Year 11 Sociology (11SOC)

The senior subject area of Sociology takes knowledge and skills from many different academic areas to help us understand how society works, and what happens when it doesn’t work so well. The focus of the Year 11 course is about change in society, the consequences of this and the effects on individuals. 

This pathway provides students with knowledge and skills that are relevant for a wide range of occupations such as human resources, social research, social policy formation, law, social work, nursing, primary, secondary and tertiary teaching, medicine, police and social welfare, personnel management, resource management, journalism, town planning, architecture and more. 

This course addresses the Level 6 achievement objectives of the Social Studies curriculum. Sociology offers 16 NCEA Level 1 Social Studies credits. We focus on these NCEA Social Studies achievement standards: 

1.1  Demonstrate understanding of findings of a Social Studies inquiry: Carry out an in-depth research investigation about a social action promoting social justice and human rights. In 2023, we will look at ‘Fast Fashion’ as our broader topic, and students chose a smaller focus area to investigate. 

1.2  Demonstrate Understanding of Perspectives on a Contemporary Social Issue - Students will analyse the recent kōrero in Aotearoa about the youth vote in our general elections, and whether or not the age should be lowered to 16. Students will learn about the history of voting in Aotearoa, in particular how we have rights and responsibilities to participate in our democracy. 

1.3  Demonstrate understanding of decisions made in relation to a contemporary social issue.

1.4  Describe a social action undertaken to support or challenge a system - Track your own involvement in an action to improve social justice and human rights. We look at the issue of Fast Fashion worldwide and in Aotearoa New Zealand, and students work as a class to plan a collective action.