Teaching Psychology 14-19

Issues and Techniques

Matt Jarvis

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780415670258
• eBook ISBN: 9781136680267
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Teaching Psychology 14-19 - first published as Teaching Post-16 Psychology - is a core text for all training psychology teachers, as well as experienced teachers engaged in further study and professional development. Taking a reflective approach, Matt Jarvis explores key issues and debates against a backdrop of research and theory, and provides guidance on practical ideas intended to make life in the psychology classroom easier.

With an emphasis on the application of psychology to teaching psychology, it clearly and comprehensively covers the knowledge essential to develop as a successful teacher. Key issues considered include:

• The appeal of psychology and what the subject can offer students
• The psychology curriculum and advice on how to choose a syllabus
• Principles of effective teaching and learning
• Teaching psychological thinking
• Differentiated psychology teaching
• Choosing and developing resources
• Using technology effectively.

With a new chapter exploring the role of practical work in the post-coursework era, this second edition considers psychology teaching across the 14-19 age range and has been updated in light of the latest research, policy and practice in the field.

Teaching Psychology 14-19 is an essential text for all those engaged in enhancing their understanding of teaching psychology in the secondary school.

Chapter 1 The Philosophy Bit: Who, What and Why?

DOI: 10.4324/9780203810170-1

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Explain some of the reasons why students opt to study psychology, with particular reference to perceived rigour, intrinsic interest and potential therapeutic value.
• Assess the potential benefits for students of studying psychology with particular regard to transferable skills and preparation to study psychology at degree level.
• Appreciate the tension between catering for the short– and long-term needs of psychology students.
• Apply research findings into reasons for and benefits of studying psychology to enhancing classroom practice.
• Discuss the attributes of an effective psychology teacher.
• Consider the concept of reflective practice as a model for understanding the developing psychology teacher.
• Discuss the role of evidence-based practice in psychology teaching.
• Be aware of the breadth of ways in which psychology can be applied to teaching psychology.

This book contains a blend of theory, research and practical advice. If you are reading purely for the top tips you may prefer to skip this chapter. This is a chance to step back from the practicalities of the classroom to think a bit more broadly about the philosophy of psychology teaching – what we are here for. This isn’t meant to be an indulgence, but is rather based on the belief that practical ideas can be born, not necessarily from theory or research, but certainly from having a broader understanding of what we do. What are psychology teachers here for? What do students hope to get from studying psychology? What makes any teacher effective? It is extremely difficult for teachers to find space in the teaching day to escape the minutiae of planning, teaching, marking and admin and focus on these ‘big picture’ issues. It is, however, possible to at least consider these questions with reference to the psychology teaching literature.

A useful starting point is to consider why students choose to study psychology and what the potential benefits are of studying the subject. There is a body of research addressing both these issues and some clear implications for shaping classroom practice. In order to help achieve some of the ambitious goals suggested by this research I explore what makes an effective psychology teacher – while at the same time thinking critically about the notion of effectiveness. In the remainder of this chapter I consider two rather different ways of thinking about the practice of psychology teaching; reflective practice and evidence-based practice. Reflective practice has become a byword for quality in education, while evidence-based practice has enjoyed similar status in psychology for some time, and is becoming increasingly important in education. Psychology teachers, with a foot in both the psychology and education camps, are in an excellent position of being able to appreciate and draw on ideas from both reflective and evidence-based practice.

Why do People Study Psychology?

The rapid growth in the popularity of psychology, particularly at post-16 and undergraduate levels, has not gone unnoticed in either psychology or education circles. We are no longer ‘slipping under the radar’ (Jarvis, 2007), and this presents opportunities in the form of funding – but also challenges to justify our popularity. Three major hypotheses have emerged from discussions. The rigour hypothesis is the idea that psychology is, or is at least perceived by students as being, an ‘easier’ A-level, and so students choose it in the belief that they will gain a high grade with relatively little effort. The intrinsic interest or ‘sexy subject’ hypothesis posits that psychology is seen as a particularly interesting subject, and that this interest is students’ primary motivation. The therapy hypothesis emphasises the appeal of psychology to those seeking personal insight into their own existential, psychosocial or mental health issues.

Rigour hypothesis

More conservative elements in the education establishment believe that students see psychology as an easy A-level, and that this is important in accounting for its current popularity. We can call this the rigour hypothesis. Those who argue this often cite a now-dated study by Fitz-Gibbon and Vincent (1994) showing that, at that time, students tended to score on average half a grade higher in psychology than in the most difficult subjects.

There is, however, wide agreement now that the rigour hypothesis is flawed; apart from anything else the statistical evidence taken from more recent A-level cohorts is strongly supportive of psychology as a rigorous A-level (see Morris, 2003; Jarvis, 2004; and Chapter 2 for detailed discussions). Moreover, student surveys have found no evidence to suggest that they perceive psychology as an easy subject. On the contrary, Hirschler and Banyard (2003) report that 43% of post-16 students surveyed described psychology as more difficult than their other subjects, with 30% describing it as equally difficult and only 27% finding it easier.

