Curriculum Intent  

We study Psychology in order to create inquisitive learners. Through studying a wide range of human behaviours, we aim to give students a broad understanding of why humans behave in certain ways and give them an appreciation that we all have individual differences that make us unique. We encourage students not to just take ‘facts’ at face value through teaching them how to think critically about theories and studies.   

As well as achieving a strong academic qualification, we aim for students to gain a better understanding of themselves and of other people. In particular, we believe it is important to teach students about mental health and ways to identify and support mental health issues.  We believe this understanding will enable learners to be more successful in both their personal lives and their future interactions with people in a work context. 

Finally, we are aiming through our curriculum to support our learners to be inclusive of all. Psychology as a discipline (and the specifications provided) are not particularly inclusive– for example research is ethnocentric and focusses predominantly on white, Western culture, and rarely considers gender as anything but binary (male and female). We believe it’s important to explore key topics such as ethnicity, gender identity and sexuality (despite them not being explicitly covered on the course) to ensure students feel safe in our classroom. This helps students to develop confidence and character when discussing and considering these topics and be the best versions of themselves when they leave the classroom and interact with others that are in these demographics.  

Ethos

The Psychology department at The Hazeley Academy aims to challenge our students in a supportive and caring environment. We promote a love of this subject through applying the content we cover in class to real life examples and experiences. Psychology is everywhere, and we ensure that students can apply what they are covering in lessons to their real life behaviour and interactions. Why do we have phobias? Why do we dream? What causes mental health disorders? How can we improve our memory? These are just some of the questions we aim to answer. For example, through teaching students about how memory works, we aim to improve their study skills and enable them to develop effective revision strategies.  

Recently, we have spent a lot of time developing inclusion in the subject, as discussed in our curriculum intent. This is something that the department feels strongly about and is becoming even more ingrained into our ethos as its importance grows in society. 

We also believe that psychology is a scientific discipline, and we therefore give students the opportunity to develop their research skills through designing and conducting their own psychological studies throughout the course. We encourage students to take a logical approach to their studies and we model this behaviour through our lessons and course structure.