UDSCLOFY - BSc (Hons) Sociology (including foundation year)

Studying BSc (Hons) Sociology (Including Foundation Year) at London Metropolitan University provides students with the skills to make sense of the diverse and complex social world and city in which we live. The foundation, preparatory year of the four-year extended degree programme helps students with non-traditional qualifications, lower UCAS points and mature students wanting to return to education, prepare for level 4 study at undergraduate level. The Foundation prepares students to move on to one of 12 degree pathways in the social sciences including BSc (Hons) Sociology. It teaches students the academic study skills, digital skills, research techniques and critical thinking that they will need for undergraduate study as well as introducing them to basic ideas, approaches and themes in sociology and the wider social sciences. The foundation year also aims to develop your independent learning, supporting you to become confident and proactive students, able to operate effectively at undergraduate level within a large university.

During the foundation year, students will gain a solid introduction to sociology and the social sciences as well as learning and developing skills in academic writing and research. The workshop style classes use active learning approaches and a key focus in the way this programme is taught is through the use of the students’ own experience of the topics and issues covered.

Throughout the year, you will also become familiar with the different ways of studying your subject at Higher Education level through lectures and seminars, classroom discussion, peer-led sessions, 1-1 tutorials, practical sessions and workshops, library research, web-based and blended learning. A wide range of digital skills for study are developed on the course, through independent learning tasks, different assessment types and use of the University’s VLE, which is used to disseminate information and to support student learning and digital skills development. Classroom activities and learning materials are carefully structured and planned so that academic skills and support is automatically built in to all aspects of the learning on the course.

Moving on to the BSc (Hons) Sociology, the course seeks to develop students’ critical thinking and conceptual understanding of the causes of inequality, exclusion, injustice and identity in relation to the key social divisions of race, social class and gender. The course aims to stimulate students’ self-exploration and encourage them to reflect on their own values and diverse identities, and to nurture the academic and personal competence necessary for meaningful engagement and effective communication in a complex and diverse society. In addition, students will be equipped with the skills necessary for independent investigation of all aspects of social reality in the best traditions of social research. Alongside the study of sociological theory and research and of social divisions in society, the course embraces a diverse range of topics on global inequalities and environmental injustice, the sociology of everyday life, religion, human rights, social policy, housing and homelessness and in your third year, a work placement and your dissertation.

On the Sociology course you will follow particular ‘streams’ that develop your understanding and skills over the three years of your study. This includes a ‘theory’ stream (starting with SS4052 Constructing Modern Societies in your first year) and a ‘research’ stream (starting with SS4051 Researching Social Life and culminating in your dissertation in year 3) which are core modules in each semester over the three years and which sit alongside a ‘decolonisation’ stream (starting with SS4058 Global Inequalities in the first year) and a ‘social divisions’ stream (which starts with SS4057 Social Divisions in your first year).

We are committed to building on the curiosity and diversity our students bring to their studies and to encourage the growth of inclusive and informed critical thinking in line with the principles of the University’s Education for Social Justice Framework (ESJF) to ensure ‘our curricula and practice align with principles of equity, with who our students are, and the challenges facing London and its communities’ (ESJF).

Inclusiveness is at the centre of the course, both in terms of delivery and the content. The modules, teaching methods and assessments are designed to support our students in their learning and seek to reflect the diversity of our student’s lives and experiences. Through the use of a range of innovative assessments and teaching methods, combined with the support from the teaching staff, students are encouraged to become confident, creative and resilient learners. Students will receive regular feedback and support from academic teaching staff alongside the wider University academic, library and student services support.

Students will engage in face to face teaching and learning backed up by online teaching and learning resources available through Weblearn and will also be trained in use of specialized software such as SPSS and NVivo for data analysis.

The BSc (Hons) Sociology (Including Foundation Year) prioritises providing students with both generic and subject-specific employability skills for careers in a range of public and private sector organisations. These include communication skills, IT, social research and critical thinking skills, team working and basic project management skills and an ability to critically reflect on the dynamics of contemporary society. The course also includes an optional work placement module. where students can gain work-experience including in local, community organisations in which they can help address the complex problems of poverty, inequality and discrimination. The course also allows students to understand the inequalities and discrimination which shape the labour market and workplace as part of a wider focus on the sociology of work.

