A Level Psychology

Our A Level Psychology course provides students with the exciting opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of psychology, the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. Stimulating content is at the heart of this engaging course, which will encourage students to think like psychologists. Students will have the opportunity to develop a wide ranging set of key skills, including being able to communicate effectively using appropriate language, to interpret and critically assess scientific data, and to research and critically evaluate a range of sources. The course also encourages the development of strong literacy, practical, mathematical and problem-solving skills. The acquisition of such a diverse range of skills will be of great benefit to students in further education, the workplace and society in general.

If you are fascinated by human behaviour, and eager to develop an understanding of yourself or of people in the world, then Psychology is for you.

Here at Altrincham College, our Psychology students will gain scientific knowledge; relevant to behaviour, develop skills in analysing statistical data, as well as develop their communication skills.

Career Opportunities:

Our students will finish the course equipped with the knowledge to progress to university, with the potential to excel in careers in Health and Social Care, Marketing and PR, Management, Human Resources, Education, and Public Sector work, Child Psychology and Criminal Psychology.

Meet the Psychology Department

Name	Title
Mrs C Ledward	Head of Psychology

Entry Requirements Five or more A*‐ C (9-4 under the new grading system) grades at GCSE including English Language, Maths and Science. Grade B (5/6) in English Language and Maths are required.

Course Content
A Level	Students will study two of four major applications in Psychology.
Topics 1-4 (Foundations in Psychology) 35% of total A level	Social Psychology Cognitive Psychology Biological Approach Learning Theories.
Topics 5 & one other (Applications in Psychology) 35% of total A level	Students will focus on: Clinical Psychology Criminological
Topic 9 (Psychological Skills)   30% of total A level	Students will focus on: Methods Synoptic review of studies Issues and debates

Learning Methods and Assessment

In each unit, students will:

• Discover a key topic of research,
• Learn about important studies related to that topic, and
• Find out how research is conducted in that area of psychology.

Students will learn to use statistical tests to help interpret data collected in class exercises and be expected to conduct questionnaires, interviews, experiment and observations. Students will be required to format hypotheses and record results in a variety of ways, such as reports, graphs and tables and use these results to format a conclusion.

Assessment at A level
Unit 1	Foundations in Psychology‐ 2 hours (35% of A level)
Unit 2	Applications of Psychology – 2 hours (35% of A level)
Unit 3	Psychological skills – 2 hours (30% of A level)

All students are expected to be hardworking, highly motivated and have a real interest in people’s behaviour and its explanations. They must be able to learn independently and be able to stick to deadlines.

Psychology provides many opportunities to develop skills in assessing debates and arguments. You will need to:

• Be willing to have your opinions and values challenged
• Be willing to listen to and take on board new ideas and novel arguments
• Be able to see both sides of an issue; not rejecting one side simply because you initially believe it is wrong.