Social Sciences Department

Welcome to the Social Science department which caters exclusively for post 16 students and delivers AS and A2 courses in Sociology and Psychology. These subjects are immensely popular and currently cater for 125 students within the department. Both subjects are taught according to the AQA specification and Psychology follows syllabus A.

The department aims to offer a stimulating learning experience for students by means of two subjects which both have real life application. We also aim to offer students a quality learning experience which will enable them to get their best possible ‘A’ level grades.

The department is currently staffed by 3 colleagues, 2 of whom focus exclusively on Psychology and the third, a specialist in Sociology. The teaching rooms are conveniently located in the new sixth form block so that students have access to their own café and study suite. The rooms themselves are modern and well equipped and students are given copies of textbooks for the duration of the course, in addition to access to more within the teaching rooms themselves.

There is a strong work ethic within the department and students will always have work set outside of class time. Teaching within the department is well supported by the sixth form pastoral system which closely monitors students’ progress. The pastoral team can maintain contact with parents and students so that students have every opportunity to achieve to the best of their ability.

In order to support student’s learning, we have a policy of offering lunch time drop in sessions. These will be staffed by teachers and sometimes by student subject officers. We like students to feel that they can contact us freely regarding learning problems and appointments can be made by seeing us or by school email.

Psychology

Psychology is the science of behaviour and involves testing this in a scientific way.

Psychologists aim to find out about human behaviour by conducting research using the same methods as other scientists. Psychology is a unique science as it studies living, breathing, thinking, human beings. It is interested in how the mind governs our behaviour. 

Psychology is a factual subject in that most of what we know is derived out of experimental evidence. An example of a Psychological experiment is the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Zimbardo in the 1970’s. This experiment showed how easily influenced people are when placed in a particular situation or role, such as a prison officer. It also showed how easily we can behave out of character to alarming effect. 

The AS level introduces you to a range of different areas within Psychology and each of these is applied to established research in everyday situations.

The A2 course is a more detailed study of behaviour that builds on the knowledge of psychological approaches gained at AS level. It also enables you to gain a better understanding of the practical nature of research.

Sociology

Sociology is the study of group behaviour and attempts to locate the underlying patterns to which we all conform. Sociologists believe that sex, social class background, age and ethnicity all influence the behaviour. Sociologists, therefore, believe that nature alone cannot explain behaviour and nurture is equally important. 

Sociological theories are all developed from research studies so there is objective evidence to support what people believe to be true. There are a range of research methods which Sociologists use such as questionnaires, interviews and observation. Durkheim used official statistics from coroners and found that suicide patterns vary from county to country. His work has been challenged by others using different research methods, so the job of the Sociology student is to evaluate which is best. There are few clear facts to be had, so the student learns to behave like a member of a jury and weigh up the evidence.