The course has at its heart London Metropolitan University’s commitment to social justice and change, using the power of education to change lives.

The Foundation Year aims to support and prepare students to become "undergraduate ready". It prepares students to continue onto one of 12 degree pathways in the social sciences including BSc (Hons) Sociology. The Foundation Year will equip you with the necessary knowledge, understanding and skills in sociology and the wider social sciences, alongside the key digital and academic skills in order to communicate your ideas effectively (orally and in writing) and to use an appropriate academic style that will allow you to progress onto level 4. It also aims to develop your understanding of different assessments and learning and teaching styles in Higher Education and to build your confidence by experiencing and understanding theories and knowledge through personal experience and reflective learning techniques.

The course aims to provide students with a range of skills, knowledge and critical awareness in order to provide a solid foundation for understanding the complex and diverse nature of the society in which we live. In particular, the course aims to:

● Prepare students to become ‘undergraduate ready’

● develop students' critical thinking and their ability to analyse concepts and sociological theory

● give students an understanding of social inequalities and social divisions in society and of issues of identity and diversity

● give students a solid foundation in social research skills and approaches and an understanding of the social, political and ethical nature of social research.

● stimulate students' self-exploration and encourage them to reflect on their own values and diverse identities.

● develop an understanding of the political, economic and social contexts of global and local social policy

● develop the skills necessary to become socially responsible practitioners and professionals in their discipline and in wider society

● provide students with a range of generic, transferable and subject-specific employability skills

On successful completion of the BSc (Hons) Sociology (Including Foundation Year) course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of a range of key sociological concepts and theoretical approaches and apply them to a range of everyday social situations, contexts and problems

2. Demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of social inequality and of sociological theories of race, gender and social class

3. Demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of diverse identities, building on their own lives and experiences

4. Demonstrate their knowledge of the challenge, meanings and importance of decolonising the sociological curriculum

5. Demonstrate an understanding of the social processes that underpin social change and conflict

6. Demonstrate skills in information gathering, analysis and interpretation, and in communication and presentation skills including an understanding of quantitative and qualitative research methods and of the appropriateness of their use

7. Be familiar with different IT tools and systems for recording data and presenting information and for note taking, timetabling and carrying out online meetings

8. Organise, manage and reflect on their own learning and to make use of both scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to psychology and sociology)

9. Apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects in both academic and professional contexts

10. Demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition and creativity and act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible practitioners/professionals in their discipline

http://Subject Benchmark Statement: Sociology 2019

As part of the Foundation Year, students are assessed through a variety of methods including research reports, in-class tests, written portfolios, individual oral presentations, group-led seminars, literature reviews and essays. This is so that students become familiar with a wide range of assessment types they may face at higher levels of study. They are also provided with various opportunities to develop an understanding of the academic skills they need to develop and demonstrate in order to become “undergraduate ready”.

The BSc Sociology degree embeds central aspects from the Education for Social Justice Framework within its assessment strategy. Students will experience diverse and inclusive forms of assessment throughout the course, in many cases being able to tailor assignments to cover the actors, issues or areas they want to learn more about.

The course combines both formative and summative assessment opportunities, embracing a variety of methods including essays, briefing papers, portfolios, policy documents, seminar performance, seminar presentations (both individual and group), and book reviews. The majority will be tutor assessed, but a number will be peer-reviewed in seminars. Through online assessments and in-class preparations for assessments, students will be encouraged to provide each other with formative feedback (or ‘feedforward’), to assist and support each other in their summative assessments.

At each level of the course, assessment and feedback practices are informed by reflection, consideration of professional practice, and subject-specific and educational scholarship. Staff and students are encouraged to engage in dialogue to promote a shared understanding of the basis on which academic judgements are made, and students are provided with opportunities to develop an understanding of, and the necessary skills to demonstrate, good academic practice. For example, using specimen assignments in classes devoted to assessment, students learn how to better understand and apply the assessment criteria.

