Law for GCSE-age learners

GCSE Law tuition and study options

OCR’s GCSE Law qualification ended with its final assessment in June 2018. For learners now exploring law, the useful starting point is introductory study, a named school topic or preparation for further study.

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Subject: Law
Level: GCSE

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How one-to-one tuition can help

Making sense of legal terms such as claimant, defendant and prosecution
Explaining how a legal rule relates to the facts in a short scenario
Turning an opinion about fairness into a reasoned answer

Available tutors

Find a tutor for introductory Law study

6 tutor profiles selected

Compare teaching approaches and discuss the learner’s intended course or learning goal. For assessed schoolwork, confirm that the tutor can support the specific qualification and topics.

Elizabeth Shimwell

English and Humanities Specialist

Wirral

£30.00 per hourDBS checkediAccepting enquiries

English LanguageEnglish LiteratureGovernment and PoliticsLaw

She is a final year Politics and International Relations student at the University of Sheffield.
With over two years of tutoring experience, she is well-practiced in all exam specifications.
Holds A*, A*, A, A for English Language, an Extended Project in Human Rights Law, Law, and Government and Politics at A-Level.
Holds 2 A**s (2 9s) for English Literature and English Language at GCSE level.

GCSE English tutor and A-Level English Language & Literature specialist; also supports GCSE/A-Level Politics and Law. University of Sheffield Politics and International Relations student with 4 years’ tutoring, exam-focused lessons with reports and optional homework.

Send a quick enquiry from here and the Latimer Tuition team will pass it on to Elizabeth.

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Alexander Olsen

Humanities Specialist

Southamptom, United Kingdom

£35.00 per hourDBS checkediAccepting enquiries

Business StudiesConsultancyEnglish LanguageEnglish Literature+10 more

Over 10 years' of experience in tutoring students from GCSE to A Level.
Holds a Master of Science in Education Studies from the Open University.
Holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Studies in Education from the Open University.
Holds a Bachelor of Science in Humanities from the Open University.
Holds a Master of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Kings College, University of Aberdeen.
Currently employed as a Training Needs Analyst for a FTSE 100 global engineering corporation.
Average grade boundary shift of +2 with over 90% of students achieving 7-9 at GCSE and 85% A and A* at A Level.

Politics tutor and history tutor with 10+ years’ experience from GCSE to A Level and university; holds an MSc in Education Studies (Open University). Students typically improve by 2 grades, with 85% achieving A and A* at A Level.

Send a quick enquiry from here and the Latimer Tuition team will pass it on to Alexander.

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Khadija Khatun

English, Geography, History, and Law Specialist

West Midlands, United Kingdom

£35.00 per hourDBS checkediAccepting enquiries

English LanguageEnglish LiteratureGeographyHistory+1 more

Khadija has been tutoring for over 8 years.
Holds Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence (Law) from University of Oxford.
Khadija is an SRA qualified solicitor.
Holds A*, A* for English Literature and History at A-Level.
Holds 8 A*s at GCSE level.

GCSE English tutor and Law tutor with 8+ years’ experience, teaching KS2 to A Level and IB English, History, Geography and Law. Oxford BA Jurisprudence, SRA-qualified solicitor; uses exam questions, feedback, lesson reports and optional homework.

Send a quick enquiry from here and the Latimer Tuition team will pass it on to Khadija.

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Silvia Vescu

Qualified Humanities & Business Teacher

Montrose, United Kingdom

£45.00 per hourDBS checkediAccepting enquiriesQualified teacher

Business StudiesCitizenshipEconomicsEnglish Language+13 more

Holds a PGCE from University College London.
Holds an LLB (Hons) in Law, 2:1, from King's College London, and is a qualified lawyer.
Currently teaches A-Level and GCSE Economics and Business, alongside Sociology, Politics, Law, English Language and English Literature.
Has delivered hundreds of one-to-one online lessons and uses a Socratic approach, tailored to each exam board and specification.

Silvia Vescu is an economics tutor and law tutor for GCSE/A-Level, PGCE-trained at UCL with an LLB from King’s. She offers online tutoring with Socratic, exam-board tailored 1:1 lessons plus session reports.

