Sociology is taught by: 

Ms  S Hakim

Curriculum Team Leader & Lead Practitioner
Ms I Ahmed Sociology & RE Teacher

 

Curriculum Overview - KS3 & KS4  

Key Stage 4 

Course Title

Exam Board

Assessment Components & Method (Exam/NEA %)

When is the Component Assessed? (e.g. Summer GCSE)

GCSE Sociology

Eduqas

Component 1: Social Processes 50%

Component 2: Social Structures 50%

All components are assessed by the exam board in the summer term, usually in May and at the end of their learning journey for GCSE..

Accessibility & Inclusion

  • Curriculum Mapping: I have selected topics in an order that supports the bedding of content and learning, choosing this particular route to support students that need support with recall and revision. In action this looks like beginning with Social Processes as it provides a good grounding and baseline for key concepts that students will need to draw on throughout their learning and build upon as we develop contextual understanding. 

  • Curriculum Mapping: The final unit we teach is social structures, unlike the suggestion by the exam board, we have chosen to teach this last as it covers a lot of the learning over the course so helps with recall and identifying any remaining gaps before the exam that can then lead to to re-teaching or other intervention depending on the need.
  • Curriculum in practice: All Sociology lessons follow a format that supports a scaffold of learning, students begin with recall of previous learning and this allows for misconceptions to be addressed. We then move on to identifying the key foci of the lesson and contextualising it within the framework of the subject - why are we learning this. This helps some students where the subject and learning may feel abstract to remind them of where the lesson places in their learning of the topic. This allows us to explore key concepts and terms so that students can access the rest of the lesson comfortably and they are always able to draw on their baseline of knowledge should they become overwhelmed.
  • Curriculum in practice: Activities in lessons build on content and skills, the use of mini plenaries allows for learning to be checked and for misconceptions to be addressed before we get on the application aspect of the lesson which is usually tied to a 4/8 or 15 marker essay. Even here, scaffold in the form of starter sentences or writing frames exist where needed but even more successfully the use of exemplars being marked against  mark schemes and the use of guided or modelled writing as a strategy allows for all students to access even the most challenging parts of the learning. 
  • Curriculum in practice:Formative feedback through live marking or the use of a visualiser also allows for misconceptions to be addressed further supporting students that need an additional level of structure. Students in Sociology also create and add to a dictionary of disciplinary terms that they keep with them in lessons and can refer back to when required for support in lessons or assessments. 
  • Adaptation in exams: Sociology papers begin with a definition/matching exercise so that all students can access the beginning of the exam paper, which will also have 2 markers and 4 markers throughout. These focus largely on AO1 skills like identification and descriptions (k+u) so that all students can gain marks, additionally all essay questions also have an AO1 criteria, which rewards students with marks for the use of key concepts. Papers are positively marked and students are encouraged to give each question a go.

Home learning (frequency and expectations)

Students will receive homework in line with the school expectations, this will be posted on Satchel and Google Classroom. Students are expected to remain up to date with current affairs and to link current events to sociological concepts and learning. 

How parents/carers can support their child:

Parents/carers can support their child by ensuring students are actively involved with home learning and remote applications like Satchel and Google Classroom.  It will also be useful for parents to explore the GCSE Sociology Eduqas website (https://www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/sociology-gcse/#tab_overview) which has access to the exam specification and examples of an exam paper.

Possible Careers

Advice Worker

Community Development worker

Family support worker

Further education teacher

International aid/development worker

Social researcher

Social worker

Youth worker

Actuarial analyst

Charity fundraiser

Housing manager/officer

Human resources officer

Probation officer

Public relations officer

UX Analyst

 

 

Useful websites/lessons:

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation – recent research: www.jrf.org.uk

The BBC – especially the news pages: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

Office for National Statistics: www.statistics.gov.uk

Truetube – uploaded video clips made by students: http://www.truetube.co.uk/

Tutor 2 U – detailed notes and discussion areas: https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology

Eduqas: https://www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/sociology/

Guardian Newspaper: https://www.theguardian.com/society

Sociology focused TED Talks: http://www.bestsociologyprograms.com/top-10-ted-talks-for-sociology-professionals-and-students/