Sociology Summer Transition Work
If you’re looking around for some inspiration for “Transition Work” you can set your prospective students over the coming summer months, look no further.
Or rather, start here and then I’ll suggest ways you can look further afield.
It seems like every couple of years I get around to thinking about those long, hot, summer holidays and how we can stop students wasting their time doing stuff like “having fun”, “chilling” or, worst of all, “relaxing”, while not actually doing any of the hard graft ourselves.

And that, of course, is when my mind turns towards finding examples of Summer Transition Work you can give to your students while basking in the approbation of Senior Management safe in the knowledge that no-one’s likely to discover that you just cribbed it all “from the Internet”.
It’s a win-win for everyone (except your students and those teachers who had to create it all in the first place. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten. Until it is).
So, without further fanfare, here’s what I’ve managed to find so far (and don’t forget that it might be worth flicking through the previous stuff I’ve posted if there’s nothing here that catches your eye).
Harris Academy Greenwich: Straight out of the gate is a set of exercises that seem to be based around concepts of class, family and education: students have to watch an episode of a BBC programme called Motherland and answer a few questions about the characters and their behaviour.
Wilberforce 6th Form College: Students write 500 – 1000 words on the topic of “what they think needs changing most about this country and how they are going to change it”. Apparently this work counts towards a student’s “effort grade”, which is a new one on me.
The Deepings School: A mixed-bag of activities that involves things like making notes on a range of basic Introductory concepts (socialisation etc.) and then applying them to an understanding of “real life” situations (how are we socialised by our family, for example). There’s also a short “research task” that involves doing some simple background investigating of three classic sociological texts (Learning the Labour, Housework and The Making of a Moonie) and a video-based exercise around inequality.
Poole High School: On a slightly different tack, this is a short Handbook (5 pages with lots of lovely white space) that introduces students to the basics of the (AQA) A-level course. It does, however, include a slightly different take on Transition Work in that it asks students to look out for articles about various aspects of family life (domestic labour, violence, children and much, much, more) as a way of getting students involved in the work they will do on the course. It’s an interesting idea, but whether it works or not I’ve no idea. Worth s shot though.
Wallingford School: If the previous Transition tasks are a little bit “dip your toes into the sociological waters”, these Transition tasks have more of a “sink or swim” vibe (which is fine. Each to their own etc.). First-up there’s a 1000-word essay on a “Culture or sub-culture with which you’re familiar”. This is followed by an Identity task that seems to involve a great deal of personal research around TED talks, podcasts and BBC programming, although the task itself is very simple and straightforward. A final Media task is noted but then seems to have been omitted. So don’t spend time looking for it like I most definitely didn’t.
Kind Edward 6th Lichfield: This Transition Pack from GCSE to A-level offers a number of tasks that range from the relatively simple (matching “social issues” to the areas students will be studying) to more time-consuming (and tangential) stuff like reading 1984 the novel, watching some YouTube clips about it and then noting some of the key ideas involved. Personally I’m not convinced it “prepares students for the course” but presumably it’s something the King Edward teachers have found works. Next up there’s a task involving watching some “post-apocalyptic thriller” trailers and writing a paragraph about “What these films suggest will happen to society in a post-apocalyptic world?”. Not sure how it prepares students for studying stuff like families or identities but there you go. Continuing the filmic, if not necessarily social breakdown, theme are suggested films and documentaries with “sociological themes”. A section of carrying our social research offers up a couple of examples and then asks students to briefly analyse a piece of research on Troubled Teens (the original hyperlink has changed). Again, it’s a bit of a left-field Task but who am I to question etc. As a final task students have to complete a 5-word glossary using both a definition and symbol (which is an interesting attempt at dual-coding but I must admit I was stumped for symbols for some of the words (“Theory”?).
Worcester 6th Form College: This is quite an interesting mixed-bag of tasks: make simple notes about “What Is Sociology” after watching a short YouTube video, keep a journal of everything done in the first hour after waking up and comparing it with the routines of family members, write short definitions of some key concepts. There are also tasks that touch on concepts of class and gender – read an online article and answer a short question – and some suggested films / documentaries to watch.
Etonbury Academy: Whoever teaches Sociology at the Academy has decided to delegate the task of Introducing Sociology to a 3rd Party – in this instance the Tutir2U website and its free “Introduction to AQA Sociology” online course. This, I have to say, is an awesome move by said unnamed teacher because it fulfils the requirement to bring students up-to-speed with the subject by delegating the task to someone else so you can enjoy your Summer holiday. Students have to enrol on the “2 – 4 hour course” but, as I’ve noted, this is free and all that’s required is to sign-up to the site. I haven’t personally tried the course (yet), but it’s something I definitely plan to do…
Coome Wood: A bit of a Curate’s Egg, this consists of tasks like defining 20 “introductory concepts”, briefly summarising 4 Sociological perspectives, creating Mind / Concept Maps around “What is Sociology” / various research methods and a short Education task based on identifying “inside school” and “outside school” factors affecting “white, working-class, boys’ educational failure” – which is, at one and the same time, both oddly specific and over-generalised.