Psychology
Psychology Curriculum Vision
To promote academic curiosity in our Key Stage 5 psychology students through which their cultural capital is enhanced, they build core skills to succeed in the modern world and that they have ample substantive and disciplinary knowledge when they leave EEHS. Psychology students will be capable of analysing the varying contributions of competing theories in order to discuss their impact on our understanding of human behaviour. We will enable students to have the opportunities to delve deep in to human behaviour and critically consider the views points of seven key approaches.
Psychology students at EEHS will develop a comprehensive understanding of 7 key approaches of psychology in order to give them a grasp of the core elements of psychology as a discipline. Alongside the core modules required, topics are carefully chosen to enable students to be fully prepared to finish the course not only with a broad understanding of issues within in this multifaceted discipline but also to prepare them to be fully informed young adults in society with an understanding of the impact on human behaviour on human development but also the cognitive processes which guide particular behaviours. It is through this psychology course that students at EEHS gain a holistic understanding of reasons for specific human behaviours through more critical writing but also, an ability to interpret data and statistics in psychological research.
How do we help our students to ROAR?
Resilient: Teachers in social science empower students to take ownership of their learning and hold them accountable for their own learning. In psychology specifically we structure our schemes of work in such a way that group work and independent research is equally encouraged in order that students build a robust attitude to the differing ways of learning and developing. We also guide them through effective questioning but we encourage them to take responsibility for their learning and note taking.
Open Minded: In psychology, we nurture and encourage students to having an enquiring mind in order to engage with the discursive nature of psychology. As we do across all our social science subjects, we drive student debate in the classroom, with at least one lesson per topic devoted to structured debating. With the competing approaches we encourage students to challenge opinions of others and analyse the implications psychological theory has on the modern world.
Aspirational: As in all social science subjects, teaching is energetic, personalised and delivered with high intensity and good pace in order to inspire students to want the very best for themselves. Students are equipped with pre-university reading and texts in order to challenge their reading and comprehension skills. We are also working with university PhD psychology students to create opportunities for students to be exposed to an understanding of studying the subject at degree level.
Reflective: In psychology, students are encouraged to consider the strengths and weaknesses of psychological approaches and studies openly in class discussion. It is within also every lesson we ask students to reflect on their understanding and knowledge through ‘Do Now’ knowledge recall activities which involve interleaving knowledge from prior topics. These activities enable students constantly reflect on how much knowledge is embedded. Moreover, students have FIT books where all marked work is improved upon over time. Significant lesson time is devoted to spending time on their improvement tasks.
Year 12:
Intent:
In year 12 students are introduced to approaches in psychology and research methods in order to build the necessary foundations to prepare them for the application to more complex topics. In this introductory phase, students are required to conduct their own research projects in order to discover first-hand the challenges faced by psychologists in conducting their research. Students use this newfound knowledge and experience to aid their analysis of specific psychological topics and case studies as they progress through the first year of the course. Teaching optional modules such as biopsychology and psychopathology at this stage of the course aim to spark a curiosity and also encourage discussion and demand increased tolerance of other views.
Implementation:
Year 13
Intent:
In year 13 knowledge and skills are developed further through the most challenging of the topics. This progression is successful due to the building blocks constructed in year 12. The rationale for teaching optional modules, such as forensics, in the second year of the course is due to the complex nature of such topics, which rely heavily on the knowledge acquired in research methods (taught at the beginning of the first year), to be able to effectively analyse and critically evaluate evidence presented in such modules. It is also in year 13 that extensive time is dedicated to ensuring students reflect on their understanding and knowledge through ‘Do Now’ knowledge recall activities which involve interleaving knowledge from prior topics; something which is encouraged in the first year but used even more extensively in the second year.
Implementation:
