Sociology with Foundation Year
Entry requirements
Access - at least 45 credits at level 3 and 15 credits at level 2 from a relevant Open College Network accredited course.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
English Language at grade C or 4 or equivalent Maths at grade C or 4 or equivalent
UCAS Tariff
This must include at least 32 points from one A level or equivalent BTEC National qualifications excluding general studies For example: CC at A Level MPP in BTEC Extended Diploma. A combination of qualifications, which may include AS levels and EPQ.
About this course
**Please check the Sheffield Hallam University website for the latest information.**
**This course is moving into one of our new buildings at City campus. Teaching will mainly be delivered at our Collegiate campus until December 2024 while we get our new facilities ready. From January 2025 you will study in brand new facilities at City campus.**
**Course Summary**
- Gain an understanding of deviance, order, protest, inequality, identity and religion.
- Take on real-world projects with hospitals, the police, schools, councils, charities, and community associations.
- Develop an expert approach to producing life-changing research in the future.
- Tailor your course to your interests with elective modules, live projects and work placements.
- Gain membership of the Social Research Association (SRA).
Human social behaviour and our society is becoming more diverse and intricate. Join us to delve into the challenges of privilege and disadvantage, investigate ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, disability, gender, and religion, and explore social movements for equality in a global context.
By studying Sociology at Sheffield Hallam University you will learn, you will become independent, and you will build a career that affects the world around you.
If you don't meet the entry requirements for our BA (Hons) courses – or if you’re not quite ready for studying at degree-level – we recommend you take our foundation course. You’ll share the foundation year with other Social Science students before moving onto your degree.
**How You Learn**
All our courses are designed around a set of key principles based on engaging you with the world, collaborating with others, challenging you to think in new ways, and providing you with a supportive environment in which you can thrive.
Our staff are experts in their fields – bringing their research-based knowledge to all the teaching and learning activities on the course. With their support you’ll develop confidence, champion diversity and make a difference in communities – all in a safe, green and affordable city. You’ll challenge your understanding of the social world through lectures, seminars, workshops, and tutorials.
You’ll also discover new knowledge and ideas through a variety of field trips, events and guest speakers arranged throughout the year. You’ll develop your skills by working with others in small groups, as well as by creating your own independent learning style.
**Key Themes**
From day one, you’ll learn how to research, gain independence, benefit from invaluable work placements, and become a confident, competent professional. You’ll explore core sociological knowledge and skills before progressing onto specialised interests and employability skills – working on live projects and putting your skills to the test in real-world situations.
You will develop your knowledge and skills in a range of modules on topics such as Education, Health and Disability, Drugs, Crime and Society, and Gender, Sexuality, and Culture.
**Applied Learning**
On this industry-focused course, you’ll learn things you can apply to the real world. For example, previously our students have undertaken research with various charities. They have also worked collaboratively online with students from the University of Dallas. There are always opportunities outside of the classroom – we’ve even recently seen a level 4 student deliver a speech to the United Nations.
**Work Placements**
In the third year, many students opt to go on an eight-week work placement. This gives you real-world experience to prepare you for your future career. Previous students have worked on projects under the direction of a supervisor in workplaces such as hospitals, police service, schools, council departments and community associations.
Alternatively, you can study abroad for 12 weeks at a university in Europe, Australia, USA or Canada.
Modules
Module and assessment information for future years is displayed as currently validated and may be liable to change. When selecting electives, your choices will be subject to the core requirements of the course. As a result, selections may be limited to a choice between one of two or more specified electives in some instances.
You will be able to complete a placement year as part of this course. See the modules table below for further information.
**Year 1**
**Compulsory modules**
Contemporary Issues In Social Science 1
Contemporary Issues In Social Science 2
**Year 2**
**Compulsory modules**
Deviance, Order And Protest
Researching Society
Sociology – The Big Issues
The Sociological Imagination
**Year 3**
**Compulsory modules**
Applied Research Methods
Inequality, Identity And Intersectionality
Theorising Modernities
**Elective modules**
Sociology – Real-World Application
Work Placement (Politics And Sociology)
**Year 4**
**Optional modules**
Placement Year
**Final year**
**Compulsory modules**
Drugs, Crime And Society
Education, Health And Disability
Gender, Sexuality, And Culture
Sociology Dissertation
Assessment methods
Coursework
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
Extra funding
Scholarships, discounts and bursaries may be available to students who study this course.
The Uni
Sheffield Hallam University
College of Social Sciences and Arts
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Sociology
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Sociology
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Sociology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£22k
£24k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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