(BA) Bachelor of Arts
Sociology with Psychosocial Studies (Including Year Abroad)
Current
University of Essex
University of Essex
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Honours Degree
Full-time
BA LJ8C
21/02/2013
Details
Professional accreditation
None
Admission criteria
A-levels: ABB-BBB
IB: 32-30 points
Entry requirements for students studying BTEC qualifications are dependent on units studied. Advice can be provided on an individual basis. The standard required is generally at Distinction level.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) code
English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 6.0 overall. (Different requirements apply for second year entry.)
If you are an international student requiring a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.
Other English language qualifications may be acceptable so please contact us for further details. If we accept the English component of an international qualification then it will be included in the information given about the academic levels required. Please note that date restrictions may apply to some English language qualifications.
Course qualifiers
A course qualifier is a bracketed addition to your course title to denote a specialisation or pathway that you have achieved via the completion of specific modules during your course. The
specific module requirements for each qualifier title are noted below. Eligibility for any selected qualifier will be determined by the department and confirmed by the final year Board of
Examiners. If the required modules are not successfully completed, your course title will remain as described above without any bracketed addition. Selection of a course qualifier is
optional and student can register preferences or opt-out via Online Module Enrolment (eNROL).
None
Rules of assessment
Rules of assessment are the rules, principles and frameworks which the University uses to calculate your course progression and final results.
Additional notes
None
External examiners
Dr Carrie Anne Myers
Lecturer
The City University
External Examiners provide an independent overview of our courses, offering their expertise and help towards our continual improvement of course content, teaching, learning, and assessment.
External Examiners are normally academics from other higher education institutions, but may be from the industry, business or the profession as appropriate for the course.
They comment on how well courses align with national standards, and on how well the teaching, learning and assessment methods allow students to develop and demonstrate the relevant knowledge and skills needed to achieve their awards.
External Examiners who are responsible for awards are key members of Boards of Examiners. These boards make decisions about student progression within their course and about whether students can receive their final award.
Programme aims
The BA Sociology with Psychosocial Studies has the following aims:
To give students an understanding of the areas of both sociology and psychology/psychoanalysis and of their combination in the new discipline of psychosocial studies.
To illuminate the different kinds of social tensions, interactions and networks that make up everyday life.
To explore why individuals, groups, cultures and peoples are the way they are and how they might be different.
To provide the practical means to investigate the above questions through a range of research design techniques.
To explore the relation between individual and social experience, emotional life, and wider cultural and political identities, giving further depth and complexity to the representation of human subjects in their social and historical contexts; and to learn about the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jung and about their social, cultural, and clinical applications.
Learning outcomes and learning, teaching and assessment methods
On successful completion of the programme a graduate should demonstrate knowledge and skills as follows:
A: Knowledge and understanding
A1: Understand the intellectual foundations of sociology and psychoanalysis (including analytical psychology) and their intersection in psychosocial work.
A2: Understand the key concepts and theories of sociology and psychoanalysis (including analytical psychology
A3: Develop sociologically and psychoanalytically informed approaches to the study of individuals, groups, and institutions.
A4: Develop a critical and reflexive approach to the study of different cultures and value systems.
A5: Develop a critical appreciation of how the theories of sociology and psychoanalysis (including analytical psychology) contribute to understanding a variety of substantive social issues.
A6: Develop knowledge of sociological and psychosocial research methods appropriate to undertaking a small research project
A7: Develop understanding of how to analyse and interpret sociological and psychosocial data
A8: Develop awareness of relevant epistemological, ethical, and political issues.
Learning methods
Outcomes A1 to A5 are acquired through lectures, seminars, group and individual tasks, and directed independent study.
The development of the project in consultation with a supervisor provides the means through which learning outcomes A6 to A8 will be achieved.
Lectures and seminars introduce the required theories and understandings to facilitate students' exploration of sociology and psychoanalysis (including analytical psychology) and their contribution to the study of society, while demonstrating and encouraging a critical and reflexive approach.
Directed independent study and reading, along with individual and group tasks, enable the further exploration of the relevant areas.
Students are expected to extend and enhance the knowledge and understanding they acquire from lectures and classes by regularly consulting library materials relating to the course.
Assessment methods
Outcomes A1-A5 are formally assessed via coursework assignments, which may take a number of forms, including essays, reading assignments, tests, debates.
