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Planning

Accreditation period Units 1–4: 2024–2028

Introduction

The VCE Sociology Study Design 2024–2028 support materials provide teaching and learning advice for Units 1 to 4 and assessment advice for school-based assessment in Units 3 and 4.

The program developed and delivered to students must be in accordance with the VCE Sociology Study Design 2024–2028.

Developing a program

The VCE Sociology Study Design outlines the nature and sequence of learning and teaching necessary for students to demonstrate achievement of the outcomes for a unit. The areas of study describe the specific knowledge and skills required to demonstrate a specific outcome. Teachers are required to develop a program for their students that meets the requirements of the study design including: areas of study, outcome statements, key knowledge and key skills.

Teachers should take note of the introductions at the beginning of each area of study. These comprise an integral part of each area of study and aid in the understanding of the key knowledge and key skills.

The revised study design continues to focus on the study of human behaviour and social interaction, referring to a range of sociological perspectives and theories that offer different ways of understanding human society. By applying a sociological imagination, students draw on key theories and concepts related to the study of youth, family, deviance, crime, Australian Indigenous culture, ethnicity, community and social movements.

Key features of the study design in Unit 1 includes an introduction to the sociological imagination in Area of Study 1, with an emphasis on the evolution of key definitions over time and the links between sociological theories and key concepts.

The study of sociological theories and perspectives in Unit 1: Area of Study 2 provides an opportunity to develop a course where students learn about theory in an applied rather than abstract way that is, applying sociological perspectives to the analysis of social behaviours and interactions within the Area of Study 2 context of the family.

In Unit 2, students are required to study deviance including the concept of positive deviance. Deviance is a concept relative to social norms and student pre-assessment could be undertaken to determine whether learning activities on understanding social norms are required, as this understanding forms the wider context from which to build a study of deviance. In Area of Study 2, crime is studied, including the concept of reintegrative shaming and how other nations deal with crime. This provides teachers with the opportunity to engage students in learning activities that will further develop their ability to evaluate methods of punishment. The teaching program should account for this area of study being the first across Units 1 and 2 to explicitly develop the skills of evaluation.

Teachers are advised to introduce research elements for Units 3 and 4 at the start of the school year so that students are able to conduct primary and/or secondary research for an ethnic group, community and a social movement throughout the school year and refine their research once relevant content has been covered in class. A separate detailed example case study for each Area of Study could form the basis of teaching and learning activities to prepare students for analysis of their own research. Each area of study should also be supplemented by a range of brief examples that help to illustrate sociological concepts, theory and other aspects of the key knowledge and give an opportunity for application of key knowledge and skills.

In Unit 3, Key features of Area of Study 1 include an emphasis on the sociological imagination as described by C. Wright Mills and the exploration of common public misconceptions regarding Australian Indigenous culture. There is also the opportunity for autonomy for students to explore one particular issue that has impacted on the public awareness and view of Australian Indigenous culture. The concept of multiculturalism is introduced in Area of Study 2, as students are required to examine a range of barriers and enablers that affect belonging and inclusion in Australia’s multicultural society.

In Unit 4, Area of Study 1, Students investigate changes to the concept of community over time by exploring the theories of Ferdinand Tonnies and Michel Maffesoli. In Area of Study 2 - Outcome 2, students are required to have a general understanding of the nature and purpose of a range of different types of social movements, however they now only need to investigate one social movement in detail.

Sample weekly planner

Semester 1 – Term 1: Unit 3

Unit 3: Area of Study 1

Week 1:

  • The meaning of culture (material and non-material culture)

Week 2:

  • The sociological imagination as conceived by Charles Wright Mills and its connection to the study of cultures
  • Public misconceptions about Australian Indigenous cultures

Week 3:

  • A range of historical and contemporary representations of Australian Indigenous cultures that could be interpreted as ethnocentric and/or culturally relativistic representations

Weeks 4–5:

  • The historical suppression of Australian Indigenous culture through government policies and Indigenous responses to this suppression

Week 6:

  • The process of reconciliation through symbolic and practical reconciliation

Weeks 7–9:

  • One issue related to changing awareness of Australian Indigenous cultures
  • Implications of this issue for shaping public views of Australian Indigenous cultures

Semester 1 – Term 2: Unit 3

Unit 3: Area of Study 2

Week 1:

  • The nature and meaning of the sociological concepts of race and ethnicity
  • The process of othering

Week 2:

  • The nature of the theory of ethnic hybridity, as informed by Stuart Hall, and its connection to experiences of ethnicity

Weeks 3–4:

  • Australia’s current ethnic diversity compared with other countries
  • The historical context and contemporary concept of multiculturalism

Weeks 5–6:

