Psychology as a subject has great relevance to us all; it investigates the way humans and animals think and behave; including memory, attachment in early childhood, research techniques, abnormal behaviour and stress. Psychology is a contemporary and popular subject providing a good basis for a number of arts and Science subjects, and a wide variety of careers; clinical, forensic, educational and sports psychology, education and teaching, social work, psychiatry and medicine, media and journalism to name but a few.

The A Level – This is designed to be a stand-alone qualification and will be examined at the end of the two year course. There will be three exam papers each being 2 hours long. All papers will contain Research methods and continue to develop mathematical skills particularly statistics.

Paper one – This comprises of Social Influence, Memory and Attachment building on the work learnt in year one. It also introduces Psychopathology bringing in mental illness.

Paper two – Psychology in context, comprising of approaches in psychology, biopsychology and research methods. This paper is designed to build on the knowledge learnt in year one.

Paper three – Issues and options in Psychology. Issues will introduce a range of debates in Psychology that dominate the way we think – Nature V Nurture, Holism and reductionism, Idiographic and Nomothetic approaches. There will also be nine options to choose from that will put Psychology into practice: Relationships, Gender, Cognition, Schizophrenia, Eating Behaviour, Stress, Aggression, Addiction and Forensic Psychology.

Learning strategies:

• Decision making, role plays and data analysis
• Laboratory work and fieldwork.
• Applying and evaluating psychological ideas.
• Homework including examination questions, essays and research.
• Self-study using school resources.
• Presentation assignments (individual and group) including use of ICT.
• Active engagement in enquiry into problems, issues and questions
• Group discussions.
• Challenging and engaging class discussions on problems, issues and questions.