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Topic title: Education

Year group: Year 12

When taught: Term 1, Term 2 and Term 3

What are we learning?

  • The role and function of education in contemporary society.
  • Patterns and trends of differential attainment and participation with reference to:
    • Social class.
    • Gender
    • Ethnicity
  • The influence of the following factors on patterns and trends in educational attainment:
    • Material factors.
    • Cultural factors.
    • Processes within the education system (such as labelling).
  • Contemporary social policy with regard to education in society.
  • Theoretical perspectives of education with reference to:
    • Functionalist
    • Marxist
    • Interactionist
    • Feminist
    • New Right
    • Postmodernist

Why is this important to know? 

  • This unit helps students identify some of the inequalities in the education system. It opens their eyes to the differences they may have noticed but not understood as they have moved through the education system.
  • It acts as a good starting point for studying sociology as it sets students up well for the following units.

Where does this link into our past and future learning? 

  • Students are introduced to the main theories that they will study again in other units such as families, crime and inequality.
  • Students can use the inequalities they study in this unit as evidence for one area of inequality for their inequalities unit at A Level.

How will we be assessed on this topic?

  • Students will sit a formal exam on this topic in the summer. This section makes up 55 marks and 68 minutes of Paper 1 at AS and 50 marks and 62 minutes at A Level.
  • They will be asked three 10 mark questions and one 25 mark question at AS Level. At A level they will be asked one 15 mark question and a choice of two 35 mark questions.
  • There will also be mid topic and end of topic tests on the unit when we study it.
  • Students will also have recap tests / questioning / exam questions on this topic during most lessons.

What makes a strong piece of work in this topic?  What are teachers hoping to see?  

  • Linking their answers to the context of the item they are given in the exam.
  • A detailed description of the content.
  • Sustained evaluation that is fully ‘PEEEL’ed.

What key words are there in this topic?

What can I try if I want to stretch and challenge myself on this topic?

  • Use the key study list to ensure you know the details of the studies in this topic:
  • There is an extension challenge set for this unit. This consists of 4 interesting tasks such as videos to watch, podcasts to listen to, articles to read and online courses to complete with a feedback task at the end. Please see your subject teacher to access this sheet.

What wider reading can be done on this topic?

  • There are several Sociology Review Magazine articles relevant to this topic that you can read to extend your knowledge.
  • You could read some Sociology journal articles and practise identifying and evaluating the different research methods used.
    • Chubb and Moe
    • Rosenthal and Jacobson
    • Ball, Bowe and Gerwitz