Sociology...

...starts next term.

Keep your eyes on this blog as there will be more details soon.

Lessons will be twice a week. One in the evening and one on Saturday morning. Syllabus: AQA

There are several different teachers for the Saturday lessons - some have experience, some not.

Saturday teachers:

• Lotfi
• Mary
• Rebecca
• Dimka
• Anastasia
• Wendy

Remember: only the highly motivated, hard working students will be allowed to stay in the class.

We start after the Economics exam. The first 2 weeks will be a 'taster' where YOU decide whether you want to stick to Sociology or not. Homework will be set to test your enthusiasm. If the group drops to 2-3 then the classes will be cancelled. I suspect there will be no more than 5 anyway. For the first two weeks ONLY attendance will be voluntary. Thereafter those in, stay 'in' i.e. attendance will be compulsory.

For the first two weeks there will simply be an overview of the syllabus and what you have to study etc.

So...names please. Who is interested....

This is the scheme of work for Unit 1

We choose just one topic because:

"In order to cover the topic in sufficient depth, and because students can answer questions on only one SCLY1 topic in the examination, it is expected that students will be taught one topic only.

T he options are:

• Culture and Identity
• Families and Households
• Wealth, Poverty and Welfare."

We will finish this by end of February at the very latest.

Then there's Unit 2 - here's the scheme of work.

For Unit 2:

"In order to cover either Education or Health in sufficient depth, and because students can answer questions on only one of these topics in the examination, it is expected that students will be taught one topic only."

The topic we will be doing is EDUCATION.

This AS level is only open to those who are:

a. highly motivated
b. have good English
c. really really want to study this

Entry is at my discretion.

Style of lessons.

As stated above the lessons will be in 2 x 2.5 hour blocks so there will be NO interference with your other lessons. As some of you already know, concentration in the evenings is often much better anyway - plus ONLY enthusiasts will be allowed on.

The week-day (evening) lesson will follow the work schedule.

The Saturday lesson will be a little different...

The Saturday lesson.

Week 1

The role and purpose of education, including vocational education and training, in contemporary society

• Functionalist and New Right views of the role and purpose of education: transmission of values, training workforce
• Marxist and other conflict views of the role and purpose of education: social control, ideology, hegemony; ‘deschoolers’ (Illich, Friere): socialisation into conformity by coercion
• Vocational education and training: the relationship between school and work: human capital, training schemes, correspondence theory.

Teacher: LOTFI!

Week Two:

Exam practice: going through exam questions on the topics covered so far in Unit 1 & 2

Teacher: Rebecca

Week Three:

Differential educational achievement of social groups by social class, gender and ethnicity in contemporary society
• Statistics on educational achievement by class, gender and ethnicity; trends over time
• Social class and educational achievement: home environment; cultural capital,
material deprivation; language (Bernstein); school factors, relationship between achievement by class in education and social mobility
• Gender and educational achievement: feminist accounts of gender-biased schooling; the concern over boys’ ‘underachievement’ and suggested reasons; subject choice; gender identities and schooling
• Ethnicity and educational achievement: patterns; reasons for variations; multicultural and anti-racist education; experience of minorities in different types of schools
• The relationship between class, gender and ethnicity
• The effects of changes on differential achievement by social class, gender and ethnicity.

Teacher: Dimka


Week Four

Exam practice: going through exam questions on the topics covered so far in Unit 1 & 2

Week Five:

Relationships and processes within schools, with particular reference to teacher/pupil relationships, pupil subcultures, the hidden curriculum, and the organisation of teaching and learning
• School processes and the organisation of teaching and learning: school ethos; streaming and setting; mixed ability teaching; the curriculum; overt and hidden
• The ‘ideal pupil’; labelling; self-fulfilling prophecy
• School subcultures (eg as described by Willis, Mac an Ghaill) related to class, gender and ethnicity
• Teachers and the teaching hierarchy; teaching styles
• The curriculum, including student choice.

Teacher: Anastasia

Week Six

Exam practice: going through exam questions on the topics covered so far in Unit 1 & 2

Week Seven

The significance of educational policies, including selection,comprehensivisation and marketisation, for an understanding of the structure,role, impact and experience of education
• Independent schools
• Selection; the tripartite system: reasons for its introduction, forms of selection,
entrance exams
• Comprehensivisation: reasons for its introduction, debates as to its success
• Marketisation: the 1988 reforms – competition and choice; new types of schools
(CTCs, academies, specialist schools, growth of faith schools)
• Recent policies in relation to the curriculum, testing and exam reforms, league tables, selection, Special Educational Needs (SEN), etc
• Recent policies and trends in pre-school education and higher education.

Teacher: MARY

Week Eight

Exam practice: going through exam questions on the topics covered so far in Unit 1 & 2

Week Nine:

The application of sociological research methods to the study of education This may be taught either integrated with the content listed above, or at the end of study of the topic, or by a combination of both approaches:
• Quantitative and qualitative data in education; the dominance of statistics (eg exam results, league tables)
• Positivist and interpretivist approaches as applied to education
• Issues, strengths and limitations and examples of the application to the study of education of the main sources of data studied (see Sociological Methods section) :
o questionnaires
o interviews (formal/structured; informal/unstructured)
o participant and non-participant observation
o experiments
o use of documents, official statistics and other secondary data
• The theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic, choice of method(s) and the conduct of research on education

Teacher: WENDY

Make sure you do some shopping before you return....