They are also assessed via exams.
Outcomes A2 and A6 to A8 are assessed via the final year project.
B: Intellectual and cognitive skills
B1: Capacity to appraise theoretical ideas in sociology and psychoanalysis.
B2: Capacities to compare, assimilate, and synthesise advanced theories and concepts.
B3: An ability to plan, conduct and present a medium scale piece of research
B4: Ability to formulate research questions
B5: Ability to interpret and critically evaluate empirical and textual evidence.
Learning methods
Skills B1 to B5 are acquired and enhanced primarily through directed independent study, reading, group and individual tasks given for their courses, although lectures and seminars provide a means for teachers to demonstrate these skills through examples.
Students' independent study and preparation for tasks involves the reading, interpretation and critical evaluation of relevant frameworks, theories and understandings to facilitate students' assimilation and synthesis of these various theories and concepts, while demonstrating and encouraging a critical and reflexive approach to empirical evidence.
Lecturers provide necessary feedback on student work.
Lecturers also engage students outside the classroom through office hours, appointments and email communication.
Skill B4 is additionally acquired through the work that students undertake for the final-year project.
Assessment methods
Skills B1 to B5 are formally assessed via coursework assignments and the final-year project.
Skill B4 is especially assessed through the project.
C: Practical skills
C1: Access and retrieve information from primary and secondary sources
C2: Analyse and evaluate empirical and textual data
C3: Ability to develop a research project and appropriate methodology.
C4: Ability to show reflexive awareness in undertaking scholarly and research work.
C5: Ability to design and undertake independent research.
C6: Completion of work experience/volunteering and ability to reflect on in in the context of career decision making
C7: Competence in key elements of the job selection process
Learning methods
In the first year assignments cover tasks such as producing a bibliography on a sociological topic, producing a glossary, describing and evaluating a sociological text and producing a sociological journal.
In addition students do an employability module which consists of a work placement or volunteering, reflections on which inform career decision making.
Throughout the three years of the degree practical skills are developed through preparation for classes, preparing essays and other assessed assignments, giving presentations and doing written examinations.
In SC101, students carry out an observational study and SC111 requires students to produce a journal which demonstrates reflexive awareness in interpreting sociological material.
The work for SC 201 includes the detailed examination and interpretation of key sociological texts and in SC203 students frame a research proposal and select the appropriate research methods.
In addition the third year project for SC831 is particularly valuable in developing students practical sociological skills.
Some of these skills are further developed through the work students do for their optional courses.
Students receive detailed feedback on all their coursework and presentations.
Study skills advice and training is available from the Student Support Officer in the Resource Room, which is dedicated to this purpose.
Assessment methods
Skills C1, C2, and C4 are formally assessed via coursework assignments.
This enables the demonstration of the relevant theories and empirical evidence and facilitates the demonstration of a critical and reflexive approach to empirical evidence.
Skill C3 and C5 are assessed through the project and course work.
D: Key skills
D1: Communicate ideas and arguments in a coherent and effective manner
D2: Ability to critically approach a text and understand the key arguments presented
D3: Ability to interpret statistical data.
D4: Ability to identify, analyse, and solve problems.
D5: Ability to plan work and manage time.
D6: Ability to respond constructively to feedback
Learning methods
Verbal communication skills (D1) are developed through group tasks involving oral presentation, group discussion, and engaging in organised debates in the seminars.
Written communication skills (D1) are developed primarily through essays and reading assignments.
Reading skills (D2) are developed through regular reading assignments.
Skills in interpreting statistics (D3) are developed on some of the taught modules.
Problem solving skills (D4) are developed principally through specific problem based exercises and projects given to the students.
Planning and organisation and the ability to respond constructively to feedback (D5-D6) are essential to any learning process dependent on independent study and to some extent individual advice from teachers.
These skills are further developed as students pursue the learning activities associated with their courses.
Assessment methods
Skills D1 to D6 are formally assessed via coursework assignments: in relation both to process and product.
Skills D1 to D4 will be assessed through the content of submitted work.
Informal assessment: The assessment of the majority of key transferable skills forms an integral part of the overall assessment of the course; however the approach to assessment varies.
Written communication skills, close reading skills, and problem solving skills are assessed directly throughout the degree programme.
Personal skills are assessed through coursework.