be no single perfect model of government.

The session then looks at representation. Students will explore how political systems try to represent large, complex, divided societies, and why factors such as class, region, religion, age, ethnicity, and ideology can shape how people vote and what they expect from government.

Students will be introduced to some of the major choices involved in designing a political system, including electoral systems, parliaments, presidents, federalism, and constitutional rights. The focus will be on the real trade-offs behind these choices: stability or fairness, efficiency or scrutiny, majority rule or minority protection.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Building a Constitution Under Pressure

In the afternoon, students put these ideas into practice by designing a constitution for a fictional country facing serious political challenges. Working in groups, they must decide what kind of institutions would give their country the best chance of becoming stable, democratic, and fair.

The exercise asks students to think carefully about difficult political choices. Should a country prioritise strong leadership or shared power? Should regional groups have special protections? Should rights be protected even when they are unpopular? How far can good institutions solve deep social and economic divisions?

Groups will present their proposed constitutions and test them against likely real-world pressures. The day ends by connecting these questions to contemporary politics, including the strengths and vulnerabilities of the US constitutional system under recent political strain.

10.30 – 1.00 Banks, Credit, and the Modern Economy

Day Two turns to economics, beginning with the role of banks in modern economies. Students will explore how banking systems work, why banks do not simply “hold” everyone’s money in reserve, and how lending, credit, and confidence help shape economic growth.

The session introduces fractional reserve banking in both conceptual and historical terms, helping students understand why banks can be powerful engines of economic activity, but also vulnerable to panic and collapse. Students will consider what happens when trust breaks down, and why problems in one part of the banking system can spread quickly through the wider economy.

The morning also looks at central banks and governments. Students will discuss how central banks try to manage inflation, financial stability, and confidence, and whether they should operate independently from elected politicians. They will also consider when governments should step in to extend, support, or guarantee credit, both in mature economies and in developing economies where access to finance can be a major barrier to growth.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Crisis Simulation – The Bank Run

In the afternoon, students take part in a banking crisis simulation. A major bank is facing a sudden loss of confidence, depositors are starting to withdraw their money, and rumours are spreading quickly. Students must work out what is happening, what risks the crisis poses, and how different actors should respond.

The simulation asks students to make difficult decisions under pressure. Should the government guarantee deposits? Should the central bank provide emergency support? Should other banks be allowed to fail, or does the risk of contagion make intervention necessary? Students will need to weigh economic stability, moral hazard, public trust, and political accountability.

By the end of the day, students will have explored one of the central tensions in economic policy: modern economies depend heavily on confidence, but confidence itself can be fragile. The session gives students a practical way to understand why banking crises can move so quickly, and why the choices made by governments and central banks can have consequences far beyond the financial sector.

10.30 – 1.00 What Does It Mean to Be Free?

Day Three introduces students to political philosophy through one of its most important questions: what does it actually mean to be free? Is freedom mainly about being protected from coercion, or does it also depend on having the resources and opportunities needed to act meaningfully in the world?

Students begin with F. A. Hayek’s view of liberty as freedom from coercion. On this account, a person is free when they are not subject to the arbitrary will of another person or the state. Students will consider why this idea of freedom has been so influential in liberal and libertarian political thought, and why it often leads to suspicion of state interference, regulation, and redistribution.

They then contrast this with G. A. Cohen’s argument that poverty itself can restrict freedom. Cohen challenges the idea that lack of money is merely a lack of ability, arguing instead that money affects what people are actually free to do in a society structured by property rights, prices, and legal enforcement.

Through close discussion of short philosophical extracts, students will explore how different definitions of liberty lead towards very different political conclusions. If we want people to be more free, should the state mainly protect them from interference, or should it also redistribute resources and expand opportunity?

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Justice Behind the Veil of Ignorance

In the afternoon, students turn to John Rawls and one of the most famous thought experiments in modern political philosophy: the veil of ignorance. Students are asked to imagine designing a society without knowing who they will be within it – rich or poor, healthy or disabled, powerful or vulnerable, naturally talented or less advantaged.

