Psychology
Subject update |
Wed Apr 24 10:25:00 UTC 2024
April 2024 Psychology subject update
Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Psychology April 2024 subject update.
Hello colleagues,
Good luck to your students as we approach the May/June exam season. I hope that you have managed to have some rest and relaxation recently, and that you are managing to look after yourselves as well as your students.
This update contains some general information relevant to this time of year, including some useful sources of guidance and support for students.
As usual you can find updates relating to each course in their sections below. We have re-published some of our exam feedback training videos for GCSE and A Level psychology as these may be particularly relevant to the final preparations of students for exams. Additionally there is brand new exam feedback for IAL psychology, with more to follow shortly.
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:
- Examiner vacancies: opportunities for GCSE, A Level and IAL psychology.
- General qualification updates: exam timetables, support available for students, and a very short survey on word-processed exam scripts.
- AS and A Level: previously shared resources which students may find particularly helpful now.
- GCSE: convenient links to exam feedback training videos.
- International A Level: the first intallment of exam feedback training, a new resource and a significantly updated mapping document.
We still have some examiner opportunities for this summer's series. If you run into any difficulties with the application system, please do contact me at teachingpsychology@pearson.com and I can put you in touch with our Assessment Leader for psychology who oversees examiner recruitment.
Working as an examiner, or Assessment Associate, is the best way to develop your understanding of the requirements of exam questions, which can in turn be a huge asset in terms of preparing students for future exams. With experience of examining comes opportunities to apply for senior positions such as Principle Examiner among others.
There are also vacancies for trainers for International A Level psychology, and for GCSE psychology for international centres, and you will find information on these at the bottom of the vacancies list linked below.
Applications will be open year-round but please apply by mid-April if you would like to examine for the summer 2024 series.
I wanted to re-share a copy of the exam timetables so that you had easy access to them as we enter the exam period. You can access these for each qualification below:
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International exam start times
For centres entering students for IAL Psychology, this page clarifies the start times of International A Level and GCSE exams in different regions.
Help your students feel as prepared as possible for the upcoming exam season.
In addition to all the support you provide, both Ofqual, JCQ and Pearson have a range of information to help inform and guide your students during this busy time. Please take a look at the information we’ve summarised below and pass it on to your students.
Support from Ofqual
The Ofqual Student Guide 2024 provides students with information about this year’s arrangements for GCSE, AS and A level qualifications, and explains what support is in place when taking exams and assessments.
Read the Ofqual Student Guide 2024 below:
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Ofqual Student Guide 2024
This guide provides you with information about this year’s arrangements for qualifications regulated by Ofqual. It also explains what support is in place when taking exams and assessments.
Support from JCQ
The JCQ has a range of information and support for students – from coursework and onscreen exams to written exams, along with a checklist for exam day.
Take a look at all the support JCQ have to offer for students - see link below
Support from Pearson
As the revision season is now fully under way and students begin to turn their focus towards the summer exam series, we’d like to share our Getting ready for exams guide that includes some top tips and advice including:
- preparing for exams
- what happens on exam day
- where to find further support
- what happens once exams are over.
Take a look at the guide below and please pass it on to your students
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Pearson Edexcel Qualifications assessment support page
You can stay up to date with all our support for 2024 on our Qualifications assessment support page
Pearson is interested to understand centre usage of word-processed scripts.
As we make the final preparations for the summer series, we have a few questions
for you. Please take one minute to answer a few questions via the short form below.
A reminder that last November we worked with our Chief Examiner to produce some updated guidance for teachers and students regarding the taxonomy of command words used in A Level exams. We are producing some accompanying video resources aimed at students, but see below for a link to the document.
We have previously shared a link to the 'past training content' section of the qualification web page, where secure links to videos of our exam feedback training based on last summer's papers can be found. Now that the vast majority of teachers will have used these papers for mocks we are sharing the videos here.
Exam Feedback Videos
Paper 1 Part 1 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback Edexcel
( 18:27 )
Paper 1 Part 2 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback Edexcel
( 16:12 )
Paper 2 Part 1 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 14:30 )
Paper 2 Part 2a (Criminological Psychology) Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 6:07 )
Paper 2 Part 2b (Child Psychology) Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 6:13 )
Paper 2 Part 2c (Health Psychology) Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 5:27 )
Paper 3 Part 1 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 16:12 )
Paper 3 Part 2 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 14:11 )
Youtube Video Title
Youtube video contentRelated Videos
Paper 1 Part 1 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback Edexcel
( 18:27 )
Paper 1 Part 2 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback Edexcel
( 16:12 )
Paper 2 Part 1 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 14:30 )
Paper 2 Part 2a (Criminological Psychology) Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 6:07 )
Paper 2 Part 2b (Child Psychology) Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 6:13 )
Paper 2 Part 2c (Health Psychology) Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 5:27 )
Paper 3 Part 1 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 16:12 )
Paper 3 Part 2 Psychology A Level 2023 Exam Feedback
( 14:11 )
We have previously shared a link to the 'past training content' section of the qualification web page, where secure links to videos of our exam feedback training based on last summer's papers can be found. Now that the vast majority of teachers will have used these papers for mocks we are sharing the videos here.
Exam Feedback Videos
Paper 1 Feedback Part 1 Edexcel GCSE Psychology Summer 2023
( 12:00 )
Paper 1 Feedback Part 2 Edexcel GCSE Psychology Summer 2023
( 11:13 )
Paper 2 feedback Part 1 Edexcel GCSE Psychology Summer 2023
( 12:03 )
Paper 2 feedback Part 2 Edexcel GCSE Psychology Summer 2023
( 19:35 )
Youtube Video Title
Youtube video contentRelated Videos
Paper 1 Feedback Part 1 Edexcel GCSE Psychology Summer 2023
( 12:00 )
Paper 1 Feedback Part 2 Edexcel GCSE Psychology Summer 2023
( 11:13 )
Paper 2 feedback Part 1 Edexcel GCSE Psychology Summer 2023
( 12:03 )
Paper 2 feedback Part 2 Edexcel GCSE Psychology Summer 2023
( 19:35 )
See below for pre-recorded exam feedback training for Unit 1 based on the January 2024 paper. Videos for the other units will be added to the same playlist over the next two weeks.
We have produced a document expanding on the guidance given in the specification regarding the meaning of the 'taxonomy' or command words used in IAL Psychology exam questions, clarifying how these are linked to particular Assessment Objectives - see link below.
New Pearson-published textbooks written specifically for the IAL Psychology course are due for publication in December 2024. In the mean time a useful resource is the Resource Mapping document on the qualification page, which shows relevant page numbers in the Pearson UK A Level textbook edited by Karren Smith along with links to online resources. These links have been extensively updated for the new version of the file which is available on the qualification page under 'teaching and learning resources' and via the link below..
Subject advisor
Tim Lawrence
Psychology and Science
Email :
Phone :
+44 (0) 344 463 2535
(Teaching Services team | Mon - Fri, 8am - 5pm GMT)
Subject updates
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March 2024 Psychology subject update
Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Psychology March 2024 subject update.
Hello colleagues,
I hope you are well and that you find the time for some rest and relaxation shortly, despite the pressures of this time of year!
Thank you to those teachers who responded to last month's survey requesting ideas for our next UK A Level psychology specification. If you haven't yet responded to it, the link is in this update too, along with some information about AI and how we are considering its potential to support teachers with marking and feedback - there's a survey to gather your thoughts on this here too. We would welcome feedback on this from GCSE and IAL teachers too.
As usual you can find updates relating to each course in their sections below.
Best wishes,
Tim Lawrence
Psychology Subject Advisor