AS/A Level Sociology


  • Start Date: 08/09/2025
  • Course is for: School Leaver
  • Course Length: 1 Year
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Studying A Level Sociology is your opportunity to delve into the complex and compelling world around us using expert and innovative teachers and techniques.

Where others teach to the text book and the exam, we immerse you in subject to the point where it becomes an innate habit to analyse everything you see and hear from a sociological viewpoint.

Having excellent links with local organisations allows our students to experience knowledge from all perspectives; universities, law courts, and the probation service all help in offering an experience unique to us and one which inspires students to go on and study the subject at university.

A Level Sociology leads to a vast array of career opportunities from teaching through to social work, and equips you with the skills and knowledge to grasp your future goals with both hands.

You will study 2 modules in your AS year:

  • Family & Households
  • Education & Research Methods

You will study 2 further modules in your A2 year:

  • Beliefs in Society
  • Crime & Deviance

Within these modules you will explore concepts and questions that relate to society today such as:

  • Does private education really make a difference?
  • What do we mean by intelligence?
  • Do teachers and schools make a difference to how successful individuals we become?
  • Who does what at home?
  • Why do boys wear blue and girls wear pink?
  • Why do one in three of all marriages end in Divorce?
  • Should young offenders be locked away in prisons?
  • Why are young, black and working class individuals over represented in the crime figures?
  • Is religion the drug of the masses?
  • Why is there such a fuss over women priests?
  • Is there a new age religion?

The raw material of sociology is the experience of ordinary people in ordinary, daily life.

But it is these very daily lives which can provide us with a whole host of clues in order to provide comprehensive and credible answers to these questions.

Required Entry Qualifications

In order to study A-levels with us, all students need to obtain a strong GCSE grade profile, averaging 6 x Grade 6s.

Individual subjects will also have their own specific requirements.

However, if you do not meet this profile, please still come to one of our enrolment events to discuss all of your options with a member of our A-level team.

Year 1 – AS Level:

You will sit two written exams a at the end of the year, both lasting 1.5 hours.

  • Education with Methods in Context
  • Research Methods and Topics in Sociology

Year 2 – A Level:

You will sit three written exams, each lasting two hours.

  • Education with Theory and Methods
  • Topics in Sociology
  • Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

Your knowledge will also be assessed by frequent topic tests including mock assessments to help you prepare for the exams and practical assessments.

You’ll gain skills of critical thinking, knowledge and understanding of research methods and how to apply sociological theory to society’s organisations.

You will also understand researching, judging and evaluating complex information and in turn learn how to understand, scrutinise and re-assess common perceptions of the social world.

Sociology will also enhance written and communicative skills through set assessments, debates and discussion. These skills are useful in many university degrees, particularly the humanities such as English or history and social sciences.

Possible career destinations are broad as the skills you learn can be applied to many different areas.

Suggested options include teaching, public services, social services, youth services, advice services, social researching or charity fundraising.

School Leaver Course Guide 2025/2026

View or download our course guide for 16-18 year olds.

Gateshead College School Leavers guide for 2025 - 2026