Sociology

Applications Open: 27/11/25

Applications Close: 31/01/26

Entry Requirements: 4 GCSE passes at grade 6 or above including grade 5s in Maths and either English Literature or Language.

How to Apply: Online application using Applicca - https://rochestergrammarschool.applicaa.com/applicaa.com/Year12

Paper 1: Education with Theory and Methods

Education:

Students are expected to be familiar with sociological explanations of the following content:

• the role and functions of the education system, including its relationship to the economy and to class structure

• differential educational achievement of social groups by social class, gender and ethnicity in contemporary society

• relationships and processes within schools, with particular reference to teacher/pupil relationships, pupil identities and subcultures, the hidden curriculum, and the organisation of teaching and learning

• the significance of educational policies, including policies of selection, marketisation and privatisation, and policies to achieve greater equality of opportunity or outcome, for an understanding of the structure, role, impact and experience of and access to education; the impact of globalisation on educational policy.

Theory and Methods:

Students must be able to apply sociological research methods to the study of education, including, but not limited to, considering the following:

• quantitative and qualitative methods of research; research design

• sources of data, including questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics

• the relationship between positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods; the nature of ‘social facts’

• consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories

• the concepts of modernity and post-modernity in relation to sociological theory

• the nature of science and the extent to which Sociology can be regarded as scientific

• the relationship between theory and methods

• the relationship between Sociology and social policy.

Paper 2: Topics in Sociology (2 optional units, one of which TBC, the other The Media)

The Media: Students are expected to be familiar with sociological explanations of the following content:

• the new media and their significance for an understanding of the role of the media in contemporary society

• the relationship between ownership and control of the media

• the media, globalisation and popular culture

• the processes of selection and presentation of the content of the news

• media representations of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability

• the relationship between the media, their content and presentation, and audiences.

Paper 3: Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

Crime and Deviance

Students are expected to be familiar with sociological explanations of the following content:

• crime, deviance, social order and social control

• the social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime

• globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the media and crime; green crime; human rights and state crimes

• crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies.

Theory and Methods

• As per Paper 1

Examination only

3 x 2hr written examinations each wroth 33.33% of the A-Level course

GCSE Grade 6 in Sociology OR Grade 6 in English (literature or language) or a humanity