Subject Intent

The Psychology curriculum at Holyhead is unapologetically ambitious and challenging. Students who select Psychology at GCSE/A-level often do so because they want to understand human behaviour that they have encountered at some point in their life. No matter what they decide as their destination after education, they will encounter other people and their complexities throughout life. This curriculum, therefore, aims to develop students’ understanding of human behaviour which falls in line with Holyhead’s mission statement to ‘Teach What Matters’. This will ensure that students are well equipped to work with people in their futures. At the end of their GCSE/A-level in psychology, they will be able to explain behaviours such as why people conform and obey, how they attach to primary and secondary caregivers, how mental health disorders develop, how memories are processed and why people commit crime. Not only will they be able to explain these concepts using psychological theories, they will also be able to explain how best to deal with these behaviours too. 

What are the key skills of a computer scientist?

• Students need to be able to demonstrate their understanding of psychological theory through application to real life examples. 
• They must be able to understand how research is designed in psychology to provide us with valid evidence for each theory that we cover.
• Students must also be able to critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of theories and/or studies that are covered within the specification.
• They must also recognise that psychology is a multifaceted subject so they need to be able to how each separate approach can be applied to understand the complexity of different human behaviours.