More A-level Sociology PLC’s

It’s the first day of a New Year and on the basis that you can’t have too much of a good thing I thought I’d add a few more Personal Learning Checklists to the ones I’ve previously posted – although if you’re in the market for an electronic template that allows students to create their own PPLC’s (Personal Personalised Learning Checklists…), we’ve got that covered too.

Another reason for taking a more the merrier approach is that because there are different styles and Specification PLC’s, having a selection available makes it more-likely you’ll find a ready-made one that either fits the bill or serves as a template for your own efforts.

I’ve divided the PLC’s by their respective Exam Board categories to make things easier for teachers following different Specifications, but since there’s always a fair degree of overlap it might be worth having a look at Checklists for different Boards just in case a style catches your eye and inspires you to create your own unique PLC.

Or not.

It’s your choice.

OCR

OCR: Culture, Socialisation and Identity: Fairly basic PLC in Word format that has the advantage of allowing you to add or subtract information depending on what you’ve taught. The PLC uses a standard Traffic Light system (G/O/R) with a few bells-and-whistles (“define” / “evaluate”) and a handout checklist (that you can either adapt to something like a Notes checklist or remove altogether because it smacks a bit of info overkill…).

Culture and Identity: A very basic Checklist that includes checks (yes, really) for what’s been covered in class, notes and revision materials (whatever they may actually be) and whether a topic has been understood.

OCR: Family: Although from the same source (Wydean School), this PLC is quite different in style to the one above. A bit basic but does the job.

OCR: Year 1: Neat, if a little basic, Checklist covering Family, Education and Social Inequality that eschews the conventional Traffic Light test of understanding in favour of whether topics have been “covered in class” and revised.

OCR: Crime and Deviance: Another Wydean PLC, but this one’s both more-sophisticated in terms of layout and includes a range of additional material (from a Menu-card homework list to an Assessment tracking sheet and Independent work log) you may find useful.

OCR: Types of Inequality: Short PLC covering different aspects of social inequality, in the Wydean stylee.

OCR Research Methods: Although made for OCR it’s a PLC that can be easily adapted for use with other Specifications.

OCR Year 1 and 2: Comprehensive coverage of the full OCR course with checks for levels of understanding, Notes and Exam questions answered.

Edugas

Eduqas Education: This follows the broad “Wydean Style” in terms of layout (Menu-card homework and the like) but, oddly enough, for a different exam board. As so often, nowadays, I find myself thinking I’ve no idea what’s going on here.

AQA

AQA 2-year Checklist: This minimalist effort covers both AQA years and uses a couple of tick boxes for students to indicate both their level of confidence with the material (using a modified Traffic Light system) and whether it’s been “revised and understood”. Not the clearest PLC I’ve come across, but it might save you some time and effort.

AQA Year One: Specifically, a neat Education Checklist combined with blank Checklists for Family and Research Methods. This particular PLC combines the usual Traffic Light system with checks for completed Notes, Revision and Exam questions.

Culture and Identity: Comprehensive in terms of content with three checking categories: has the topic been revised; has understanding been checked using past papers / questions; has the content been understood?

Media: As above, the format is the same. But the content is (hopefully) different.

Family: Checklist focused on revision in terms of what has / hasn’t been revised, understanding of Assessment Objectives and whether student has practiced exam questions.

Education with Research Methods: PLC developed over the course of the Covid pandemic to check student learning / understanding. Includes a column to be completed by the teacher based on their assessment of a student’s assessment. (The pandemic may have resulted in everything getting a bit meta…).

Education: This one-pager takes a slightly different approach, even though it uses the standard Traffic Light system, by focusing on Assessment Objectives – particularly the ability to explain key ideas and concepts. More-interestingly the Checklist covers exam technique and includes space to note the actions needed to bring students up-to-speed on the things they have difficulty understanding / explaining.

Health: A rudimentary “Module Map” that identifies the key components of the module and checks to see if student has covered it in class, has Notes and has understood the area in question.

Methods: As above. But for Methods. Clearly.

Media: Checklist that has comprehensive coverage of Audience Effects and Ownership and Control plus a more-general revision lost of Media topics. Uses the Traffic Light system plus space for students to identify areas they need to focus on in their revision.

Beliefs in Society: As above, but for Religion (mainly).

AQA Year 1 and Year 2: Fairly basic Checklist covering Family, Education, Theory and Methods, Media, Beliefs and Crime and Deviance that doubles as a way for students to keep track of what’s been covered in class. Plus the usual Traffic Light system to test for levels of confusion comprehension.

Beliefs in Society: This slightly more comprehensive Checklist includes a variation on the Traffic Light system, a check for revision notes and whether or not the student needs clarification / help from their teacher to understand a particular topic.

Beliefs in Society: More Beliefs, this time with a slight twist in that the PLC checks students have notes on a topic, have done background reading, have revision notes and practiced exam questions.

Crime and Deviance: As above, but for Crime and Deviance (obviously) but also with a bit of Theory and Method (helpfully, but not quite so obviously).

Education and Methods: As above, but covering education plus methods in context.

Families and Households: As above etc.

CIE

As and A2: Short glossary / PLC covering class, gender and ethnic forms of differentiation, research methods, families, crime and deviance and the mass media. The document checks for whether material has been “covered in class”. Absolutely nothing to do with me except for the fact that I wrote the textbook (Did I ever mention that?).