Sexy subject hypothesis

In fact, studies have clearly shown that the overwhelming factor influencing students’ choice of psychology is its fit with our current cultural ideas of what is inherently interesting. In other words it is seen as ‘sexy’. In one survey, Hirschler and Banyard (2003) surveyed 454 post-16 level-3 psychology students – all but 17 were studying A-level. Three factors emerged as particularly important in the decision to study psychology: interest; preparation for a career in psychology; and the novelty value attached to a subject not previously studied. Table 1.1 shows the percentages.

Table 1.1 Reasons for choosing psychology (Hirschler and Banyard, 2003)

Rank	Primary reason	%
1	Sounded interesting	64
2	Want a career in psychology	19
3	Something different to study	11

In this study, interest value emerged as the most popular response and no other factors were mentioned by more than 1% of respondents. Encouragingly, pre-study perceptions of psychology as an interesting subject were borne out by students’ experiences. The majority rated it as more interesting than their other subjects. A breakdown of responses is shown in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 Perceptions of interest value of psychology (Hirschler and Banyard, 2003)

Response	%
Much more interesting	44
Slightly more interesting	36
About the same	15
Slightly less interesting	3
Much less interesting	2

Walker (2004) has extended this line of research by breaking down further the idea of interest. Based on a content analysis of responses to the open question ‘why do you want to study AS psychology?’, Walker has identified five distinct aspects of interest:

• Interest in people
• Interest in subject matter
• Novelty interest
• Career interest
• Personal issues

When students and teachers were asked to rank these in order of importance there was a surprising level of agreement, interest in people and subject interest emerging as the most important factors. Figure 1.1 shows student and teacher mean rankings.

Figure 1.1 Student and teacher rankings of interest factors (from Walker, 2010)

Therapy hypothesis

It has long been believed by many post-16 psychology teachers that they have attracted a disproportionate number of students with mental health problems, and that these students have chosen to study psychology in an attempt – conscious or unconscious – to seek insight into their conditions. This has sometimes been called the therapy hypothesis. There is no doubt that many students with mental health problems do derive benefit from studying psychology, nor that for some this is an important factor in their subject choice. However, there is little direct evidence that psychology attracts particularly large numbers of students with mental health problems. Teachers’ folk beliefs concerning this may be largely an artefact of greater disclosure rates in the context of psychology where the lesson content cues such disclosure. Surveys of students’ subject choice-motives such as those of Hirschler and Banyard (2003) and Walker (2010) have not revealed significant numbers of students suggesting that their subject choice was motivated by therapy-seeking. Indeed, Walker went on to directly investigate the therapy hypothesis by means of interviewing students, and in no case did his participants report a therapeutic motive.

What are the Potential Benefits of Studying Post-16 Psychology?

This question has been approached from a number of angles in the psychology teaching literature. There is clear evidence that what students seek primarily from studying psychology is interest, and that in this sense they are widely satisfied. However, there may be additional long-term benefits from studying psychology, both in terms of preparation for studying psychology in higher education (HE) and acquiring generic study and employment skills.

Preparation for HE psychology

Prior to the 1990s there was a consensus that studying psychology at school or college was unhelpful in terms of preparation for study at undergraduate level, and that those hoping to study for a psychology degree should at all costs avoid psychology A-level. With the explosion of numbers studying psychology – in particular A-level – in the 1990s this view rapidly became untenable.

There is nonetheless still some ambivalence around among HE teachers towards psychology A-level. One professor of psychology has spoken of the difficulty of teaching students ‘acculturated into psychology A-level’ (anon, personal communication). Conway (2007) blamed attitudes in HE on the mismatch between the psychology curriculum at pre-degree and undergraduate level and called for a ‘standard scientific and representative curriculum’ at A-level. However, as Green (2005) pointed out, there has always been a lack of clarity over the purpose of A-level; is it meant to prepare students for HE or for employment? Unless we take the view that psychology at school and college exists solely or primarily to prepare students for study of psychology at undergraduate level, it is unreasonable to subjugate the curriculum to the needs of an HE lobby, even assuming a consensus emerged about what such a curriculum should look like – which it hasn’t.

HE ambivalence aside, common sense suggests that students who have already studied psychology enter a degree with a better idea of what to expect and so have some advantage. In response to this situation, the British Psychological Society (BPS) undertook two studies, one involving HE teachers and the other students. Banister (2003) surveyed the Heads of Psychology at 25 UK universities about their perceptions of and policies towards prior psychology qualifications. In the majority of departments (15) psychology qualifications were not a factor in the admissions process, although a minority (5...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of boxes
• List of tables
• Preface
• List of Contributors
• Chapter 1 The Philosophy Bit: Who, What and Why?
• Chapter 2 Understanding the Psychology Curriculum
• Chapter 3 Four Principles of Effective Learning and Teaching
• Chapter 4 Practical Work in the Post-Coursework Era
• Chapter 5 Teaching Psychological Thinking
• Chapter 6 Resourcing the Teaching of Psychology
• Chapter 7 Technology-Enhanced Psychology Teaching
• Chapter 8 Meeting the Diverse Needs of Psychology Students
• Appendix
• Reference
• Index