The volume, timing and nature of assessments is designed to enable students to demonstrate the extent to which they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. Indeed, with an emphasis on progression, formative assessment is structured to support students in their summative assessment, with feedback being both constructive and developmental.

Throughout, the strategy is designed to maximise the development of subject-specific skills and employability skills appropriate to each level of the degree.

Enhancing students’ future career prospects is a central aspect of the degree programme. All modules, for example, have aspects of employability embedded within them. Students are also encouraged to attend skills workshops and recruitment sessions run by the Careers and Employability Team on job search, careers advice, CV’s and the application and interview process.

Students have the additional option at Level 6 of studying the work placement module, WL6W50 Empowering London which involves a 40-70-hour work placement with a local community-based employer or organization. A new innovative module combining work based learning and a radical model of critical and transformative citizenship, this module has been developed to allow students to work intensively with a London community project/organisation in order to identify (in partnership with them) a challenge they are faced with and work towards positively addressing this challenge This innovative module is an exciting opportunity to work at a grass-roots level to effect change and to learn about the key issues currently affecting London and other large cities.

The initial stages of this 15 credit, year-long module introduces students to a range of professional skills and techniques, including: reflective self-assessment; preparation for employment as a values-driven graduate within inclusive work environments; becoming an ethical leader; being a critical employee and developing approaches for co-operative and collaborative working. Students are then introduced to employment experience opportunities supporting organisations and/or individuals in the local community.

YEAR 1 (LEVEL 4)

SS4051 Researching Social Life (Core)
SS4052 Constructing Modern Societies (Core)

SS4055 Protest, Justice and Social Change (Core)
SS4056 Sociological Imagination (Core)

YEAR 2 (LEVEL 4)

SS4057 Social Divisions (Core)
SS4054 Global Environmental (In)Justice (Core)

SS4053 Introducing Social Policy (Core)
SS4058 Global Inequalities (Core)

YEAR 3 (Level 5)

SS5096 Quantitative Social Research (Core)
SS5066 Self and Society (Core)

SS5099 Qualitative Social Research (Core)
SS5067 Sociology of Everyday Life (Core)

YEAR 4 (LEVEL 5)

SS5097 Understanding Racism and Ethnicity (Core)
One option:
SS5153 Sociology and Current Affairs (Default option)
SS5098 Youth in Modern Society. Consumer’s, Deviants and Rebels (Option)
SS5152 Society at the End of Days (Option)

SS5150 Understanding Gender and Sexuality (Core)
One option:
SS5151 Living on the Margins (Default option)

YEAR 5 (Level 6)

SS6086 Living Theory (Core)
One option:
SS6089 Gender Politics (Default Option)
SS6057 Housing and Homelessness (Option)
SS6063 Religion and the State (Option)
WL6W50 Empowering London (Option)

SS6087 Conversations in Sociological Thought (Core)
One option:
SS6088 Racism in the global context (Default option)
SS6082 Comparative and Global Social Policy (Option)
SS6054 Human Rights and Conflict (Option)

YEAR 6 (Level 6)

SS6P02 Sociology Dissertation (Core)
One option:
SS6089 Gender Politics (Default Option)
SS6057 Housing and Homelessness (Option)
SS6063 Religion and the State (Option)
WL6W50 Empowering London (Option)

SS6P02 Sociology Dissertation (Core)
One option:
SS6088 Racism in the global context (Default option)
SS6082 Comparative and Global Social Policy (Option)
SS6054 Human Rights and Conflict (Option)

To accommodate research leave for academic staff and to ensure that modules are viable in terms of student numbers, the Sociology subject group may withdraw one or more optional modules for a year. To gauge the number of students on optional modules at levels 5 and 6 in the following academic year, module conferences will take place in the spring semester on the core modules SS4058 and SS5067, to ensure that students are informed about their options, are able to select their modules at the next level of study and to enable the subject group to make adjustments for any modules which need to be temporarily withdrawn..

