We aim to develop courageous and intellectual students though a Psychology curriculum that aims to have a profound, positive impact on students’ academic, moral, and social development. We want our students to have the capacity to use their understanding of the human mind and how it can influence behaviour to positively influence the community around them in their later lives. By understanding the powerful knowledge which underpins psychology as a discipline, we will enable students to value the importance of psychological research and we will inspire a growing curiosity of the human body and mind. Our psychology curriculum is broad and balanced covering a range of topics including mental illness, social influence, aggression, and relationships; as such our curriculum will enable students to develop tolerance, awareness and respect towards others through an in-built opportunity to consider alternative ideologies and concepts as well as how behaviour affects various and diverse culture and upbringing experiences.

By the end of their education in Psychology at Callington Community College, all students of Psychology will:

• Develop essential knowledge and understanding of psychology and how they relate to each other.
• Develop and hone their application of statistical analysis, presentation, academic writing, and interpretation of academic literature within the context of the key knowledge themes that underpin our psychology curriculum.
• be equipped with the scientific knowledge, skills, and vocabulary to develop a deep understanding of themselves and the wider world.
• confidently consider ethical issues and implications of psychological endeavours across a range of psychological disciplines and timescales.

In order to fully appreciate Psychology and develop a deep schema, topics in Psychology have been intelligently sequenced by the following rationale:

All new knowledge introduced builds deliberately on previous or prior knowledge with particular attention being paid to neuropsychology, research methods and key issues and debates within the context of the core themes for psychology (below). The course starts with an introduction to foundational knowledge so that links can be formed, and knowledge builds and deepens as students progress through the course. The order in which topics are delivered to students helps with memory and recall of knowledge, but also develops many of the skills needed beyond the scope of the course.

Our Psychology curriculum addresses disadvantage through:

• Sharing clear Learning Outcomes at the start of each lesson to direct and frame students’ thinking.
• Using our Get To Work Tasks to deliberately bring knowledge from the long term memory to the working memory to act as a mental velcro for students’ thinking and learning.
• Resources developed to ensure students have a record of their knowledge which they can refer to an develop as they progress through the course.

We believe that psychology contributes to the personal development of all of our students through:

• developing an understanding of the ideas and values that characterise ‘self’ and others.
• learning to challenge mental health stigma and discrimination.
• understanding a basic viewpoint of why people behave in certain ways and how we learn.
• understanding some of their own behaviour and relate to everyday situations (e.g. Fight or flight response) and how they can manage themselves in certain situations.
• becoming aware of very common mental health illnesses, which are on the rise in today’s society, especially in their age group.
• developing compassion and patience for individuals with mental illnesses, with the potential of feeling comfortable enough to support their peers should they see any signs or symptoms.
• understanding how memory works, giving students an opportunity to reflect upon their own memory patterns and enable them to apply this to revision techniques.
• understanding conformity and why people conform or obey. Students will be able to apply this to making sense of history and other social issues, e.g. bullying, ‘mob’ mentality and peer pressure.
• understanding their own attachments and reflecting on current relationships. This should help students understand the importance of maintaining key relationships, particularly at such significant stages of their lives.

Opportunities to build an understanding of Social, Moral and Ethical issues are developed alongside links to the wider world, including careers through:

• Studying current issues and debates throughout psychology to build critical thinking skills and prepare students for a career in any social science field.
• Emphasising the impact of cultural and gender bias and the potential impacts of this in terms of the issues still faced in today’s society.
• Understanding and reducing the stigmas around mental health.
• Knowing how crime is defined and measured, and how information about crime may be misrepresented by the media or misinterpreted (alongside associated ethnic and gender bias).  This will empower students to make their own judgements and look beyond misconceptions