Our course in social sciences will give you a taste of five exciting subjects on offer at Warwick delivered across the Pre-University Summer School. Teaching includes Law, Education Studies, Philosophy, Politics and Sociology.

These subjects all look at some of the world’s biggest issues and therefore will equip you with analytical and communication skills relevant to many industries and organisations.

Having the opportunity to learn from brilliant professors I was able to put myself in the shoes of a university student and also having the chance to stay in one of the halls designed for students, I got first-hand experience of living at the University of Warwick.

Chaney Lau

Law

Reading law is an anthropological adventure. We excavate past and present societies' histories, cultures, and aspirations, seeking to discover what role law plays in shaping the way things are. But our adventure does not end there. Next, we place the law within the context of society to explore the role law can play in making the world as we want it to be, the ideologies and mindsets behind how people envision laws, and whether these shape the legal realities in society. Some of the questions are abstract: what is right and what is wrong, and who decides? While others are more concrete: do people have a right to university education, and if so, who should pay for it?

Each question will elicit a variety of answers. And that is the point. Reading law is not only about studying texts that have already been written but also about developing the skills needed to craft future laws and, perhaps more importantly, future societies.

In this taster, you will learn a little about the different theoretical perspectives of law. We will also discuss how laws shape what we think is right and wrong and how these categories change over time and space. Finally, we will examine modern developments' role in reshaping Britain's legal regime.

Philosophy

The topic of this taster sessions is the philosophy of evil. Moral philosophers often think about the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, justice and injustice – but in this session we will ask questions about the most extreme form of bad: evil. What is evil? What, if anything, makes evil different from bad? How should we respond to evil? Are all human beings capable of doing evil? Using compelling examples from the real world and literature, we will ask and answer these urgent philosophical questions.

Education

Education is life's great equaliser. As a vehicle education provides us with an opportunity to understand how learning transpires through varying constructs. Understanding how knowledge is produced and how it encompasses pedagogical learning are integral as we traverse through our lifelong learning journey. Through instruments such as inclusion, diversity, intersectionality, social justice and education policy the BA Education Studies programme aims to provide ideas associated with the conception that education is for everyone.

Importantly, we want to encourage learners to think about their learning experiences and be able to conceptualise them in attempting to make sense of why education is so important to a global society. This taster session will encourage participants to challenge 'taken for granted assumptions' about education and consider values and belief systems and why this is particularly important for educators and learners. The course will give participants an opportunity to consider education as an instrument for social mobility, in addition to providing an insight of what it is like to engage in Education Studies at university level.

Politics

The session will focus on issues in the ethics and political theory of climate change. We will look at topics such as whether it is ethical to use carbon offsets to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and how future generations should be represented in democratic decision making about climate change.

Sociology