Teaching AQA A-Level Psychology for the First Time

ABOUT THIS COURSE

This extremely popular course, refreshed for 2025, is designed to support teachers who are new to teaching AQA A-level Psychology, build strong foundations for student success from the very start. Delegates will explore how to effectively introduce the scheme of work, deliver meaningful assessments, and embed key content into lessons. The course also offers practical strategies for overcoming common challenges, especially for those working in small departments. Delegates will gain a range of high-impact teaching and assessment techniques, including retrieval practice, model answers, and formative feedback strategies. With focused sessions on Biopsychology, Social Influence, and Research Methods, the course provides resources and expert guidance aligning with AQA expectations. Delegates will leave with a clear plan on how to improve student outcomes and manage their teaching workload more effectively.

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BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

• Provide teachers of A-level Psychology the material and confidence to teach effectively to all ability ranges
• Obtain exceptional understanding of the key challenge areas and how to teach them
• Gain insight into the content, the exam structure and the how exams are marked.
• Leave with a set of resources and scheme of work for the full 2 year course
• Understanding of how to differentiate using scaffold and stretch strategies for essay writing

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PROGRAMME

Setting firm foundations – what methods can be used to enhance performance from the start?

10.00 – 10.30am

• Ensuring students and teachers hit the ground running in September – introducing the scheme of work and baseline assessment
• Recognising which areas will be most challenging for you and how to address these issues
• Identifying your support network and making the most of it – particularly in a small department or single teacher department.
• Ensuring topic areas which create the foundation for success – incorporating them into every lesson.

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Coffee break

10.30 – 10.45am

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How to effectively teach Biopsychology

10.45 – 12.00am

• Planning for success, teaching methodologies and using retrieval practise to boost student performance
• Structuring the learning through tailored booklets, and use of exam questions and model answers to highlight success criteria and expected standards to students.
• Designing formative assessment and feedback through focussed starters and plenaries into your teaching
• How to use assessment, to identify success and areas for development to track student progress in relation to the AQA AO criteria
• Methodologies that boost student attainment: how to improve students by one grade, targeting top grades (A-A*).
• Teaching Biopsychology to a mixed ability range of pupils.
• Exam questions and model answers, looking at what success looks like, and marking to the AQA specification

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Key ideas for teaching the content knowledge from Paper 1

12.05 – 12.45pm

• Pitfalls and easy wins when teaching Social Influence, Memory, Attachment and Psychopathology
• Teaching for success; how to support students to remember key concepts and begin to apply them – interleaving and retrieval strategies
• Teaching across the ability range; how to ensure top students are challenged, while not leaving lower ability students behind.
• Lessons from the examboards and how to implement them in the classroom.

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Lunch and informal discussion

12.45 – 1.45pm

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Research methods

1.45 – 2.45pm

• Introduction to teaching research methods at A-level
• Interleaving topic or specialist focus, a discussion of how to incorporate into the curricululm and implication for how it effects teaching of other content
• Resources and examples of what works in teaching research methods, how and when to use practicals.
• Exam focus on tricky question; how to help students use and describe statistics

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Afternoon break

2.45 – 2.55pm

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Planning and structuring

2.55 – 3.30pm

• Curriculum issues – Intent, Implementation and assessing Impact
• Milestones for success, what should students have mastered by the end of year 12
• Assessment time tables, when, what and how and how to balance this with whole school assessment schedules
• Time management – how to plan so that you can mark efficiently and effectively; use of peer assessment

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The exams – what is expected

3.30 – 4.00pm

• Overview of all three papers by AQA, what are they looking for?
• Teaching towards the ’endgame’, what language to use, ensure you are marking ‘like the examiner’ and secure grading
• Focus on essay structure in exams, how to pick up easy marks, and what top grade responses look like

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Depart

4.00pm

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