Psychology

Curriculum area intent & rationale/department introduction

From September 2024, the KS5 psychology curriculum follows the AQA specification. The mandatory topics provide a solid foundation of understanding that focus on the key concepts and theories that underpin the course. Specifically, beginning with the Approaches topic, students immerse themselves into the six core approaches that are used to explain behaviours encountered in subsequent topics. For example, why do babies attach to their caregivers? Why do we conform and follow the behaviours of our peers? What makes an eyewitness testimony less accurate? Optional topics studied in Year 13 include relationships, schizophrenia and forensic psychology. We chose these topics as they are relevant, engaging and provide an interesting way to finish the course. When students are asked why they pick psychology, more often than not many will answer that they are interested in mental health and/or crime so by choosing forensic psychology and schizophrenia as options this furthers their interest in the subject. Studying the relationships topic allows students to study theories of relationship formation and breakdown while using celebrities as real-life examples. The skills expected of a psychology student are carefully planned throughout the schemes of work to allow for knowledge, application and evaluation of theories, studies and concepts to be built upon. The majority of students beginning the course having never studied psychology which means they are all at similar points in terms of knowledge, however literacy and numeracy skills will naturally vary. The curriculum gives ample time for students to develop these skills, ensuring they can access the highest grades.

Aims and values of the department

The psychology department aims to shape students into intellectuals that use their knowledge of all topics to develop synoptic, sophisticated answers to questions. We aim to equip students so that they can make effective use of psychological research within their writing, demonstrating superior knowledge. Critical thinking is a dominant skill for any budding psychologist and we value developing these skills so that students use specialist vocabulary and have sound understanding of the issues and debates that surround psychology today.

Where next? Links to careers

Psychology is a subject that helps to open the door to many different areas of expertise. More specifically, psychology is a facilitating subject in areas of:

Law/Criminal Justice System (probation officer, victim support officer, lawyer)
Healthcare (mental health nursing, psychiatry, counselling)
Human Resources (HR officer, recruitment consultant, training and learning coach)
Child psychology (social worker, play therapy worker, school counsellor)
Business (advertising, occupational therapy, marketing executive)
Sports and exercise (sports therapy, performance coaching, cognitive performance specialist)

Trips & visits

These are to be confirmed, however potentially:

Shrewsbury prison (Forensic Psychology)
London Zoo (Psychopathology)
Krakow (Social Influence)
Tutor2u Exam Performance Workshop (All topics)

Department staffing

Miss C Pagett

How can parents help?

Be a listening ear! The most successful students are the ones who quite literally live and breathe psychology. If your child comes home and wants to tell you about a theory or study they have looked at today, please let them. Ask them whether there are any theories or studies that disagree with the one they’ve just told you.

Queen Mary's High School