Send a quick enquiry from here and the Latimer Tuition team will pass it on to Silvia.

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Zahra Salamut

Humanities Specialist

London

£38.00 per hourDBS checkediAccepting enquiries

English LanguageEnglish LiteratureHistoryLaw+1 more

Holds a Masters in Law from the University of Law.
Holds a degree in Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from SOAS University.
Over 8 years of tutoring experience in teaching GCSE English Language, English Literature, Politics, History, and Law.
Works with private students on a One-2-One basis in English Language, English Literature, Politics, History, and Law.
Nearly all students have achieved their target grades or above.

Zahra Salamut is a GCSE English tutor and law tutor with 8+ years’ experience, plus a Master’s in Law (University of Law) and a SOAS International Relations BA. She offers online tutoring and in-person lessons in English, History, Politics and Law, with session reports.

Send a quick enquiry from here and the Latimer Tuition team will pass it on to Zahra.

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Jemma Lockhart

Law and TEFL Specialist

Wembley, United Kingdom

£25.00 per hourDBS checkediAccepting enquiries

LawTEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Over 5 years' of tutoring and teaching experience.
Holds an LLM in Law.
Jemma is currently studying towards a professional qualification in Corporate Law and Governance.
She has tutored law students prior to the start of their university studies.
Holds a professional certificate in ESOL English.

Jemma Lockhart is an A-Level Law tutor with an LLB and LLM, offering patient, adaptable lessons with opportunities for questions and feedback.

Send a quick enquiry from here and the Latimer Tuition team will pass it on to Jemma.

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Explore Law tutor profiles Start my tutor search

Choose the right starting point

Ofqual’s withdrawal timetable for England lists the last first sitting of legacy GCSE Law as summer 2018, with no reformed replacement. A current GCSE course with law content, such as Citizenship Studies, is a different qualification.

The introductory legal examples here concern England and Wales. If the learner’s schoolwork concerns Scotland or Northern Ireland, include that legal system in the enquiry.

Exploring law at GCSE age: Start with an everyday situation and separate a personal opinion from a legal question. For example, ‘That seems unfair’ is a view; ‘Who could bring a claim, and what would they need to establish?’ gives the learner something to investigate. Agree a small set of topics that interests them.
Law topics within GCSE Citizenship: AQA GCSE Citizenship Studies 8100 includes civil and criminal law, sources of law, courts, rights and responsibilities. Bring the school’s actual question and course details. Practise explaining a legal distinction and applying it to the facts given, with feedback against the task’s requirements.
Preparing for later Law study: Begin with an accessible case summary: identify the relevant events, the question the court had to decide and the reason for its decision. Write a short explanation in your own words. This is an introductory exercise before moving into the demands of a named A-level course. AQA A-level negligence work goes further: whether a duty of care existed, how it was breached and whether that caused the harm. Start by identifying the legal question before tackling those detailed tests.

Next step

One broken window, two legal questions

Consider this constructed learning example: someone deliberately breaks a shop window. The owner wants the repair cost paid. A learner writes, ‘This can only be a criminal matter because someone damaged property.’

The difficulty is treating civil and criminal law as labels that can never apply to the same event. A possible criminal damage prosecution asks whether an offence has been committed and proved. A possible civil claim for damages concerns the owner’s claim for compensation. The facts, evidence and any defence still matter; the short scenario does not establish a verdict or an entitlement to payment.

A clearer introductory response would be: ‘The broken window could raise both criminal and civil issues. Criminal proceedings would concern the alleged offence. A civil claim could concern compensation for the repair cost.’

The improvement is the explanation of the two legal questions. It does not assume that every incident leads to both proceedings, or that compensation is only possible through civil law. As a follow-up, identify who is bringing each case and what decision they are asking the court to make.

Next step

A proposed law is not yet an Act

A second constructed example starts with a headline: ‘New Bill introduced in Parliament.’ The learner’s first answer is, ‘Everyone must follow the new rule now.’

That conclusion skips a step. A Bill is a proposal for a law. An Act of Parliament is legislation that creates or changes law.

