Sociology is the study of society. Sociologists seek to understand all aspects of human social behaviour. This can be on the micro-scale of interpersonal interactions or the macro-scale of globalisation. Advanced Level Sociology is a two-year course that covers a range of sociological theories, key topic themes and research methods. Sociological theories that will be studied include functionalism, feminism, Marxism, interactionism and postmodernism. These theories are applied to a range of key topic themes which include the family, education, media and crime. Students study and conduct their own small-scale investigations using a variety of research methods, these include observations, questionnaires, experiments, interviews and content analysis. The final course assessment consists of three examination papers that are taken at the end of Year 13. Each examination paper is worth a third of the overall A Level, these consist of a combination of short answer questions and extended essay writing. Paper 1 Education with Methods in Context Students will study the history of education, educational policy implementation and impact, sociological perspectives of education and factors affecting achievement. Research methods will also be studied and these will be applied to conducting sociological research in an educational context. Paper 2 Topics in Sociology (Families & Households and Media) In Families & Households, students will study the history of the family, changing attitudes to women, family social policy, childhood, the division of domestic labour and domestic abuse. In Media, students will study new media, ownership and control of the media, news values and media representations of social groups. Paper 3 Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods Students will study the history of punishment, surveillance, factors affecting offending, green crime, human rights abuses, policing, crime statistics and sociological perspectives on criminality. Research methods will be revisited and theory will be explored in greater depth with a focus on debates such as whether sociology can be scientific.