Subject · GCSE and A level
Sociology
Which schools in England make Sociology a big part of the curriculum, and where results are strongest. Entries and grades from the 2025 performance tables.
What the data says
Sociology GCSE was taken in 794 schools in England in 2025, with 28,290 entries — about 4% of the Year 11 cohort.
Nationally 21% of entries achieved grade 7 or above. The tables below show the schools where the largest share of pupils take the subject, and where grades are highest (schools with at least 20 entries).
At Mulberry UTC (Tower Hamlets) 83% of the year group took Sociology.
At A level, Sociology was offered in 1,766 schools and colleges, with 40,423 entries — roughly 13% of A level students.
GCSE: schools with the highest share of grades 7–9
Schools with at least 20 entries. England: 21% of entries graded 7–9. High grades often reflect who is admitted (selective and independent schools) as much as teaching.
| # | School | Local authority | Entries | Cohort | Share | Grades 7–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Charter School East Dulwich | Southwark | 20 | 175 | 11% | 75% |
| 2 | Nishkam School West London | Hounslow | 32 | 108 | 30% | 72% |
| 3 | The Charter School North Dulwich | Southwark | 42 | 187 | 22% | 71% |
| 4 | The Hayfield School | Doncaster | 42 | 205 | 20% | 67% |
| 5 | Fort Pitt Grammar School | Medway | 30 | 147 | 20% | 67% |
| 6 | JCoSS | Barnet | 40 | 190 | 21% | 65% |
| 7 | Rosebery School | Surrey | 45 | 235 | 19% | 62% |
| 8 | Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School | Islington | 37 | 172 | 22% | 62% |
| 9 | Ashcroft Technology Academy | Wandsworth | 21 | 238 | 9% | 62% |
| 10 | St Edmund's Catholic School | Portsmouth | 31 | 223 | 14% | 61% |
| 11 | Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy | Hackney | 31 | 156 | 20% | 61% |
| 12 | Ark Elvin Academy | Brent | 23 | 199 | 12% | 61% |
| 13 | Brampton Manor Academy | Newham | 24 | 361 | 7% | 58% |
| 14 | Queens' School | Hertfordshire | 24 | 267 | 9% | 58% |
| 15 | Graveney School | Wandsworth | 38 | 286 | 13% | 58% |
| 16 | The Rochester Grammar School | Medway | 41 | 225 | 18% | 56% |
| 17 | Denmark Road High School | Gloucestershire | 59 | 155 | 38% | 56% |
| 18 | Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School | Lincolnshire | 65 | 178 | 37% | 52% |
| 19 | Mossbourne Community Academy | Hackney | 25 | 206 | 12% | 52% |
| 20 | Judgemeadow Community College | Leicester | 41 | 236 | 17% | 51% |
| 21 | Higham Lane School | Warwickshire | 53 | 242 | 22% | 51% |
| 22 | Hayesfield Girls School | Bath and North East Somerset | 55 | 225 | 24% | 51% |
| 23 | Cumberland Community School | Newham | 38 | 268 | 14% | 50% |
| 24 | Penistone Grammar School | Barnsley | 32 | 329 | 10% | 50% |
| 25 | Joseph Rowntree School | York | 32 | 225 | 14% | 50% |
| 26 | Reigate School | Surrey | 22 | 254 | 9% | 50% |
| 27 | Sarah Bonnell School | Newham | 56 | 266 | 21% | 48% |
| 28 | Wymondham College | Norfolk | 25 | 208 | 12% | 48% |
| 29 | Barr's Hill School | Coventry | 25 | 156 | 16% | 48% |
| 30 | Langdon Academy | Newham | 23 | 332 | 7% | 48% |
| 31 | Rawlins | Leicestershire | 38 | 244 | 16% | 47% |
| 32 | Warlingham School | Surrey | 34 | 234 | 15% | 47% |
| 33 | The Camden School for Girls | Camden | 28 | 117 | 24% | 46% |
| 34 | Carr Manor Community School | Leeds | 39 | 217 | 18% | 46% |
| 35 | The West Bridgford School | Nottinghamshire | 39 | 270 | 14% | 46% |
| 36 | Beths Grammar School | Bexley | 26 | 191 | 14% | 46% |
| 37 | George Abbot School | Surrey | 48 | 299 | 16% | 46% |
| 38 | Walthamstow Academy | Waltham Forest | 24 | 173 | 14% | 46% |
| 39 | Clapton Girls' Academy | Hackney | 46 | 175 | 26% | 46% |
| 40 | The Pingle Academy | Derbyshire | 22 | 224 | 10% | 45% |
A level: schools and colleges where the largest share of students take Sociology
Entries as a share of A level students (at least 30 A level students and 10 entries). England: 13% of A level students.
