'Describe how journalists may approach the issue of pupil behaviour in British schools differently from sociologists' [4 marks]

To answer this question, we identify the action (to describe), the focus (journalist versus sociologist approach on pupil behaviour) and the argument (that sociologists are systematic whilst journalists are sensationalist). We will now spend some time focusing on why we believe this argument to be true following the PEEL approach. It helps to look at the platforms sociologists and journalists use to communicate their approach to pupil behaviour. For journalists, the media is a platform to articulate sensationalist ‘stories’ about pupil behaviour in British schools. For sociologists, scholarly articles focus on investigating patterns and trends in a systematic way. Now we have identified our point, examples to support can be found on each platform and it might help if we now look at those platforms and see what we can find. After we have done this we need to reflect and explain the reasons why journalists and sociologists articulate their contrasting ideas in this way. For journalists, news stories are a form of income. The more dramatic, terrifying or upsetting a headline is the more it will sell. Conversely, most sociologists pride themselves on being a social science. Therefore, they approach the issues differently. They want to provide proven and concrete ideas, that are not exaggerated, about the way schools function. When we explain these ideas in contrast with each other, we can link them back to the question and earn all 4 marks.