Education Studies - Sociology
Entry requirements
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About this course
Are you interested in why people learn in different ways? Do you want to find out more about barriers to learning and how learning supports childhood development? Maybe you’d like to know more about the impact of society and social policy on the education experience.
The BA Education Studies – Sociology is an ideal qualification if you are fascinated by the learning process from a sociological perspective and want to keep your career options open.
From the philosophical foundations of schooling to the political implications of policy, education is a vast field that has multiple avenues to approach a seemingly straightforward subject. Our degree goes far beyond any classroom and considers education, people and their relationship to the ever-changing world.
The curriculum draws on research carried out in the Department to keep the course content relevant and up to date. The breadth of modules allows you to create your own pathway through the course. As well as the sociology pathway, we offer pathways in psychology and geography, or you can choose to focus purely on education studies
This BA will prepare you for a career in many different areas, both in the education sector and further afield. It can provide the first step towards a career as a teacher or researcher, and supports roles in publishing, policy making, the voluntary and public sectors, as well as many more.
Modules
Year 1
Core modules:
Historical and Philosophical Ideas of Education will introduce you to some of the major educational theorists and the foundational ideas informing education practice today. This will help you to develop a personal perspective on the longstanding debate about the purpose and value of education.
Contemporary Issues and Evidence in Education examines a range of contemporary issues in education and the nature and scope of the supporting evidence. With a range of guest speakers from across the Department you will gain a grounding in a variety of issues at stake.
Societies in Transition is the study of contemporary societies and aspects of social life and change, focusing on local communities, families and relationships, economies and consumerism, and patterns relating to health, social class, gender race/ethnicity and religion.
Classical Sociological Theory introduces sociological concepts and theorising, using individual thinkers and particular topics to illustrate changing understandings of the relationship between structure and agency in sociological thinking, both across time and in relation to current debates.
Examples of optional modules:
Disability and Educational Needs: What’s so ‘Special’ about SEND?
International and Comparative Education
Foundations of Psychology in Education.
Year 2
Core modules:
Educational Research Methods helps you to understand the purposes and implications of educational research. You will develop a critical appreciation of the different ways in which research can be carried out in education, and how to assess the quality of educational research.
Modern and Contemporary Sociological Theory explores the key theoretical perspectives within sociological inquiry. You will develop the skills to assess and compare different theoretical perspectives in terms of consistency, logic and explanatory power.
Examples of optional modules:
Cultural Identity, Interculturality and Education
Learning and Development in Childhood
Higher Education: Issues of Exclusion and Inclusion
Constructing Childhood and Youth
Assessing Education
Disability and Education Needs: Impairment, Empowerment, and Education
Self, Identity and Society
Sociology of Education
Violence and Abuse in Society
Communities and Social Justice
Crime, Power and Social Inequalities
Sociology of Health and Medicine.
Year 3 (Year 4 if undertaking a placement or year abroad)
Core modules:
Dissertation. For your dissertation you will undertake an extended, independent piece of research with an appropriate educational focus. You will engage critically with the relevant research relating to your chosen topic.
Examples of optional modules:
Sociology:
Issues in Criminal Justice (Inside-Out)
Youth in Crisis: Young People, Crime and Justice
Sociology of Mental Health and Illness
Cyberculture and Cybercrime
Race, Racism and Social Justice in Britain
Sociology of Work
The Body as Data: Technology, Power and Human Rights
Social Theory and the Politics of Knowledge.
Education:
Education in a Global Age
Digital Society Theory and Practice
The Science of Learning
Education, Mental Health and Wellbeing
Understanding the Arts in Education
The Social Life of Education
Digital Society Theory and Practice
Evidence and Educational Policy.
Assessment methods
We promote diverse and creative forms of assessment so whilst many modules are assessed by essays, other modules may include portfolios, blogs, presentations or posters.
The 12,000-word dissertation is worth one-third of your final-year marks.
The Uni
College allocation pending
Durham City
School of Education
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Education
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Sociology
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Education
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
When you look at employment stats, bear in mind that a lot of students are already working in education when they take this type of course and are studying to help their career development. This means they already have jobs when they start their course, and a lot of graduates continue to study, whilst working, when they complete their courses. If your course is focused on nursery or early years education, a lot of these graduates go into nursery work or classroom or education assistant jobs; these jobs are not currently classed as 'graduate level' in the stats (although they may well be in the future as classifications catch up with changes in the way we work), and many graduates who enter these roles say that a degree was necessary.
Sociology
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Education
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£24k
£26k
£32k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Sociology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£22k
£27k
£31k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Course location and department:
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here