SOCIOLOGY 

We offer AS & A2 levels (AQA) a one or two year Sixth Form course and a two year GCSE (AQA) course in Years 10/11.  Both courses are taught on the assumption that students have no previous knowledge of the subject: to study Sociology in the Sixth Form, you do not have to have taken GCSE Sociology.

At AS & A2 levels, there is a great emphasis on Sociological Theory and on competing perspectives.  The syllabus leads to three examination papers in each year- some being based on data response questions, and some on formal essays – these include Theory and Methods, Family, Education, Gender, Stratification, Race, Work, Unemployment and Leisure, Health, Welfare and Poverty, Mass Media, Power and Politics, World Sociology, Religion, Deviance and Stratification.

The GCSE course includes an item of compulsory coursework; this takes the form of a piece of research by the student on a topic of her or his choice.  The syllabus, which leads to one examination paper, includes Sociological Research Methods, Family, Culture and Socialisation, Work and Leisure, Politics, Welfare State and Poverty, Class, Gender and Race, Education, Religion, Mass Media.

An aim common to both courses is to encourage students to apply sociological concepts and theories to their own experience as well as to data about social life in the U.K. and other societies.  They are also encouraged to evaluate evidence and to present arguments.  There is a great deal of emphasis on the acquisition of appropriate study skills; this varies depending on the course in question, but at A level it includes stress on note taking, reading from a wide variety of texts, and essay writing; at GCSE Level it includes designing research (e.g. questionnaires, interviews); interpreting data presented in a variety of forms (e.g. statistical tables, research reports) and constructing essays.

Sociology would interest students who wish to understand more about their own and other societies, who enjoy discussion and debate, and who are interested in a career which involves working closely with other people.  It can be studied at a higher level at both college and university.