Should I start GCSE psychology in my school?

[abc1247]

I’m looking at the prospect of starting gcse psychology in my secondary (currently teaching science but degree is in psych)

Just wanting any advice or experience re the course, popularity, exam boards, resource availability, etc etc

Any info/experience would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you :)

Do you have the support of your SLT? Would it be delivered as a timetabled option or as an extra-curricular group? It won't count for Ebacc, just in the open bucket for P8. What is the level of interest from potential students?

Also, crucially, who else on the staff other than you could teach it?

It's a very very small subject at GCSE but the most popular in the country at A level. What do you feel is the value of introducing it at KS4?

Thank you for all of these questions - I have no experience in leading a subject so these are really helpful pointers.

SLT are supportive if it will be practical. There is the option for an extra-curricular group but I have been told by other staff members to be wary of this in terms of timetabling etc. Otherwise it would have to take the place of another option.

I haven't gauged level of interest yet but I will do once/if it seems like it may be feasible.

We would have one class in Y10 and one in Y11 so I would do all of the teaching (10 hours a fortnight in total). This would mean someone would have to be employed to teach 10 science hours.

I feel that Psychology incorporates many skills including English/written skills, mathematics/data analysis, research design, critical thinking, so I do feel it has value at KS4.

:)

I am going to sound really cynical and I apologise in advance but I've seen this play out badly with a really keen colleague who wanted to set up GCSE Astronomy.

There are very very few science departments who are so comfortably overstaffed (or confident of their ability to recruit) that they can afford to take a strong science teacher off ten hours of core teaching to put them on a non-Ebacc option subject. It is very likely that you will be pushed into teaching it as an extra-curricular on top of your full timetable, and if this happens then don't touch it with a bargepole. No matter how passionate you are about the subject it will be a huge amount of work for no additional pay or recognition. My colleague ran Astronomy as an extra curricular and even with lovely, hard working students choosing to join the club the dropout rate was massive, because it was so much more work for the pupils too on top of their other studies.

I would therefore only consider it if they are willing to give you a timetabled option block. I must admit from an SLT perspective the fact that you are the only one who can teach it is a concern - partly because of the pressure on you, and partly because if you are unavoidably absent cover will be impossible.

I'm sorry to sound so negative but it's important that you go into this with your eyes open. If it doesn't work out to introduce the GCSE you might like to consider a move to a school where you could teach the A level.

Thank you - you don’t sound negative at all, just realistic which is exactly what I need!

Will explore my options but keep my eyes open and remain realistic.

Happy half-term!

I'm just wondering, with the talk of extra-curricular options, whether any schools have ever tried offering after-hours GCSEs across two year groups, so that you start off with a mixed year 9/10 group, taking it in year 10/11. It means the year 9s have to opt in before choosing the rest of their options, but means it can be offered to every year group on half the teaching time.

My school recently introduced both GCSE astronomy and psychology. Psychology in particular is very popular with students. This will be the first year of results so we don't know yet how they have gone results-wise. As a teacher of a different non core subject, it's meant my uptake has gone down, so I'm not entirely thrilled about it! Don't let that put you off though!

This sounds similar to my school @MsGoodenough . They introduced GCSE Psychology, Business and Astronomy about 4 years ago. This has reduced the numbers taking my subject, Music, to around 15 each year. Business and Psychology have done really well, with great results but the students find Astronomy really tricky. Students getting 7 and 8s in other subjects get 4 and 5s in it. I would definitely go for Psychology though as the students here seem to really enjoy it.

Music isn't running next year in my school for the first time ever. Only 4 took it. I do wonder about the wisdom of starting such early specialisation in KS4. I know law schools have no time for law GCSE or A Level. Do Psychology academics feel the same about Psychology GCSE?

That's such a shame, we always have a good core of students who are heavily involved in our various school bands who form the core of our class so I have not really worried about numbers from other options. We sometimes managed to get to two classes. Such a shame for all those students missing out and the ones who want to develop. I have no idea about how academics view psychology GCSE, a good point, but probably valid for most GCSE's.