Regents Review Winter '18

The Regents Review Winter 2018

Sociology DEPARTMENTAL NEWS

Firstly, we would like to welcome Mr Spencer to the Sociology teaching team with his Year 9 class. In Year 9, we have begun with the ‘Crime and Deviance’ unit, where we have started learning about the potential reasons as to why people may commit crime and how this may be linked to age, gender, social class and/or ethnicity. We have also looked in depth at how the media has influence over how criminal cases are perceived and how there is a huge difference between a 1960s case and a 1990s case, for example. As a part of this, we have looked at many shocking cases of different crimes, such as murders and kidnapping – what lead to these events happening? Could it be linked to the primary or secondary socialisation that a person receives? The students have enjoyed this unit so far and have expressed that they are enjoying the challenging and complex ideas that we delve in to, especially as this is something that they have never had the opportunity to study before. Year 10 have had a busy start to this academic year, which started with them completing the education unit and the corresponding end of unit test. This has proved a popular topic for them to study, as they have been able to apply the theory and knowledge to themselves and their peers. This has provided us with varied, lively and positive debates within the classroom. Over the Christmas period, the Year 10 students will need to complete revision for the January mocks. The unit that they are being tested on is the

education unit. For this, they will need to revise the key theoretical perspectives such as Feminism, Marxism, Interactionism and Functionalism and their ideas about education. We have now moved on to the Family unit, where we have been looking at the difference types of family that exist in society, as well as the how the family unit has changed over the years. Alongside the unit, we have watched a Southampton based programme looking at different family types and the differences in the rich/poor divide. This has proved hugely topical, with Christmas around the corner, as we have discussed societal expectations when buying Christmas presents is concerned. Year 11 students have been working hard in preparation for their mock exams by attending revision sessions and using their lesson notes to ensure they are fully prepared. The students have been able to attend revision sessions after school every Thursday and these sessions will begin again after the Christmas holidays. Linking to a school-wide project, Year 11 looked at the World War One Centenary from a sociological perspective. They looked at how the key 4 theoretical groups differ in their views about war an act, how war would affect society, differences in male and female’s roles and how the after effects of war can impact different people.

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