Social Sciences

Highgate Wood School teach a wide variety of topics in social science from KS3 – KS5.

The Social Sciences Department aims to create critically aware students who are able to understand their role as a social being and who are mindful of their responsibilities as global citizens. Our curriculum celebrates the factors that make us distinctively human, separate from other creatures, while also identifying and engaging students in an understanding and acceptance of our differences. Through our curriculum we investigate areas and cases of social inequality. We consider issues of gender; ethnicity; sexuality; disability and class. We analyse the effectiveness of measures to date to resolve these disparities and we identify and challenge forms of bias within our scientific disciplines.

Students study the social sciences by considering a range of theories, scientific research and case studies. For those studying psychology, the focus is on our behaviour as an individual. Sociology students consider actions on a larger group scale, by exploring the organisation of individuals into society. In criminology we consider explanations for both the individual and society, and how we respond to crime as individuals and as a society. Through each subject students focus on the skills of understanding and explaining theories; being able to apply the theories to novel contexts and being able to analyse and evaluate theories before coming to their own conclusion about the topic. The social sciences also teach students how to concisely explain their arguments and how to use evidence to support their ideas.

Through studying social sciences, we aim for all our students to be able to identify social injustice in the real world and in their own lives and to act to change this. Through the study of the motivations and experiences of others we hope that students will treat those around them with more empathy and understanding; that they will consider different explanations and viewpoints before making judgements and acting; that they will be skilled in evaluating sources of information and persuasion rather than blindly accepting. Through these skills, we believe that our social science students will be able to take an active part in creating a fairer world.

Social Sciences are introduced at KS3 through a variety of subjects, notably ECS, Citizenship, Geography and History. In Year 10 students can choose to develop this understanding further with GCSE courses in Sociology – or also in other humanities subjects.

Unit 1:

  • Studying Society – looking into the research process and evaluating methods including observations, questionnaires and interviews.
  • Families and Households –  explaining family diversity i.e. couple/lone-parent, heterosexual/gay, extended/nuclear and reconstituted. Sociological approaches to the family – functionalist, Marxist and feminist as well as New Right perspectives. Changes in relationships and roles within the family and explanations of the growth in the divorce rate and its consequences.
  • Education – explaining variations in achievement according to social class, ethnicity and gender. Influences on achievement including parental values, peer groups, streaming, labelling, teacher expectations, economic circumstances and cultural background. The functions of the educational system and other educational debates.

Unit 2:

  • Crime and Deviance – the social distribution of crime in terms of class, age, gender, ethnicity and locality. Explanations for criminal and deviant behaviour such as sub-cultural theories, labelling theory and relative deprivation. The usefulness of official crime figures, and self-report and victim studies.
  • Social Stratification – explaining the nature of stratification e.g. the unequal distribution of wealth, income, status and power. Stratification systems based on class, gender, ethnicity and religion. Sociological explanations of poverty e.g. the cycle of poverty, the culture of poverty, the culture of dependency and structural explanations. The major debates about inequality including the extent to which modern Britain can be considered a meritocracy and the continued significance of class. The power relationships that exist in society.
  • Methods in Context – applying the methods learned in unit one to novel stem material associated with areas of the specification.

Download our Curriculum Maps:

Criminology

The study of criminology brings together a range of different disciplines to explain, prevent, manage and control offending behaviour. You will learn about psychological theories of why people commit crimes and sociological theories of why some groups of people are more likely to commit crimes than others. You will also learn about media representations of criminality and their consequences. You will consider models of punishment and prevention, including the organisation of the legal system, and assess how effectively the law enforcement agencies have been with different crime prevention and reduction strategies. Throughout the course you will study and use real life cases of crimes from UK society as evidence for your assignments.

You will need to build a comprehensive awareness of the legal system, of crime and society so a keen interests in these aspects of the current affairs is vital. Because of the cross over in material between psychology, sociology and criminology, it will be expected that you will only study a maximum of two of these subjects.

Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of how people think, feel and behave. It provides a fascinating insight into how the mind works, looking at a variety of topics including memory, social conditioning, brain development and general human behaviour. Whilst Psychology is one of the most popular subjects at degree level, the skills you will develop at A level will also be useful in a very wide range of other subjects. It is excellent preparation for a degree course in psychology and for a wide range of careers, including Educational, Clinical, Occupational and Forensic Psychology, Medicine, Teaching, Counselling, PR, Marketing, Broadcasting and Advertising. Psychology is regarded as a good “gateway” A level to many degree courses.

Subject content:

  • Social influence
  • Memory
  • Attachment
  • Approaches in Psychology
  • Psychopathology
  • Research methods
  • Biopsychology
  • Issues and debates in Psychology

Sociology

In KS5 important and challenging questions are learnt about and discussed in lessons: what makes us the people we are? Why do we spend so much time worrying about how we present ourselves to the outside world? Why is it that girls perform better in their GCSEs than boys? How does the media influence the way we see our own bodies? Why are there such massive differences between the richest and poorest in society? What are the different explanations for why people commit crime?

