Social Studies

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Social Studies Education aims to enable students to participate in a changing society as informed, confident, and responsible citizens – “If we choose not to live alone, we must learn how to live together.”

As a core subject in the junior school, Social Studies offers students an essential part of their identity – a core set of principals by which to stand.  By examining our own and other people’s societies, our developing young citizens move closer to an understanding of how they are affected by the rules, laws, values and attitudes of the people around them.  More significantly, by learning the vital skills of inquiry and research, evaluating and taking social action, they learn how they can shape our developing society and its cultures.  Knowing who we are gives us strength and knowing how to make a difference empowers us to do so.

Year 9 Programme

1. Identity, Culture and Organisation

• Understand how systems of government in New Zealand operate and affect people’s lives, and how they compare with another system. Topics: NZ Parliament

• Understand how cultural interaction impacts on cultures and societies. Topics: India, SurfAid

2. Place and Environment

• Know that people move between places and how this has consequences for these people and those places. Topics: Migration

3. The Economic World

• Understand how people seek and have sought economic growth through business, enterprise, and innovation. Topic: Tauiwi

Students will be engaged in activities such as:
• Ask questions, gather information and background ideas, and examine relevant current issues.
• Explore and analyse people’s values and perspectives.
• Consider the ways in which people make decisions and participate in social action.
• Reflect on and evaluate the understandings they have developed and the responses that may be required.

We want every student to have a good year and acquires the skills needed to be successful in understanding aspects of behaviour that will assist in operating in a mostly competitive and yet cooperative world.

Year 10 Programme

1. Identity, Culture and Organisation

• Understand how the Treaty of Waitangi is responded to differently by people in different times and places. Topic: Te Tiriti – The Treaty of Waitangi.

• Understand how people define and seek human rights. Topic: Sociology – Human Rights

2. Place and Environment

• Understand how people’s management of resources impacts on environmental and social sustainability. Topic: Geography – Sustainability

3. Continuity and Change

• Understand how the ideas and actions of individuals in the past have had a significant impact on people’s lives. Topic: History – Hitler’s Germany

4. The Economic World

• Understand how economic decisions impact on people, communities, and nations. Topic: Economics – Globalisation and Circular Flow

By using classroom teaching and a social inquiry approach, students will engage in activities such as:
• Ask questions, gather information and background ideas, and examine relevant current issues.
• Explore and analyse people’s values and perspectives.
• Consider the ways in which people make decisions and participate in social action.
• Reflect on and evaluate the understandings they have developed and the responses that may be required.

We want students to acquire the skills and tools needed for Year 11 in that they understand and can examine aspects of human behaviour in our complex society and that of the wider world.

Mr Nigel Snookes
Head of Social Sciences
Email: [email protected]