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Psychology

Psychology is the science of behaviour and experience. It is an expanding and challenging subject in the post-16 education sector. Universities increasingly see it as a valuable subject in both its own right and as a supporting subject. Students should develop as critical, scientific thinkers who are intellectually engaged with the world around them and well prepared for further study in any discipline at university level.  

The school follows the AQA A-Level Specification.

The aim of the psychology department at Aston is to stimulate curiosity, enjoyment and interest in psychology and to inspire a passion for the subject and for learning to enable success in the subject. 

Teaching Staff:

  • Miss S Carter, Subject leader

Educational visits:

  • Masterclasses: these take place at local universities. They are usually a lecture-style session focusing on one aspect of psychology. Masterclasses have been attended by students at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, and Aston University. 
  • Revision Conferences run by Tutor 2U
  • Joint revision conference with King Edward VI Handsworth Boys School
  • Psychological research conducted in school by local academic psychologists. 
  • Talks in school by psychologists. 
  • Conferences run by eminent psychologists.

Year 12

Summary of curriculum:  
Main topics:

In year 12, students will study:

  • Approaches in psychology, including the learning, cognitive and biological approaches. 
  • Research methods, including scientific processes and techniques of data handling and analysis. 
  • Social influence, including majority and minority influence, obedience and independent behaviour. 
  • Memory, including models of memory and eyewitness testimony. 
  • Attachment, including types of attachment and deprivation.
  • Psychopathology, including definitions of abnormality; characteristics and treatments of phobias, depression and OCD. 
Assessment throughout the year:

End of topic tests and assessments

These will be conducted and a grade will be provided for inclusion in databases to measure and monitor progress. Marking will be conducted using AQA mark schemes to ensure consistency with the exam board. These assessments will take place approximately once per term. The end of year 12 UCAS exam and the year 13 mock exam will count for two of these. 

In addition to these, students will be set regular exam questions which will consist of previous exam questions. At least two of these will be teacher-assessed per half term. The others may be self- or peer-assessed. These will be completed in class time but will be open book.
How parents can support their son’s learning:

You could support your son by encouraging them to do the following: 

  • Look for opportunities to apply what they have learned in class to everyday life. 
  • Follow the advice given from teacher feedback.
  • Create study plans or revision timetables to help them space out and balance their learning across all subjects. 
  • Use active learning techniques that require them to think deeply about what they are learning. 
  • Complete questions from past exam papers for practice. 
  • Use websites that provide additional revision materials or videos to help them revise.
  • Encourage them to use as much psychological detail as they can in their answers, including named research experiments.
  • Encourage them to use specialist psychological terminology. The exam board are very keen on this! 
Able and inspired opportunities:

Students can really stretch their learning by reading some of the articles published by The Psychologist, a publication by the British Psychological Society. Simply click the link and then search for any topic and relevant articles will be shown: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/ 

Students should also be using Seneca (an online learning platform) to really strengthen their knowledge across all areas of psychology:  https://www.senecalearning.com/ 
Useful websites:

https://www.bps.org.uk/ 

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/ 

https://www.senecalearning.com/ 

https://studywise.co.uk/a-level-revision/psychology/ 

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/a-level/subjects/psychology/ 

https://www.tutor2u.net/psychology 

https://quizlet.com/en-gb 

 

Year 13

Summary of curriculum:  
Main topics:

In year 13, students will study: 

  • Biopsychology, including the structure of the brain, nervous system, scanning techniques and recovery from brain injury.
  • Relationships, including the formation, maintenance and breakdown of relationships. 
  • Aggression, including biological explanations for aggression; social and evolutionary explanations and institutional aggression. 
  • Schizophrenia, including symptoms, explanations and treatments for schizophrenia. 
  • Issues and debates, including: gender v. culture; freewill v. determinism; nature v. nurture; holism v. reductionism; idiographic v. nomathetic; and the ethical implications of research. 
  • Research methods, including scientific processes and techniques of data handling, analysis and statistics. 
Assessment throughout the year:

End of topic tests and assessments

These will be conducted and a grade will be provided for inclusion in databases to measure and monitor progress. Marking will be conducted using AQA mark schemes to ensure consistency with the exam board. These assessments will take place approximately once per term. The end of year 12 UCAS exam and the year 13 mock exam will count for two of these. 

In addition to these, students will be set regular exam questions which will consist of previous exam questions. At least two of these will be teacher-assessed per half term. The others may be self- or peer-assessed. These will be completed in class time but will be open book.

External assessment: three exam papers sat at the end of two years study. 

  • Paper 1: written exam; 2 hrs; 96 marks; 33.3% of A-level 
  • Paper 2: written exam; 2 hrs; 96 marks; 33.3% of A-level 
  • Paper 3: written exam; 2 hrs; 96 marks; 33.3% of A-level 
How parents can support their son’s learning:

You could support your son by encouraging them to do the following: 

  • Look for opportunities to apply what they have learned in class to everyday life. 
  • Follow the advice given from teacher feedback.
  • Create study plans or revision timetables to help them space out and balance their learning across all subjects. 
  • Use active learning techniques that require them to think deeply about what they are learning. 
  • Complete questions from past exam papers for practice. 
  • Use websites that provide additional revision materials or videos to help them revise.
  • Encourage them to use as much psychological detail as they can in their answers, including named research experiments.
  • Encourage them to use specialist psychological terminology. The exam board are very keen on this! 
Able and inspired opportunities:

Students can really stretch their learning by reading some of the articles published by The Psychologist, a publication by the British Psychological Society. Simply click the link and then search for any topic and relevant articles will be shown. https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/ 

Students should also be using Seneca (an online learning platform) to really strengthen their knowledge across all areas of psychology. https://www.senecalearning.com/ 
Useful websites:

https://www.bps.org.uk/ 

https://www.senecalearning.com/ 

https://studywise.co.uk/a-level-revision/psychology/ 

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/a-level/subjects/psychology/ 

https://www.tutor2u.net/psychology 

https://quizlet.com/en-gb 

 

 

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