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Hungerhill School

Psychology

Psychology can be applied in all areas of life as a way of understanding how the mind works and how this links to human behaviour.  The study of psychology helps us to better understand and help people with psychological disorders, treat mental health problems and improve the education system, workplace behaviour, and relationships.   In a world where mental health affects 25% of us, it is imperative that we develop an understanding and empathy of these disorders. 

At Hungerhill school, psychology offers an enriching and knowledgeable curriculum for our students.  The subject enables them to understand themselves and other people through applying theories and studies in analysing behaviours.  Students will develop an empathy and understanding of mental health and be able to explain why people conform and obey and how to revise using memory aids.   

There are also many skills that can be gained through studying psychology.  Students will be critically thinking every lesson which will help them across other subjects.  There are also many cross-curricular links, giving students an opportunity to develop their numeracy, science and literacy skills. 

Our curriculum will:  

Develop the character of all students  

  • Students will be challenged with an aspirational curriculum and be expected to strive for excellence every lesson. 

  • Students will develop Hungerhill school’s core values through the ethical implications in research; empathising with situations e.g. amnesia and learning about differences within people e.g. schizophrenia. 

  • Students will become resilient learners through formative and summative assessment; target work and encouraged to develop a growth mindset. 

Ensure all students are literate and numerate  

  • A love of reading will be promoted through the curriculum by reading challenging and interesting texts. 

  • Students will be confident using psychological terminology and will use this language in their text and speech. 

  • Students will practise their Mathematical skills in assessment and in their lessons. 

Build knowledge and aspirations of all students  

  • The curriculum progresses to build upon skills and knowledge studied previously. 

  • Lessons are sequenced in blocks of learning and begin with research methods so students can use this terminology to build a foundation for the modules that follow. 

  • Critical thinking skills become more challenging throughout the later modules but build upon the evaluation skills during year 9. 

  • Retrieval practice is heavily embedded and form part of the daily diet using retrieval grids, do now activities and low stake quizzes. 

Ensure all students have the secure foundations to progress into further education and employment  

  • The knowledge within the modules; the students knowledge of research methods and their exam technique will provide a great foundation and understanding ready for KS5 psychology if they choose to study psychology further. 

  • Students will explore potential careers in psychology in their learning e.g. cognitive behavioural therapist.

Develop cultural capital of all students  

  • Students will have an awareness of mental health issues in terms of the ICD and statistics 

  • Students will be exposed to museum content e.g.Sigmund Freuds’s link to Vienna (pictures of the museum) 

  • Students will be given many opportunities to be creative e.g. building the multi-store model/ creating a sleep cycle. 

  • Students will have lots of opportunities to debate. 

  

Miss S Lock
Curriculum Leader

Psychology KS4

Exam Board:

OCR

Qualification:

GCSE

Assessment:

Examination 100%

Outline of course content:

The GCSE course is designed to give you an introduction to the science behind people's behaviour and how it can be used to improve quality of life. The course is divided into two units which explore three different topics of psychology, giving us the opportunity to delve into theories and studies pertaining to the topic. Each unit also includes a section on research methods, which develops knowledge of the processes of planning, carrying out, and analysing psychological research. We consider the ethical issues raised by such research and the application of the results for the real world.

Outline of course structure:

Unit 1 content overview:

50% of the total GCSE:

  • criminal personality
  • development
  • psychological problems
  • research methods

Applications:

  • rehabilitiation
  • education
  • the use of anti-psychotics to treat Schizophrenia

Assessment: Studies and Application 1 (ninety marks written paper, 1.5 hours)

 

Unit 2 content overview:

50% of the total GCSE

  • social influence
  • memory
  • sleep and dreaming
  • research methods

Applications:

  • majority influence in attitudes towards mental health
  • recall techniques
  • The treatment of insomnia.

Assessment: Studies and Applications 2 (ninety marks written paper, 1.5 hours)

Careers using Psychology

 Psychology is all about people and helping to explain how we all behave.

Skills and how the subject relates to work:

The skills required include:
  • being interested in people
  • having a mind open to new ideas
  • the ability to analyse information in an objective and impartial way
  • having excellent communication skills
  • strong writing skills to produce reports

Potential jobs:

Occupational psychology – how do companies select the right staff to employ? Why not use an occupational psychologist to help develop selection programmes and tests to help them? Who should be promoted and offered further training? Maybe an occupational psychologist could help.
 
Forensic psychology – heard about ‘profiling’ on TV police shows? Is it possible to predict if someone will commit a crime? From hundreds of suspects, is it possible to analyse who the likely guilty person is? This is what a forensic psychologist does.
 
Clinical psychology – Within the NHS, psychologists are employed to help people address mental, emotional, and behavioural problems affecting their lives. These are often people to very difficult circumstances and can be very demanding work.
 
Social psychology – When you walk into a shop to buy a product, why do you select a particular one? Is it the colour, the display, etc? Companies and supermarkets pay good money to successful ‘social’ psychologists to help them understand consumer behaviour.
 
Sports work – This is very specialist work, but opportunities do occur to work with elite sports people to help them develop their performance. Lots of professional sporting clubs do employ a psychologist.

Related careers:

People who enjoy the study of psychology are usually attracted to working with people. Careers such as careers advisers, social workers, teachers, market researchers, advertising/PR, speech therapy, sports and exercise (personal trainers), and sales/marketing all attract people with an interest in this area. 
NOTE: these may require additional specialist professional qualifications.