International Advanced Levels Psychology (2015)
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November 2024 Psychology subject update
Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Psychology November 2024 subject update.
Hello colleagues,
Our specification for International A Level Psychology has recently been updated with a small number of fairly minor amendments which will affect exams from January 2026 onwards, and this update contains some explanation of the implications for teachers. There are no changes to the specification for the UK A Level or for GCSE psychology for first teaching in September 2025. For IAL teachers there are also links here to key documents including new full-mark exemplars for Unit 3 synoptic questions, and news of updates to a variety of free support materials.
This update also contains some FAQs for GCSE psychology teachers, news of opportunities to work with us, and free resources 'coming soon' to support UK A Level teachers.
Best wishes,
Tim Lawrence
Psychology Subject Advisor
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:
- Opportunities for teachers with examiner experience: find out about our 'Credible Specialist' roles which can be fulfilled alongside full-time teaching.
- Assessment Associate (examiner) recruitment: more information coming soon.
- AS and A Level: news of new exemplar responses with commentaries and teaching resources - both coming soon.
- GCSE: FAQs with answers from senior examiners.
- International A Level: an explanation of some minor changes to the specification for exams for January 2026 onwards.
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We are seeking to recruit Credible Specialists for GCSE and A Level psychology. This role is open to experienced teachers of our GCSE and A Level psychology courses, and can be fulfilled alongside a full-time teaching role. For full details see the link below, but in short this role mainly involves contributing to the development of resources to support teachers, and delivering training events using slide decks and supporting notes written by senior examiners. Typically this will involve a few hours work per month, at the most, and if specialists don’t have the capacity to take on a particular piece of work there’s no issue with them ‘passing’.
The title on the page below reflects the fact that we are also recruiting for Credible Specialists for biology - it does not mean that you need experience of both subjects.
We will shortly be opening our recruitment process for new examiners, or Assessment Associates as they are formaly known, for GCSE, A Level and International A Level psychology. I will share details in another update soon.
There will be 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
A number of teachers asked very good questions during our Exam Insights training in October, and we have collected them here along with answers informed by consultation with senior examiners.
Amendment to the Pearson Edexcel International A Level in Psychology Specification
We have recently published a slightly amended specification for IAL Psychology which will come into effect for exams in January 2026 onwards. The intention is to keep change to a minimum while adding clarity, particularly around the synoptic element of one question in Unit 3. See below for an explanation of the changes with guidance on what they mean for teachers.
In addition to the new version of the specification, you can still access the previous version on the qualification website and via the link below so you can refer to this for exams in 2025. A new resource has also been added to the ‘teaching and learning materials’ section of the website, with two exemplar candidate responses to the synoptic 8 mark question on developmental psychology with examiner commentaries, which you can also download using the link below.
Updates to key support materials
We have been working to update and improve a variety of free resources on our qualification website, fixing broken links and adding new ones, including the Getting Started Guide, Course Planner and Scheme of Work.
The Summary of Studies guide for each unit have also been updated and improved and will appear under the guide section of the page below shortly.
International A Level psychology textbook news
Pearson published textbooks for IAS and IA2 (Year 1 and Year 2) psychology are now available - find out more via the link below.
Tim Lawrence
Psychology and International Science
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