GCSE Sociology in Bryn Hafren

See also: GCSE course information

What is Sociology?

Sociology is a social science. This means that people try to look at what happens in the world in a scientific and unemotional way. Sociology is about learning to understand something of how we organise our own lives and why we behave as we do.

What topics are studied?

The course followed covers the whole WJEC syllabus. You will study:

• how people are made by their society
• families
• social differences
• social class
• inequality
• crime

You will also be given additional work which covers issues of how we are governed, how we are affected by the media and the importance of education to our society.

You will be given a lot of freedom to undertake individual projects on ideas and topics that interest you. All of the topics will involve teaching you something of how to conduct a research project in sociology. You will see examples of work from some of these projects on this site.

The examination

The examination is divided into two tiers. People who really cope well with the subject can take a higher tier and others will do the foundation tier. Classes are mixed ability and students will discuss with teachers which tier they feel that they can manage in Year 11.

You will be expected to conduct your own piece of research into a topic of your choice. This research is worth 20% of the marks for the examination.

Career Options

Sociology is a good general subject. It can be combined with sciences or with arts subjects. Sociology is particularly useful to those considering a career in business, teaching, social research or social planning.

Help and Guidance

You will be given as much help as you need and you will receive individual tuition should you require it and ask for it. The staff offers a high degree of commitment and expects it from students.

What resources are on offer?

The Learning Resource Centre is extremely well stocked with GCSE and ‘A’ level texts. You will be expected to use those, and the CD ROM’s. You will be given workbooks, which you can follow at your own pace and which have all the information you will need.

The Sociology teaching room has a small resources centre with booklets and information packs available. There is also a computer with access to the school network. There are plenty of materials to support your learning on the school network

The type of work we expect you to do in GCSE Sociology

You should look at some of the exercises and materials which are available on other pages on this site for a clue as to what sort of work you can do.