Psychology
November 2026 Psychology subject update
Hi everyone,
Welcome to a your November Psychology update! We have a number of valuable online events to promote this month, including an opportunity to find out about examiner roles and exam insights events (all in November) as well as our exciting new Community of Practice, with a first meeting scheduled in March. We're also resuming our research into our Psychology course offer for international learners and are keen to connect with past teacher collaborators and new ones through our new Teacher Research Panel.
As ever, please don't hesitate to get in touch if I might be able to help with any aspect of your teaching - follow the link below to the bottom of the page to book a Teams call with me or to get in touch via email.
Best wishes,
Tim Lawrence
Psychology Subject Advisor
This update includes:
- Key dates
- General updates: find out about becoming an examiner in an upcoming free event, and GCSE reform.
- Psychology Community of Practice: our new networking and practice sharing events are now scheduled for March and June.
- Teacher Research Panel - international psychology teachers wanted: help us shape our future course offer.
- Updated component guide for IAL Psychology: Unit 3 guide with extended issues and debates guidance.
- Training and professional development: recordings of our 'all set...' events from September and exam feedback training in November.
- FAQs from psychology teachers
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 10 November | A Level Psychology Exam Insights training* |
| 18 November | GCSE Psychology Exam Insights training |
| 11 December | Deadline for Access to Scripts |
| 11 March | Psychology Community of Practice 4-5pm |
| 23 June | Psychology Community of Practice 9-10am |
*Exam Insights training for IAL Psychology will be available shortly as a pre-recorded event.
Final exam timetables for the summer 2027 exam series are available on our webpage linked below.
Find out what it means to be a Pearson Assessment Associate, what the benefits are and how to apply at our free virtual webinar on Wednesday 18 November, 4-4:45pm (GMT).
During the 45-minute event, we’ll cover:
- What to expect from the Assessment Associate role
- The benefits involved
- How to apply
- Answers to your questions in a live Q&A.
Take your first step towards becoming a Pearson Examiner.
How clear is your specification about what to teach, and how deeply? We're redesigning how our GCSE specifications are written, and we want to hear from teachers before we start, not after.
Our short survey takes about 12 minutes. It asks what works in the specifications you use now, what gets in the way, and what would help. There are no right answers, and we're as interested in what doesn't work as in what does.
It's anonymous, and open to all teachers, regardless of the exam board that you’re currently with.
Save the dates for these free online network events for teachers delivering Pearson Edexcel Psychology qualifications. The sessions will offers opportunities to connect with fellow Psychology teachers, share good practice and discuss current developments across the sector.
Topics will include::effective teaching and assessment approaches, key developments affecting Psychology teachers and learners, practical classroom ideas and experiences, opportunities for networking and collaboration, and questions and discussion with colleagues.
Thank you to all the teachers who filled out our expression of interest form and let us know about your availability. We've opted to start in the spring to give us all time to prepare, but plan to run the event in November 2027 too. We've gone for a morning UK time in June to accommodate international teachers in other time zones, and hope that some UK teachers will have gained time after exams enabling them to join then too. The times of our first two meetings are:
Thursday 11 March 4-5pm UK time
Wednesday 23 June 9-10am UK time
Thank you to teachers who have already expressed an interest in briefly presenting in these meetings - we will be in touch shortly to arrange contributors to the first one soon!
Events will be launched for registration on our Professional Development Academy site shortly - see the link below.
Building on our previous work, we’re continuing to explore how we can make our Psychology offer even stronger for international schools. We’re actively looking at how we can strengthen and improve our Psychology offer for international teachers and learners, and we want your experience and perspectives to help shape what comes next.
We want international teachers to play an important role in this next stage. This short 5-minute survey allows you to register your interest in joining our Psychology Teacher Research Panel.
We're grateful for the input that many teachers gave in an earlier phase of this reasearch several months ago. If you told us then you were happy to be contacted again, we will be in touch soon. If you can spare the time we'd appreciate you filling in our new expression of interest form however, as this will help us to identify how we can best use your expertise.
As a panel member, you’ll be invited to take part in interviews, focus groups and surveys, helping us build on existing insights and understand what works well, what could be improved and what international teachers and learners need for the future.
Since the update to our IAL Psychology specification for exams in January 2026 onwards, a synoptic 8 mark question on Developmental Psychology can reference any of the issues and debates. We have updated the component guide below to include additional guidance for teaching this.
A reminder that our live, free, online exam feedback events are coming up for A Level Psychology (on 10 November) and for GCSE Psychology (on 18 November). Pre-recorded exam feedback training for IAL Psychology will also be available shortly.
Follow the link below to find out more.
Recordings are now available for our September 'All set...' training events for A Level and IAL Psychology (GCSE recording coming soon!). Our new training recordings playlists are linked below for each qualification - do take a look, especially if you are new to delivering our courses!
We also provide centre-based training opportunities. If this is something you would like to explore, please visit our training page below.
Currently our UK GCSE Psychology course is a popular choice for international students and there are no barriers to them entering the exams in international centres. In fact nearly half of the entries for GCSE Psychology are from students outside the UK.
We are however looking at improving our course offer for international centres - see our Teacher Research Panel announcement in this update for more information on this.
No, for both Edexcel A Level and IAL Psychology the command word 'discuss' is only used for 8 mark questions which assess AO1 and AO2 equally. This means that students need ot be able to outline their psychological knowledge and then apply it to a scenario. Alternatively for the UK A Level 'key question' discuss questions, the AO1 marks are for knowledge of the issue for society, and the AO2 marks are for the application of psychological theory and research to it. In all 'discuss' questions conclusiosn are not required and students should not evaluate.
Mark schemes for 'discuss' refer to 'competing arguments' but this is often best interpreted as 'alternative ideas' and does not mean that evaluation is required.
Subject advisor
Tim Lawrence
Psychology and international Science
Subject updates
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October 2026 Psychology subject update
Hi everyone,
Welcome back to a your October Psychology update! We have some general news items this month, along with the usual upcoming training events and an opportunity for students to find out how to make the most of lectures and join the BPS as e-Subscribers!
As ever, please don't hesitate to get in touch if I might be able to help with any aspect of your teaching - follow the link below to the bottom of the page to book a Teams call with me or to get in touch via email.
Best wishes,
Tim Lawrence
Psychology Subject Advisor