Certificate of Higher Education:

Level 4:

SS4051 Researching Social Life
SS4052 Constructing Modern Societies
SS4053 Introduction to Social Policy
SS4054 Global Environmental (In)Justice
SS4055 Protest, Justice and Social Change
SS4056 Sociological Imagination
SS4057 Social Divisions
SS4058 Global Inequalities

Diploma in Higher Education:

Level 4:

SS4051 Researching Social Life
SS4052 Constructing Modern Societies
SS4053 Introduction to Social Policy
SS4054 Global Environmental (In)Justice
SS4055 Protest, Justice and Social Change
SS4056 Sociological Imagination
SS4057 Social Divisions
SS4058 Global Inequalities

Level 5:

SS5096 Quantitative Social Research
SS5097 Understanding Racism and Ethnicity
SS5099 Qualitative Social Research
SS5150 Understanding Gender and Sexuality
SS5066 Self and Society
SS5067 Sociology of Everyday Life

and TWO options from:

SS5151 Living on the Margins
SS5152 Society at the End of Days
SS5153 Sociology and Current Affairs
SS5098 Youth in Modern Society. Consumers, Deviants and Rebels

Throughout the Foundation Year programme, students will be required to reflect on their learning, identify areas of strength and weakness and develop action plans in response to these reflections. This will occur informally through tutor and peer feedback and also formally through reflective writing as part of the assessments and the written and oral response from tutors to this. Through this experience of reflective learning, students will start to understand the value of being proactive, independent learners, ready for their first year of undergraduate study.

The BSc (Hons) Sociology (Including Foundation Year) course is designed to enable students to adopt a critical approach to knowledge and understanding, with ideas examined in a reflective way. In particular, students are encouraged to reflect on their own values and diverse identities. Reflective learning will be encouraged in both class-room activities and in assessments. Feedback on assessments from academic staff, whether written, podcasts or videos or in-class presentations, will further facilitate reflective learning. A number of modules have formative assessments in which feedback to students and reflection on that feedback is key while the work placement module assessment is a reflective report and other module assessments offer students the option of producing drafts. Student’s will be encouraged to engage positively with feedback opportunities and to reflect on and learn from these. Students will be encouraged to engage with employability throughout the course including through developing their PDP in Level 4 and building on the Plan throughout the following two years of study.

Sociology graduates enter a variety of professions including within the public sector, third sector and private sector. The QAA Sociology Subject Benchmark Standards report highlights the wide range of professions Sociology graduates move into including teaching and lecturing, social services, local and national government including the civil service, youth work, social research, journalism, third sector advocacy and think tanks, policy development, public health and many more.

The course develops students transferable, generic and subject-specific skills. Again, the QAA Sociology Subject Benchmark Standards report highlights the many skills Sociology graduates acquire including the skills developed in evidence and research-based approaches and the ability to research, collect and analyse data, use a range of software, conduct policy analysis, administer, plan and time manage, write and edit, present evidence and arguments and question and debate alongside skills in understanding cultural diversity and the issues around inequality and discrimination in relation to race, social class, gender, disability, age and religion.

The course includes a focus on developing these key employability skills throughout the three years of students’ study.

Our criminology and sociology graduates have gone on to careers including police officers, counter fraud criminal investigators, support workers, probation officers and teachers, securing jobs at the Metropolitan Police Service, HM Government, Rethink Mental Illness and the National Probation Service.

Continuing your studies with us

The School of Social Sciences and Professions has a wide range of exciting industry-linked postgraduate courses available on a full-time and part-time basis in criminology, security, diplomacy, international relations, sociology and psychology. The following courses would be ideal for progression to postgraduate study:

• Human Rights and International Conflict - MA
• Organised Crime and Global Security - MA
• Woman and Child Abuse - MA
• Youth and Community Work (with JNC Recognition) - MSc

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• at least one A level (or a minimum of 32 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC Subsidiary/National/BTEC Extended Diploma)
• GCSE English Language at grade C (grade 4) or above (or equivalent)

If you are a mature student with significant work experience, you are invited to apply for this course on the basis of the knowledge and skills you have developed through your work.