  • Factors that may prevent or enable a sense of belonging and inclusion in Australia’s multicultural society:
    • responses to cultural practices
    • media representations
    • political factors

Week 7:

  • The purpose of an ethical methodology with reference to voluntary participation, informed consent, privacy and the confidentiality of data

Weeks 8–9:

  • The experience of a specific ethnic group in Australia’s multicultural society

Unit 4 commences

Unit 4: Area of Study 1

Week 10:

  • Changes to the concept of community over time:
    • the theory of Ferdinand Tönnies
    • Michel Maffesoli’s theory of neo-tribes

Semester 2 – Term 3: Unit 4

Unit 4: Area of Study 1

Weeks 1–2:

  • The experience of community generally:
    • factors that influence feelings of belonging
    • the impact of information and communications technology
    • the effects of economic, social and political factors, and of geographical characteristics

Week 3:

  • The nature of ethical methodology with reference to voluntary participation, informed consent, privacy and the confidentiality of data

Week 4:

  • The nature of a selected community and reasons this group can be classified as a community

Weeks 5–6:

  • Influences on the experience of the selected community and the interplay between these influences:
    • factors that may have influenced feelings of belonging
    • information and communications technology
    • economic, social and political factors, and geographical characteristics
    • different perspectives on the sense of community from different members within the community

Unit 4: Area of Study 2

Week 7:

  • The concepts of social movement and social change
  • The nature and purpose of social movements:
    • alternative, redemptive, reformative and revolutionary types of social movement
    • the stages in social movements of emergence, coalescence, bureaucratisation and decline

Week 8:

  • The nature and purpose of social movements:
    • how power is used by a social movement and its opposition
    • influences of social movements on social change, with reference to the work of Erica Chenoweth

Weeks 9–10:

  • The nature and purpose of one specific social movement and an understanding of the following interrelated components:
    • the social movement as alternative, redemptive, reformative or revolutionary
    • how power is exercised by the social movement
    • the current stage of the social movement
    • how power is used by the social movement’s opposition in an attempt to prevent it from achieving its desired social changes
    • the influences of the social movement on social change, with reference to the work of Erica Chenoweth

Semester 2 – Term 4

Revision program

Weeks 1–2:

  • Exam revision

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in the VCE

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in the VCE
On-demand video recordings, presented with the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc. (VAEAI) and the Department of Education (DE) Koorie Outcomes Division, for VCE teachers and leaders as part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in the VCE webinar program held in 2023.

Employability skills

The VCE Sociology study provides students with the opportunity to engage in a range of learning activities. In addition to demonstrating their understanding and mastery of the content and skills specific to the study, students may also develop employability skills through their learning activities.

The nationally agreed employability skills* are: Communication; Planning and organising; Teamwork; Problem solving; Self-management; Initiative and enterprise; Technology; and Learning.

The table links those facets that may be understood and applied in a school or non-employment-related setting to the types of assessment commonly undertaken in the VCE study.
Assessment taskEmployability skills selected facets

Case study

Communication (writing to the needs of the audience; persuading effectively)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and circumstances into account)
Planning and organising (planning the use of resources including time management; collecting, analysing and organising information)

Extended response

Communication (writing to the needs of the audience; persuading effectively)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and circumstances into account)
Planning and organising (planning the use of resources including time management; collecting, analysing and organising information)

Film analysis

Communication (writing to the needs of the audience; listening and understanding)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and circumstances into account)
Planning and organising (planning the use of resources including time management; collecting, analysing and organising information)

Media analysis

Communication (writing to the needs of the audience; listening and understanding)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and circumstances into account)
Planning and organising (planning the use of resources including time management; collecting, analysing and organising information)

Multimedia presentation

Communication (sharing information; speaking clearly and directly)
Technology (having a range of basic information communications technology (ICT) skills; using ICT to organise data; being willing to learn new information communication technology skills)

Representation analysis: text-based, visual

Communication (writing to the needs of the audience; listening and understanding; reading independently)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and circumstances into account)
Planning and organising (planning the use of resources including time management; collecting, analysing and organising information)
Technology (using ICT to organise data)

Research report

Communication (writing to the needs of the audience; reading independently)
Problem solving (testing assumptions taking the context of data and circumstances into account)
Planning and organising (planning the use of resources including time management; collecting, analysing and organising information)
Technology (using ICT to organise data)
Initiative and enterprise (generating a range of options)

A selection of structured questions requiring short-answer responses

Problem solving (applying a range of strategies to problem solving)

*The employability skills are derived from the Employability Skills Framework (Employability Skills for the Future, 2002), developed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia, and published by the (former) Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.

Implementation videos

VCE Sociology (2024-2028) implementation videos
Online video presentations which provide teachers with information about the new VCE Sociology Study Design for implementation in 2024.