Students then take part in a society-building exercise, making choices about taxation, welfare, education, opportunity, and inequality before discovering what position they would occupy in the society they have created. This gives them a practical way to explore Rawls’s central idea: that fair principles are those we would choose without knowing whether we ourselves would benefit from existing inequalities.

The session then introduces Rawls’s own theory of justice, including equal basic liberties, fair equality of opportunity, and the idea that inequalities may only be justified if they benefit the least advantaged. Students will discuss whether this creates a genuinely fair society, or whether Rawls asks too much of individuals, governments, and markets.

10.30 – 1.00 Human Rights, Courts, and Democratic Power

Day Four begins by asking what rights are, where they come from, and how they should be protected in a democracy. Students will consider the difference between moral rights and legal rights, before looking at how the Human Rights Act gives people a way to enforce key rights in UK courts.

The session explores some of the rights protected under the Act, including privacy, free expression, fair trial, religious freedom, education, property, and protection from discrimination. Students will consider why rights often come into conflict, and how courts try to balance competing claims.

The session then turns to a central democratic question: who should have the final say when rights, security, public opinion, and government policy clash? Students will discuss the role of judges, Parliament, ministers, and public authorities, and consider whether human rights law strengthens democracy or places too much power in the hands of the courts.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Crisis Simulation – The Election Under Pressure

In the afternoon, students take part in an election crisis simulation. A close and contested election has produced uncertainty, accusations of unfairness, pressure on institutions, and competing claims about what should happen next. Students must work out how democratic systems should respond when trust begins to break down.

The simulation asks students to think as political leaders, judges, journalists, election officials, advisers, and civil society groups. They will need to weigh legality, legitimacy, public confidence, political pressure, and the risk of escalation.

By the end of the day, students will have explored a core problem in politics: democracies do not depend only on written rules, but also on trust, restraint, credible institutions, and public acceptance of outcomes. The session brings together questions from across the course, including constitutional design, rights protection, executive power, political communication, and democratic stability.

10.30 – 1.00 What Is Justice?

The final day returns to one of the founding texts of political philosophy: Plato’s Republic. Students will explore why questions about justice, power, education, truth, and the organisation of society have been central to political thought for more than two thousand years.

The morning begins with the dramatic opening arguments of the Republic, including Thrasymachus’ claim that justice is simply “the interest of the stronger”. Students will consider whether justice is anything more than the rules made by those in power, and whether people are just because justice is genuinely good, or only because they fear punishment and want a good reputation.

The session then turns to the famous story of the Ring of Gyges, a thought experiment about what people would do if they could act unjustly without being caught. This opens up a deeper discussion about human nature, morality, reputation, and whether justice is valuable in itself.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 The Just City and the Philosopher-King

In the afternoon, students examine Plato’s attempt to answer the challenge he has set himself. If justice is not merely power or reputation, what is it? Plato’s answer begins with the construction of an ideal city, where each part of society has its proper role and justice is understood as a form of order and harmony.

Students will explore some of the most striking and controversial features of Plato’s political vision, including the division of society into classes, the role of education, the “noble lie”, and the idea that philosophers should rule. They will consider whether Plato’s city is a model of justice, a dangerous authoritarian fantasy, or something more complicated than either.

The course ends with Plato’s famous allegory of the Cave, in which education is presented as a painful movement from illusion towards truth. Students will reflect on what the allegory suggests about knowledge, leadership, democracy, and the responsibilities of those who claim to understand the world more clearly than others.

This outline provides a detailed view of the themes, ideas, and practical exercises explored during the in-person PPE Summer School. The programme introduces students to key questions in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, combining discussion, textual analysis, case studies, institutional design exercises, and crisis simulations.

You can also return to the main in-person PPE Summer School page for full details about the course and how to apply.