SKE Lead

Holly Lacy

What is your current role and experience in teaching?

Currently, I am a teacher of psychology and sociology at Elliott Hudson College and Social Science Subject Knowledge Lead at GORSE SCITT.

Why are you passionate about your subject?

The social sciences allow us to question the taken for granted and understand human and societal behaviours. Also, the experiments and studies in the field are fascinating!

What impact does strong subject knowledge have?

It impacts everything. If a teacher is a master of their subject this significantly impacts their teaching, gives students confidence in them as a teacher and enables them to better understand the exam rubric for their subject. All of which ensure progress for students.

Modules

Module One (Week 1)

Introduction to the course, exam papers and specification. Overview of social influence content.

In this module we explore what makes for great psychology teaching. We also explore how the exam papers and specifications are set out in A- level AQA psychology and the Assessment objectives required of learners. There will be an introduction to the key points in the social influence topic, identifying the famous key studies such as Milgram, Zimbardo, Asch and the evaluation of these. This topic is one of the most popular for teachers and students as it opens our eyes to what really makes us act the way we do.

Module Two (Week 2)

Research methods

This topic has the highest weighting in all exam boards for psychology. It is the fundamentals for psychologists to conduct research on their theories and involves not only the possible methods that can be used but also the way scientific and mathematical analysis needs to be conducted. There are elements of A-level maths in this area with the use of inferential statistics, as well as basic GCSE maths and the ethics, sampling and hypothesis creation.

Module Three (Week 3)

Approaches

It is no secret that psychologists all have conflicting ideas about the foundation of human behaviour. In this area, we will look at the 6 main approaches to understanding behaviour from the more classical theorists such as Freud, B.F. Skinner and Pavlov to the modern psychologists such as Maslow and Bandura. All of which have shaped our views of human behaviour today.

Module Four (Week 4)

Biopsychology

This final topic is one which most non-specialists will find daunting because A-level Biology is used in psychology to understand behaviour, however this will show how easy this can be to understand. This topic will break down the lobes of the brain, the nervous system and our biological rhythms and show how fascinating the body is to explain abnormalities and behaviour.

“100% of SKE participants stated that completing an SKE with GORSE SCITT developed their subject knowledge and understanding of the curriculum.”

Delivery and Assessment

The programme is delivered through optional online tutorials and asynchronous study.

Assessments will include mini tasks, evaluative tasks, research and readings. There will also be an opportunity to reflect on the key ideas learnt in each unit of work. Each submission of assessment will receive detailed and clear feedback outlining professional knowledge, strength and areas to develop further over the remainder of the course.

Want to find out more?

Book an information evening or taster day.

These virtual events will take place with our leadership team to give you an opportunity to find out more about the courses we offer, the support you will receive and your journey as a GORSE SCITT trainee.