Key Stage 5 Psychology

Psychology

We deliver the AQA specification which includes the following units:

Year 12

Research Methods Approaches
Psychopathology
Attachment
Social Influence
Memory

Year 13

Research Methods
Issues & debates
Forensic Schizophrenia
Biopsychology
Relationships

Key Stage 5 Sociology

Sociology

We follow the Eduqas (WJEC) specification and deliver the following units:

Year 12

Socialisation & Culture
Education
Family

Year 13

Inequality
Crime and Deviance

Key Stage 5 Health & Social Care (Level 3 Cambridge Technical)

Year 12

Unit 1 Building Positive Relationships – coursework
Unit 2 Equality Diversity & Rights – exam
Unit 3 Health, Safety & Security – exam

Year 13

Unit 4 Anatomy & Physiology – exam
Unit 10 Diet & Nutrition – coursework
Unit 13 Sexual Health, Reproduction and Early Development stages – coursework

Catholic Social Teaching

How we address values and virtues through the Social Science Curriculum

1.Dignity of the Human Person: Psychology – Maslow’s Hierachy in the approaches topic, covers a range of needs before self actualisation is achieved.
2.Peace: Sociology – socialisation of cultural norms & values. Psychology – dealing with offenders section in the forensic unit.
3.The common Good : Health & Social Care – Unit 2 legislation which supports disadvantaged groups such as The Children Act & The Human Rights Act.
4. The Option for the Poor and Vulnerable: Sociology – students consider how the working class experience inequality in different areas of social life these include: family, education, crime, income & wealth. There is also an A2 unit which covers Inequality, theories of class inequality is a big section of this unit.
5.Solidarity: Socialisation is a crucial part of Sociology, this includes learning cultural norms & values. We also cover how religion acts as an agent of socialisation.
6.The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers: Health & Social Care – Unit 2 rights & care values & Unit 3 types of discrimination & impact.
7.Care for God’s Creation: Sociology – research tasks on patterns of crime according to social group and area.

Teachers will provide a range of adaptive resources in order to support disadvantaged students and those with particular SEND needs. Students who require extra time or word processing will have this arrangement during any in class assessments. Teachers will closely monitor the progress of such students and give targeted feedback in order to enable them to improve. Learning passports which suggest particular teaching and learning strategies will be implemented in order to help students achieve. For example, scaffolded tasks such as 16 mark essay grids may be used to help plan exam questions and particular structures such as PET or PEEL could be used. Students who require further support to complete tasks during the lesson will receive this as and when required, such as further explanation or a worked example shown.

Higher Prior Attainers are supported within the department by a range of higher order teaching and learning activities which ensure these students are challenged appropriately. Extension reading through the use of journal articles from Sociology Review and Psychology Review are also utilised where possible so students can read beyond the syllabus. Model answers and mark schemes are used to demonstrate high grade answers, so students can understand how to achieve a top grade response. Personalised feedback is given to students after assessments which gives a clear target to improve their work, such as in Psychology students could be advised to use the PET structure for an evaluation paragraph.

Assessment and feedback

Students within the department are regularly assessed using previous exam style questions. These incorporate a mix of short answer and essay style questions depending on the subject. Assessments across Psychology and Sociology test a range of skills including AO1 knowledge, AO2 application and AO3 evaluation. Students will be given scaffolded essay planning sheets to help them with the more challenging questions. We also explicitly teach particular essay structures such as PET, PEEL & PEAD so students can answer a question and achieve the assessment criteria. Teachers give targets based on the assessment criteria and students are required to record this target and their grade in their assessment tackers. In addition, across the department we complete feedback lessons after assessments which include model answers and example paragraphs so students have a better understanding of the assessment criteria. Redraft tasks are used so students can correct mistakes and improve their answers by re writing a paragraph/section in another colour. Tasks where students have to highlight where they have achieved the assessment criteria in another colour can help them identify specific skills they need to develop, such as more AO2. In Health and Social Care, previous past exam questions are used regularly to assess specific skills, such as application to care settings and knowledge.

Half termly grades are recorded for each student based on current attainment and monitored by the Head of Department and Academic Progress Lead who will make the necessary interventions should a student not be making expected progress.

The department has a clear understanding of age related expectations and what Sixth Form students should be able to achieve. Each student has an ALPS target grade based on their GCSE profile and their progress against this is used to track progress. At this stage, we are trying to improve independence amongst students to prepare them for university or further study, so flipped learning and project tasks will help them achieve greater responsibility for their learning.

Extra Curricular and Cultural Capital

Cultural capital is explicitly taught as a concept in Sociology and culture is a crucial aspect of this subject. Students learn about how individuals acquire culture and cultural diversity within society, the family unit and also how cultural differences can influence attainment.

Where possible, students are given opportunities to enrich their cultural awareness through a range of activities that relate to religion, language & politics. Extension reading tasks are provided to broaden knowledge. Social policies are a core theme and we consider political theories within Sociology

Due to Covid restrictions, the extra-curricular activities have been limited over the past 18 months. The department hopes to secure some other extra-curricular activities in the next academic year, but in the meantime will utilise any online opportunities.

Some of the experiences outside of the classroom that have previously been offered include:

Behind Bars Conference – ex offenders discuss their experience of prison and the circumstances that lead to their offences.

Tutor2U Revision workshop – exam technique and revision materials delivered to students in order to help them prepare for previous exams.

Development of Literacy through Social Science

Across the department, literacy is a crucial skill which we aim to develop. Exam questions within each student include items in Sociology, stems in Psychology and care setting examples in Health and Social Care. Therefore, application of knowledge and interpretation of material are fundamental skills across all 3 A Levels.

Disciplinary literacy

• Class discussions allow students to articulate subject. knowledge
• Pair and group tasks allow students to discuss topic areas.
• Teacher lead input to explain terminology and research
• Model answers and mark schemes help the students understand the assessment criteria and give a framework for exam technique.
• Essay writing skills through the use of 16 mark planning grids in Psychology.
• PET, PEED, PEAD, PEEL are used to develop essay structure and exam technique

Giving students the ability to read complex text

• Flipped learning where students make notes on based upon academic work before the lesson. This is then deconstructed during lessons to help test and develop understanding
• Stems and items are used as during lesson activities.
• Consolidation/summary tasks where students condense information from academic texts into specific points
• Regular exposure to Journals from Sociology and Psychology so students  read  and become familiar with academic literature.
• Key term and study lists provide reference points when reading academic work

Targeted vocabulary instruction

• Teaching specific words relevant to the subjects and topics
• Varied approaches to teaching vocabulary
• Key terms and study lists