Sociology

Sociology is only taught as a subject in its own right in years 12 and 13 as an AS or A2 course. However, many students find that what they studied when they were younger in the school, in English, History, or Geography, for example, has helped prepare them for their Sociology studies; at times they are helped by the content of their earlier studies and at other times by the research and essay-writing skills they developed.

Sociology is always a popular option and therefore always one of the largest groups. This is great since it allows teamwork based research, group work in lessons, and debates to take place. Students are attracted to the relevance of the topics studied. In year 12 they learn about how the family is thought to influence individuals and so students readily relate to this. Similarly, they learn how the experience of the education system is argued by sociologists to affect the development of the individual and students always have a lot to say about that too! But we also study the way society in general might be affected by the way families and the education system are changing and whether the changes are making society  better or worse.

Students are attracted to the topics within Sociology but also to the nature of the subject; it is a social science and so there are no right or wrong answers!! Sociologists themselves don't agree with each other so students enjoy the debate and argument they see between the sociologists and then enjoy presenting their own debates and arguments. Sociologists don't even agree amongst themselves about how sociology should be studied - some arguing it should be about 'getting inside' peoples' heads to help us to understand them and others arguing we should look at statistics instead as they show patterns in peoples' behaviour which helps us to explain them. It is not surprising therefore that the third unit studied in year 12 is about sociological methods.

The main skill students need to demonstrate is that of argument. This involves learning and understanding the different sociologists' arguments and then being able to evaluate these arguments, based on how good the evidence presented by the various sociologists is. The ability to understand argument, to weigh up the evidence, to reach a balanced and reasoned conclusion and to communicate all this effectively is an ability required in many professions. Hence Sociology is considered a valuable qualification as it demonstrates that these skills and abilities have been acquired.

In year 13, for the A2 course, students study two new units on Religion and Crime and Deviance. The approach is as in year 12 and again students relate readily to the subject content. They also study methods in more depth in the unit Theory and Methods.

Sociology is not only a popular but successful subject too. Students do well in their exams and only rarely does a year 12 student choose not to continue the study of the subject into year 13. In fact, many choose to continue to study it, or a related subject, at university. If you have any questions please e-mail the teacher in charge of Sociology: dave.hollies@wolverley.worcs.sch.uk