Subject content:

  • Education
  • Methods in Context
  • Research Methods
  • Culture and identity
  • Families and Households
  • Health
  • Work, Poverty and Welfare
  • Beliefs in Society
  • Global Development
  • The Media
  • Stratification and Differentiation

Politics

If you have an interest in how political decisions are reached and who has the power to influence them you will enjoy this course. It provides lots of opportunities for discussion and debate, and complements the study of many other A Level subjects such as History, Sociology, Economics and Philosophy extremely well. Studying Politics is ideal if you have ambitions to study International Relations, History, Law, Politics, or Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at university.

Key Stage 3

Social Sciences are introduced at KS3 through a variety of subjects, notably ECS, Citizenship, Geography and History. In Year 10 students can choose to develop this understanding further with GCSE courses in Sociology – or also in other humanities subjects.

Key Stage 4

Unit 1:

  • Studying Society – looking into the research process and evaluating methods including observations, questionnaires and interviews.
  • Families and Households –  explaining family diversity i.e. couple/lone-parent, heterosexual/gay, extended/nuclear and reconstituted. Sociological approaches to the family – functionalist, Marxist and feminist as well as New Right perspectives. Changes in relationships and roles within the family and explanations of the growth in the divorce rate and its consequences.
  • Education – explaining variations in achievement according to social class, ethnicity and gender. Influences on achievement including parental values, peer groups, streaming, labelling, teacher expectations, economic circumstances and cultural background. The functions of the educational system and other educational debates.

Unit 2:

  • Crime and Deviance – the social distribution of crime in terms of class, age, gender, ethnicity and locality. Explanations for criminal and deviant behaviour such as sub-cultural theories, labelling theory and relative deprivation. The usefulness of official crime figures, and self-report and victim studies.
  • Social Stratification – explaining the nature of stratification e.g. the unequal distribution of wealth, income, status and power. Stratification systems based on class, gender, ethnicity and religion. Sociological explanations of poverty e.g. the cycle of poverty, the culture of poverty, the culture of dependency and structural explanations. The major debates about inequality including the extent to which modern Britain can be considered a meritocracy and the continued significance of class. The power relationships that exist in society.
  • Methods in Context – applying the methods learned in unit one to novel stem material associated with areas of the specification.

Download our Curriculum Maps:

Key Stage 5

Criminology

The study of criminology brings together a range of different disciplines to explain, prevent, manage and control offending behaviour. You will learn about psychological theories of why people commit crimes and sociological theories of why some groups of people are more likely to commit crimes than others. You will also learn about media representations of criminality and their consequences. You will consider models of punishment and prevention, including the organisation of the legal system, and assess how effectively the law enforcement agencies have been with different crime prevention and reduction strategies. Throughout the course you will study and use real life cases of crimes from UK society as evidence for your assignments.

You will need to build a comprehensive awareness of the legal system, of crime and society so a keen interests in these aspects of the current affairs is vital. Because of the cross over in material between psychology, sociology and criminology, it will be expected that you will only study a maximum of two of these subjects.

Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of how people think, feel and behave. It provides a fascinating insight into how the mind works, looking at a variety of topics including memory, social conditioning, brain development and general human behaviour. Whilst Psychology is one of the most popular subjects at degree level, the skills you will develop at A level will also be useful in a very wide range of other subjects. It is excellent preparation for a degree course in psychology and for a wide range of careers, including Educational, Clinical, Occupational and Forensic Psychology, Medicine, Teaching, Counselling, PR, Marketing, Broadcasting and Advertising. Psychology is regarded as a good “gateway” A level to many degree courses.

Subject content:

  • Social influence
  • Memory
  • Attachment
  • Approaches in Psychology
  • Psychopathology
  • Research methods
  • Biopsychology
  • Issues and debates in Psychology

Sociology

In KS5 important and challenging questions are learnt about and discussed in lessons: what makes us the people we are? Why do we spend so much time worrying about how we present ourselves to the outside world? Why is it that girls perform better in their GCSEs than boys? How does the media influence the way we see our own bodies? Why are there such massive differences between the richest and poorest in society? What are the different explanations for why people commit crime?

Subject content:

  • Education
  • Methods in Context
  • Research Methods
  • Culture and identity
  • Families and Households
  • Health
  • Work, Poverty and Welfare
  • Beliefs in Society
  • Global Development
  • The Media
  • Stratification and Differentiation

Politics

If you have an interest in how political decisions are reached and who has the power to influence them you will enjoy this course. It provides lots of opportunities for discussion and debate, and complements the study of many other A Level subjects such as History, Sociology, Economics and Philosophy extremely well. Studying Politics is ideal if you have ambitions to study International Relations, History, Law, Politics, or Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at university.