What pupils learn in Sociology, stage by stage
England has no national year-by-year syllabus: exam boards and schools set the order within each stage. These are the statutory blocks from the Department for Education, so a parent can see what a child meets in Years 7–9, what every GCSE candidate must cover, and what waits in the sixth form.
Years 7–9Key Stage 3
not offered as a separate subjectYears 10–11GCSE
59learning outcomes · statutory GCSE subject content; Higher-tier-only outcomes are markedYear 12A level, typically first year
no outcomes at this stageYear 13A level, second year
20learning outcomes · A level-only contentWhat GCSE Sociology teaches · Years 10–11
59 learning outcomes from the Department for Education’s statutory subject content, grouped by topic. Each outcome belongs to one of twelve fields of knowledge used across startfrom.today: Social & Cultural Skills (27), Transversal Skills (13), Law & Public Administration (9), Business & Administration (8) and others. Exam boards add detail on top of these; the outcomes themselves are the same whichever board a school uses.
The sociological approach8
- distinguish conflict and consensus perspectives in sociology — conflict perspective, consensus perspective
- explain how sociological knowledge and ideas change over time — social change, sociological knowledge
- explain Durkheim's contribution to sociology — classical sociology, durkheim
- explain Marx's contribution to sociology — classical sociology, marx
- explain Weber's contribution to sociology — classical sociology, weber
- compare functionalist, Marxist, interactionist and feminist perspectives on a social issue — feminism, functionalism, interactionism, marxism
- define key sociological terms including socialisation, norms, values and roles — norms, roles, socialisation, value
- explain how labelling, discrimination, power and authority shape social phenomena — authority, discrimination, labelling, power
Families9
- explain Parsons' functionalist perspective on primary socialisation in families — functionalism, parsons, primary socialisation
- compare nuclear, extended, reconstituted, lone-parent and single-sex family forms — family diversity, family forms
- explain the Rapoports' theory of family diversity — family diversity, rapoports
- compare joint and segregated conjugal role relationships — conjugal roles, domestic division of labour
- explain Oakley's feminist critique of the conventional family — conventional family, feminism, oakley
- explain the theory of the symmetrical family and stratified diffusion — stratified diffusion, symmetrical family
- evaluate criticisms of the family, including isolation and loss of function — criticisms of family, loss of function
- explain Zaretsky's Marxist perspective on the family — family, marxism, zaretsky
- explain Delphy and Leonard's feminist critique of the family — delphy and leonard, family, feminism
Education9
- explain the functionalist view of education as serving the economy and social cohesion — economy, education, functionalism
- explain Durkheim's view of education as the transmission of norms and values — durkheim, education, norms and values
- explain Parsons' theory of meritocracy in schools — meritocracy, parsons
- explain the correspondence principle developed by Bowles and Gintis — bowles and gintis, capitalism, correspondence principle
- explain how social class, gender and ethnicity affect educational achievement — educational achievement, ethnicity, gender, social class
- explain Halsey's work on class-based inequalities in education — class inequality, education, halsey
- explain Ball's work on parental choice and competition between schools — ball, parental choice, school competition
- explain how streaming and labelling affect educational achievement — labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming
- explain Willis's theory of counter-school cultures — counter-school culture, willis
Crime and deviance9
- explain the social construction of crime and deviance — crime, deviance, social construction
- explain Merton's functionalist theory of the causes of crime — anomie, functionalism, merton
- explain Becker's interactionist theory of labelling and crime — becker, interactionism, labelling theory
- distinguish formal and informal methods of social control — formal social control, informal social control
- explain Heidensohn's theory of female conformity in patriarchal societies — female conformity, heidensohn, patriarchy
- explain how social class, gender, ethnicity and age affect criminal behaviour — criminal behaviour, ethnicity, gender, social class
- explain Albert Cohen's theory of delinquent subcultures — albert cohen, delinquent subculture
- explain Carlen's work on women, crime and poverty — carlen, crime, poverty, women
- evaluate the usefulness of official crime data and the dark figure of crime — dark figure of crime, official crime statistics
Social stratification9
- explain Davis and Moore's functionalist theory of stratification — davis and moore, functionalism, role allocation
- compare Marxist and Weberian views of socio-economic class — marx, socio-economic class, weber
- explain how social class, gender, race and disability affect life chances — ethnicity, gender, life chances, social class
- explain Devine's revisiting of the affluent worker — affluent worker, devine
- compare the culture of poverty and material deprivation explanations of poverty — culture of poverty, material deprivation
