September 2023 Psychology Subject Update

Summer 2023 Exam Feedback events in September and October

We are running free live exam feedback events for A Level and GCSE psychology and teachers can register for these using the links below. Each session will cover one paper, and will last for one hour with an opportunity to practise marking exemplar answers not contained within the examiner reports. For International A Level psychology we plan to release pre-recorded training focusing on the key messages contained within the examiner reports shortly.

Please note that two events (A Level paper 2 feedback and GCSE paper 1 feedback) have moved from the provisional dates I advertised in my July update, from a Thursday to the following Monday in each case).

Welcome to Edexcel GCSE psychology training

In addition to our exam feedback events, we have two free live events for centres new to delivering GCSE psychology. These are particularly aimed at international centres as a significant number have recently started offering the course but teachers from UK centres are equally welcome. There is no Edexcel International GCSE in psychology, but the UK course can be delivered by international centres. Teachers can register for the courses using the links below. Please note that Module 1 was originally scheduled for 4th October in error and it may be that the registration page still shows this date if it has not yet updated to the 3rd.

Survey - future training events

If you might be interested in attending future free training events relating to GCSE, A Level or International A Level psychology, please complete the following survey. There are some optional text questions, but the only required questions are four multiple-choice ones so it should only take a couple of minutes. This is designed to help us to plan future training that best meets the demand from teachers.

Additionally, if you have a specific training need or questions which you would like to talk through on a telephone or video call, please do reach out using the email address at the bottom of this page to request one.

International A Level psychology textbook news

A decision has recently been taken to develop a Pearson textbook specifically for the International A Level psychology course - something a number of teachers have been in touch to enquire about. The process of writing and publishing a course textbook is a fairly lengthy one, but we hope it will be available in time for the start of the 2024-25 academic year. We will share news of its progress here.

In the meantime, work is underway to update the resource mapping document (available under 'mapping document' in the teaching and learning materials section of the qualification web page) with new links and improved support resources for topics not covered in the UK A Level textbook. We hope to have this ready to download in October.

Key dates for your diary this term

Response to feedback on this summer's exams

Thank you to all those teachers who shared their students' experiences of the recent exam series, either through the teacher survey (which is still open if you would like to have your say) or by contacting us through other means. We are also grateful to all the teachers who gave up their time to consult with us on some proposed changes to the UK A Level exam papers.

We are hoping to be in a position to announce some changes to the 2025 UK A Level exams shortly, pending approval by Ofqual. These will be minor, intended to reduce the time pressure on students but not requiring any change to teachers' approach in preparing them. For example there will be no new question styles or changes to command word use. We are also looking at the way in which mark schemes are applied in A Level, International A Level and GCSE psychology in response to feedback, with a view to improving candidates' experience in future exam series.