AQA Presentation by Lydia Rushton. A presentation at the BSA Teaching Group Regional event on Friday, 29 May 2015.

1. BSA Teaching Group
Regional Conference
Lydia Rushton
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Friday 29th May
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2. New specification – core themes
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Students must study the following core
themes as part of the new specification:
• Socialisation, culture and identity
• Social differentiation, power and
stratification
The central focus on this new
specification is on UK society today, with
consideration given to comparative
dimensions where relevant, including the
siting of UK society within its globalised
context
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3. New specification – key units
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Paper one – Education with theory and
methods (2 hours – 33% of A-level)
• Education is now a compulsory unit
• Key topics are the same – updated
focus on principles of marketisation and
privatisation within the policy topic
• There is a methods in context question
within this unit
• Theory and methods content remains
the same
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4. Education: Identity and Privatisation
• Both of these build upon existing content rather than being entirely new.
• In Identity the emphasis is on how the experience of schooling impacts on
pupils self concept notably in terms of their class, gender and/or ethnic
identity.
• This has been a focus of educational research for decades eg Paul Willis
on class, Sue Sharpe on gender, Martin Mac an Ghiall on class and gender
and Mary Fuller on gender and ethnicity.
• Privatisation is a development of the debates surrounding the impact of
educational policies, especially those of the present government.
• The reduction of the role of LA’s in running schools and the opportunity for
private companies to obtain work in or with schools could be considered.
• Also the increasing role of major private companies such as Pearson,
Serco and Capita in education could be explored.
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5. New specification – key units
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Paper two – Topics in sociology (2 hours – 33% of A-level)
• This allows for centres to choose topics that better suit their
learners
• Section A – choice of topics from four; Culture and identity,
Families and Households, Health, Work, poverty and welfare
• Section B – choice of topics from four; Beliefs in society,
Global development, The media, Stratification and
differentiation
• Key content for each topic remains the same
• Some slight updates, for example; more emphasis placed on
migration within the Families and households unit
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6. Families and Households: The Sociology of Personal
Life
• This is really an extension of what we have always covered when looking
at family and household diversity and social change.
• What people see as a family and indeed how they order their personal lives
has become much more fluid and unpredictable.
• The rise of such things as creative singlehood, gay adoption, civil
partnerships and gay marriage, blended families, the negotiated family, the
sandwich generation all call into question traditional notions of families and
family life.
• Duncan and Phillips ( 2008) talk about LAT’s : Living apart together as a
trend towards less formalised relationships.
• The work of Carol Smart is also relevant here.
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7. New specification – key units
Copyright © AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Paper three – Crime and deviance with
theory and methods (2 hours – 33% of A-
level)
• Crime and deviance is now a compulsory
unit
• A topic has now been removed – suicide
is no longer taught as a topic within the
Crime and deviance unit
• Methods in context is no longer taught as
part of the Crime and deviance unit
• Theory and methods content remains the
same
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8. Crime and Deviance: Surveillance
• This builds on the existing area of social control and also debates
surrounding crime prevention and the role of agents of social control.
• A starting point is often the work of Foucault and his book “Discipline and
Punish” (1977) where he talked about the notion of self surveillance.
• Clearly the debate has widened to consider the role of CCTV, identity
cards, electronic surveillance etc.
• This links in to other sections of this topic such as State crime, cyber crime
etc.
• A pre-eminent writer in this field is David Lyon who discusses the global
dimension to surveillance.
• He also notes that as social media have expanded we find a loss of
personal data.
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9. New specification – changes to assessment
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• There are now three Assessment Objectives – AO1
(knowledge and understanding), AO2 (application), AO3
(analysis and evaluation)
• Assessment has now been standardised across the three
units
• Questions weightings are now worth 4, 6, 10, 20 and 30 marks
• Exam commands have been standardised
• Items are still utilised in some of the questions
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10. New specification – co-teachability
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• The specification is designed to allow
ease of teaching for both AS and first
year students
• Key content is the same and can be
taught in the same way
• The methods in context section is the
same
• Question formats for the extended
writing questions are the same
• There are some short answer
questions in the AS unit (2 mark
questions)
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11. New specification – resources
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There will be a range of resources available online to complement the
new specification:
• Teaching guide – extended notes on each of the bullet points on the
specification
• Additional specimen papers
• Sample answers marked by senior/principal examiners with
detailed feedback
• Contemporary research updates – to complement and update
knowledge of key topics
• Schemes of work – detailed lesson plans outlining how long to
spend on each topic with a contemporary resource booklet
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12. Copyright © AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
A sample from the scheme of work - Education
Slide 26
Gender Differential
educational
achievement of
social groups by
social class,
gender and
ethnicity in
contemporary
society.
Investigate the gender
gap in achievement.
Review key trends and
patterns.
Summarise key
external factors -
changes in the family,
impact of feminism,
changes in women’s
employment and
changing ambitions.
Paper based starter: questions on key trends
and graphs.
Board work: external v internal.
KW Sue Sharpe: pictures of love, marriage,
career, money and babies and students have to
rank in order of importance (actually carrying
out Sue Sharpes study about women) - question
the students on their choices.
Review work of Sharpe: methods link -
longitudinal study comparing over a set time
period.
Explore notions of feminism, employment and
family changes.
Review and link to gender roles within families
topic.
Discuss changing ambitions.
Resources
 Paper based starter
 Pictures

13. New specification – resources
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14. E-AQA
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15. Textbooks
X of x
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The following textbooks by Polity, Collins and Hodder have been selected to enter the
AQA approval process for AS/A-level Sociology. Upon successful completion of the
process, the books will be published as ‘AQA approved’.
Digital resources will follow for titles marked *.
AQA A level Sociology Student Book 1*
Collins
Dave Aiken, Steve Chapman, Martin Holborn and Stephen Moore
Expected publication: January 2015
AQA A level Sociology Student Book 2*
Collins
Dave Aiken, Steve Chapman, Martin Holborn and Stephen Moore
Expected publication: April 2015

16. Textbooks
3 of 17
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AQA Sociology for A level Year 1/AS
Hodder
Dave Bown, Laura Poutney and Janis Griffiths
Expected publication: April 2015
AQA Sociology for A level Year 2
Hodder
Dave Bown, Laura Poutney and Janis Griffiths
Expected Publication: May 2015
AQA Sociology for A level Year 1/AS
Polity
Ken Browne
AQA Sociology for A level Year 2
Polity
Ken Browne

17. New specification – CPD opportunities
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Preparing to teach – complimentary face to face and web conferences
available across a number of venues from the 21st April onwards
They aim to:
• Take a detailed look through the new specification
• Look at approaches to teaching both the AS and A-level
• Find out about how you can use our new resources including the
scheme of work
• Get expert guidance on teaching strategies and lesson structure
• Have an opportunity to share ideas and network with colleagues
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18. Any questions
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19. Copyright © AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Thank you
x of x
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