- explain Townsend's theory of relative deprivation — relative deprivation, townsend
- explain Murray's theory of the underclass — murray, underclass
- compare traditional, charismatic and rational-legal forms of authority — authority types, weber
- explain Walby's theory of patriarchy and power relationships — patriarchy, power, walby
Sociological research methods9
- design a research strategy including aims, hypotheses and pilot studies — hypothesis, pilot study, research design
- select an appropriate sampling method for a sociological investigation — sampling method
- compare questionnaires, interviews and observations as research methods — interview, observation, questionnaire
- evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a sociological research method — research method, strengths and weaknesses
- evaluate the usefulness of a mixed-methods approach — mixed methods
- distinguish qualitative and quantitative data, and official and non-official statistics — official statistics, qualitative data, quantitative data
- interpret graphs, diagrams, charts and tables to identify patterns and trends — pattern, statistical data, trend
- evaluate the practical issues of time, cost and access in research — practical issue, research access
- evaluate ethical issues including consent, confidentiality and harm to participants — confidentiality, consent, ethical issue
Skills6
- synthesise information and evidence from different sources — evidence, synthesis
- evaluate the appropriateness of a research method used in a sociological investigation — appropriateness, research method
- evaluate evidence presented in written, visual and numerical forms — evidence, numerical form, written form
- construct a reasoned argument using sociological theory and evidence — argument, evidence, sociological theory
- connect different sociological topic areas studied — connections between topics, topic areas
- evaluate how a sociologist has interpreted an issue in a text extract — interpretation, sociologist, text extract
Source: DfE GCSE sociology subject content (2016), Open Government Licence v3.0. Outcomes are split into single actions and rewritten only where the original bundled several; wording otherwise follows the DfE text. Methodology.
What A level Sociology teaches · Years 12–13
20 learning outcomes from the Department for Education’s statutory subject content, grouped by topic. Each outcome belongs to one of twelve fields of knowledge used across startfrom.today: Social & Cultural Skills (11), Transversal Skills (7), Mathematics & Statistics (2). Exam boards add detail on top of these; the outcomes themselves are the same whichever board a school uses.
The nature of sociological thought3
- study concepts of social order, social control and social changeYear 13 — social change, social control, social order
- explain the relationship between social structure, social action and conflictYear 13 — conflict and consensus, social action, social structure
- explain the relationship between sociological values, theory and social policyYear 13 — social policy, value
Methods of sociological enquiry4
- describe methods used to collect primary and secondary sociological dataYear 13 — primary data, secondary data
- analyse quantitative and qualitative sociological data using appropriate conceptsYear 13 — qualitative data, quantitative data
- evaluate factors influencing the design and conduct of sociological researchYear 13 — research conduct, research design
- evaluate practical, ethical and theoretical issues in sociological researchYear 13 — practical issue, research ethics, theoretical issue
Themes2
- study sociology through the themes of socialisation, culture and stratificationYear 13 — culture and identity, social differentiation, socialisation, stratification
- apply sociological themes to substantive topics in a global contextYear 13 — global context, substantive topic
Collection and recording of evidence3
- evaluate the design of sociological investigationsYear 13 — investigation, research design
- evaluate methods used to collect and record sociological evidenceYear 13 — data collection, evidence
- design and conduct a sociological investigationYear 13 — primary research, sociological investigation
Interpretation and evaluation of evidence5
- distinguish between facts, opinions and value judgementsYear 13 — fact, opinion, value judgement
- select and apply relevant sociological concepts and theoriesYear 13 — application of theory, sociological theory
- interpret qualitative and quantitative sociological dataYear 13 — qualitative data, quantitative data
- identify and evaluate significant social trends shown in evidenceYear 13 — evidence, social trend
- evaluate sociological theories, arguments and evidenceYear 13 — argument, evidence, theory
Presentation of evidence and argument3
- organise evidence and communicate sociological arguments coherentlyYear 13 — argumentation, evidence organisation
- explain theoretical debates in sociologyYear 13 — theoretical debate
- use evidence to support sociological arguments and conclusionsYear 13 — conclusion, evidence-based argument
Source: DfE GCE AS and A level sociology subject content (2014), Open Government Licence v3.0. Outcomes are split into single actions and rewritten only where the original bundled several; wording otherwise follows the DfE text. Methodology.