Sociology (KS4)

Option Subject: Sociology

Course Content:

GCSE Sociology helps students to gain knowledge and understanding of key social structures, processes and issues through the study of families, education, crime and deviance and social stratification.

By studying sociology, students will develop transferable skills including how to:

• investigate facts and make deductions

• develop opinions and new ideas on social issues

• analyse and better understand the social world.

Year 10 students will study: The Sociological approach and Research methods., The Sociology of the family and The Sociology of education.

Year 11 students will study: Social stratification, Crime & deviance and Research methods.

Assessment methods:

2 written papers at the end of Year 11 with multiple choice questions and a range of short answer and extended answer questions.

• Paper 1: The Sociology of Families and education - written paper, 1 hour 45 minutes  - 50% of GCSE.

• Paper 2: The sociology of crime and deviance and social stratification - written paper, 1 hour 45 minutes  - 50% of GCSE.

Key attributes required to enjoy and/or succeed on this course:

• The ability/desire to learn how to draw on information and evidence from different sources and demonstrate the ability to synthesise them

• The ability/desire to learn how to analyse and evaluate different research methods used in sociological investigations and assess, critically, the appropriateness of their use

• The ability/desire to learn how to analyse and evaluate information and evidence presented in different written, visual and numerical forms

• The ability/desire to learn how to apply their understanding to explore and debate the current sociological issues outlined in each of the topic areas

• The ability/desire to learn how to use sociological theories and evidence to compare and contrast social issues, construct reasoned arguments and debates, make substantiated judgements and draw conclusions

• The ability/desire to learn how to draw connections between the different topic areas studied.