January 2025 Psychology subject update
6 January 2025
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Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Psychology January 2025 subject update.
Hello colleagues,
Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope you and your students have found some time for rest and relaxation over the holiday period and the start to this term is smooth. This update includes some general updates including key dates for the remainder of this academic year and recruitment of examiners, and news of some updated resources for International A Level psychology teachers.
As always, if you need support with any of our languages qualifications, please feel free to reach out to me using the contact details at the bottom of this page or use our support portal.
Best wishes,Â
Tim Lawrence
Psychology Subject AdvisorÂ
If you have any questions, then please do contact me:
☎ Call: 0344 463 2535
✉ Email: teachingpsychology@pearson.com
💻 Book a Teams meeting with me: https://bit.ly/4bBZjpB
This update includes:
- Key dates for the rest of this academic year.
- The January 2025 Creativity Challenge: a free resource for teachers to use to stimulate students' creativity.
- BPS Teachers' Toolkit updates: new free resources for psychology teachers.
- Examiner and International Trainer recruitment: become an examiner for GCSE, A Level or International A Level psychology, or train IAL teachers.
- International A Level: updated and improved free resources available on our qualification web page.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 21 February | Entry deadline for May/June exams for UK centres |
| 6 March | Results day for January series (IAL) |
| 21 March | Entry deadline for May/June exams for International qualifications |
| 14 August | A level results day |
| 21 August | GCSE results day |
64 Million Artists (supported by Pearson) have created a resource pack for schools to support delivery of The January Challenge 2025. This initiative will help more students, and more teachers feel creative at school, creating a stronger sense of community, agency, wellbeing, and a capacity to engage with the curriculum. We hope a creative January inspires a creative February and beyond! In addition to the links find out more about the January Challenge and download the resource pack, psychology teachers and students may be interested in an article from Verywellmind on the psychology of creativity.
Learn more about The January Challenge
Download the Creativity Champions pack for schools
Read about the psychology of creativity at Verywellmind..com
The Division of Academics, Researchers, and Teachers in Psychology (DARTP) - a division of the British Psychological Society - produces varied resources to support psychology teaching in schools and publishes them in their online teachers' toolkit (link below).
Recent additions to this include guides to ADHD, OCD and neurotransmitters, a timely reminder of the value of assessment for learning, linked to psychology teaching, utilising positive psychology to address student anxiety in schools, and finally a student's guide to personal statements, which may be of help to any Year 13 students yet to complete theirs!
The recruitment process for new examiners, or Assessment Associates as they are formaly known, for GCSE, A Level and International A Level psychology is now open - see the links below for more details and to complete an online application.
There are opportunities for teachers at all stages in their careers, and full training provided. In addition to the pay, teachers can gain a great deal of understanding of the demands of exam questions through this work and many find it extremely useful in informing their teaching.
We are also recruiting internationally-based trainers for International A Level psychology and would welcome applications from experienced teachers, especially those with examining experience.
Updated and improved documentation available on our Teaching and Learning Resources page
In November we shared that an updated specification has been released for exams from January 2026 onwards.
Read about the specification update in the November Psychology Subject Update.
A number of supporting documents have been refreshed, with updated links and other improvements.
In addition to the updated and current (for exams in 2025) specifications and the new examplar candidate responses which we shared in November, see below for links to the updated 'Getting Started Guide' and resource mapping documents.
A Component Guide accompanies each unit of the IAL course, and acts as a companion to the specification for teachers, with additional detail and clarification. For units 2 and 3 there are two versions: issue 1 for each unit relates to the current specification for exams in 2025, whereas the issue 2 versions are for the updated specification for January 2026 exams onwards.
A Summary of Studies Guide also accompanies each unit, and gives details of a selection of key psychological studies which need to be taught.
Subject advisor
Tim Lawrence
Psychology and International Science
Email :
Phone :
+44 (0) 344 463 2535
(Teaching Services team | Mon - Fri, 8am - 5pm GMT)