A better response is: ‘The headline describes a proposal. I need to check whether it became an Act before describing the proposal as a law.’

This gives a beginner a practical reading habit: check the status of the source before applying a rule. Courts interpret and apply legislation. Their decisions can also develop common law: rules formed through court decisions.

Next step

How Parliament makes laws

Build towards an answer the learner can explain

Keep an early piece of work so progress can be judged against the learner’s starting point. For an introduction to law, a short explanation of a scenario is more useful than collecting technical words without understanding them.

A short block of lessons can have a defined goal, such as understanding civil and criminal proceedings or improving one type of written answer.
For ongoing study, agree a sustainable frequency and a review point. Leave time for independent work and adjust the plan around school deadlines and the learner’s response.

Find the point of difficulty
Read a short problem together and ask the learner to explain it aloud. Separate unfamiliar vocabulary from missing legal knowledge and difficulty linking a rule to the facts. For assessed work, also read the question and teacher feedback before choosing the lesson focus.
Practise one reasoning step
Choose a manageable task between lessons: define a legal term in plain English, identify the relevant fact, then write a sentence explaining why it matters. If reading is tiring, discuss a shorter extract before writing. Agree the amount of practice with the learner.
Try a fresh example
Use a different scenario that raises the same distinction. Look for accurate terminology, a reason linked to a specific fact and recognition of information still missing. Explaining a new example with fewer prompts is a useful sign of independence.

Judiciary resources for teachers and learners

Choose someone who can teach at the learner’s starting point

Use the free introductory meeting to discuss goals, teaching approach and arrangements. Bring a short piece of work or describe a topic that is confusing. The meeting is a chance to assess fit; it is not normally a full teaching lesson.

Relevant experience: Look for evidence of teaching beginners or school-age learners, then confirm experience with the actual course if there is an assessment. A long list of advanced legal subjects does not tell you how the tutor would explain an unfamiliar term to this learner.
Explanations and feedback: Discuss how the tutor would move from a plain-English explanation to a short scenario and the learner’s own answer. For written work, ask how feedback will identify the missing reasoning while leaving the learner to make the correction.
Pace and access: Describe any difficulty with reading, concentration or writing. Discuss practical adjustments such as shorter extracts, vocabulary notes, time to think and oral rehearsal before writing. Confirm with the individual tutor which arrangements they can provide.

Arrange lessons around the learner and your budget

Latimer’s service is online first, with one-to-one lessons. Microsoft Teams is the default platform; you and the tutor can agree another. In-person lessons require an individual arrangement. For an online Law lesson, agree how you will share the question or reading extract and the learner’s written response.

Tutors set their own rates, and lessons are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Check the tutor’s current profile rate and agree the lesson length and frequency before booking. For an introductory goal, decide what you want the learner to be able to explain by the review point so you can judge whether further lessons would be useful.

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Include the learner’s stage, the topic or course, any upcoming assessment and the kind of explanation they find helpful. Add your preferred times and budget. Requesting a tutor match is free.

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Support and clarity

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers to the questions people ask most often.

What if my school describes a course as GCSE Law?

Ask for the full qualification title, awarding body, specification code and assessment year. A law topic or a school’s course name does not by itself identify the award. Send those details with the teacher’s instructions so the tutor can discuss the actual work you need help with.

Can I use old GCSE Law past papers for practice?

Use an old question selectively as a learning exercise, with its date clearly identified. Ask the tutor to check the legal content before using it: historical materials may reflect law that has since changed. An old OCR J485 paper is not a current exam specification or a timetable for a new GCSE entry.

Do I need GCSE Law before starting A-level Law?

AQA’s A-level Law 7162 specification has no prior-learning requirement. Individual schools and colleges set their own entry criteria, so check with the place where you plan to study. Introductory tuition can focus on reading a short legal text and explaining a reasoned answer without assuming previous Law study.

Can I ask for help with a law-related school assessment soon?

Yes. Give the tutor the deadline, task instructions, course details and any recent feedback. Choose a realistic priority together, such as understanding the question or explaining how a rule applies to the given facts. Keep time for the learner to practise and produce their own response.

GCSE Law tuition and study options