Sociology with Politics BA (Hons)

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of:

Lectures that give an introduction and overview of topics studied as part of the content of each module

Seminars, often featuring small group work and/or round table discussion of published and/or audio-visual materials. These support, extend and develop your knowledge of the topics introduced by lecture

Workshops focusing on preparation for a range of different types of assignment. These develop your understanding and competence for assignment work

Tutorials are one-to-one work with module tutors, usually focusing on assignment preparation or assignment feedback

Assessed and non-assessed, individual and/or group classroom presentations. These help you to the build the skills and confidence for presenting ideas and information in a supportive public environment

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of the course.

You have an opportunity to gain and reflect upon a work-placement in your second and third year as part of a Work Project Module, supervised by the module tutor.

Moreover, the University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support from Student Services and Library Services, and also the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will help you to flourish and be successful

Contact time

In a typical week, students will have around 12 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year there is normally slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study.

Typically, class contact time will be structured around class contact time will be structured around lectures (1 hour) and seminars/group work (2 hours).

Independent self-study

In addition to the time in class, you will complete 25 hours of individual or small group self-study, always with a tutor to help and guide you if you need that. After the modules are finished, at assessment time you work on assignments, and if 

you are a full-time student you will need to devote about 37 hours per week to that.

While you are doing self-study and working on assignments, you have available some excellent learning facilities. These include the world-famous Hive with its attractive environment and superb library resources, well-chosen books and extensive on-line reading-material. For each module, the tutors will also have set up a set of on-line web pages with the resources needed to guide you through the module.

Computers and instant printing facilities are readily available, including a main facility which has access 24 hours a day, and there are coffee bars and other places to work in too. Wi-fi is of course available through the university.

Duration

3 years full-time; 4-6 years part-time

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Teaching staff

The Sociology with Politics staff team knows how to make the subject interesting and students find them friendly and approachable. You can see examples of some of their staff profiles below. All have a teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. 

Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade. Assessment methods include essays, reports, discussion papers, discourse analyses, portfolios, presentations, and a final year independent study/dissertation.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1

• 1 book review
• 2 essays
• 1 reflective autobiography
• 2 reports
• 1 group presentation
• 1 portfolio
• 1 discussion paper

Year 2

• 1 book review
• 2 essays
• 1 research proposal
• 2 reports
• 1 synopsis
• 1 portfolio
• 1 political discourse analysis
• 1 presentation

Year 3

• 1 independent study
• 4 essays
• 1 literature review
• 1 interview
• 1 political discourse analysis
• 2 presentations

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.  

Programme Specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.