A Level Sociology of Education Revision Bundle

Sociology of Education Revision Bundle

This revision bundle is designed to help you revise for AQA A Level Sociology Paper 1: Education with Theory and Methods (education aspect only)

This zip file contains (updated and uploaded April 2020!)

1.   Sociology of education revision notes

34 pages cover the following topics:

·  Perspectives on education – Functionalism, Marxism and the New Right

·  Education policies – the tripartite system, comprehensives, marketization and the 1988 Education Act, 1997 and New Labour, and the 2010 coalition government’s education policies. Also includes vocationalism and compensatory education.

·  Social class and educational achievement – material deprivation, cultural deprivation, cultural capital and in-school factors.

·  Gender and education – achievement, subject choice and identity- external and internal factors

·  Ethnicity and differential educational achievement – cultural factors and in-school factors

·  In-school processes such as labelling, banding and streaming and subcultures are covered as part of class, gender and ethnicity.

As an added bonus I’m throwing in my perspectives summary grid, colour coded!

2.   Sociology of education mind maps

9 mind maps covering the following topics:

·  An overview of the whole education module (1 mind map)

·  Perspectives on education (3 mind maps – Functionalism, Marxism and The New Right)

·  Social class and differential education achievement (5 mind maps – overview, material deprivation, cultural deprivation, cultural capital and in-school factors)

As an added bonus I’m throwing in my ‘globalisation and education’ mind map

3.   Sociology of education short answer questions

·  14 examples of the 4 and 6 mark outline short answer questions – exemplar questions and answers.

·  7 examples of the 10 mark 'analyse' questions – exemplar questions and answers and guidance on how to use the item.

4.   How to Write Sociology essays – including 7 examples of sociology of education essay templates and answers

This booklet provides both an overview of how to plan and write 30 mark essays in general and 7 specific education essay plans.

The plans appear first in template form, then with answers, with the skills employed shown in colour. Answers are ‘overkill’ versions designed to get full marks in the exam. 

The 7 essays covered are:

·   Assess the Functionalist View of the Role of Education in Society (30) – Quick plan

·   Assess the Marxist view of the role of education in society (30) – Detailed full essay

·   Assess the extent to which it is home background that is the main cause of differential education achievement by social class (30) – Detailed full essay 

·   Assess the view that education policies since 1988 have improved equality of educational opportunity (30) – Quick plan 

·   Assess the view that the main aim of education policies since 1988 has been to raise overall standards in education.’ (30) - Quick plan

·   Assess the claim that ‘ethnic difference in educational achievement are primarily the result of school factors’ (30) - Detailed full essay  

·   Assess the view that in school processes, rather than external factors, are the most important in explaining differences in educational achievement (30) – Quick plan. 

NB - these essays do not address ‘the item‘ – in the actual exam, you will have to explicitly address a relatively short (typically 3-4 line item). This is a relatively easy thing to do and shouldn’t detract from the utility of these plans – the item will simply contain a brief reference to one or two things relevant to the question, and an evaluation point. It’s assumed here that whatever is in the item is in the essay somewhere, so all you would need to do to make this an item based essay is add in 'as mentioned in item A‘ at the relevant point.

Happy revising, good luck with the exams!

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