Psychology News

OCR A2 Events

OCR has announced that it is to run two ‘Lead the Way’ events which will focus on the two new A2 units G543 and G544.

There will be sessions with the Principal Examiners focusing on aspects of the new A2 specification but the theme for the afternoon is “Psychology in Action”. Experts from the fields of forensic, clinical, sport and educational psychology have been invited to speak with the aim that it will broaden teachers’ understanding of the applied section of the course.

There are two dates

London (22nd May)

Leeds (5th June).

The early booking rate is £205 and more details and booking forms can be found here.

Posted in ocr by Mark Holah | No Comments »

Insight Conferences

This autumn Insight Conferences will be running their Exploring Crime Conference in the following Venues

Manchester Town Hall 5th November
Salford University 13th November
London Westminster Hall 24th November
Birmingham University 26th November

The cost is £20 per delegate

Teachers accompanying a school/college party attend free of charge.

Check out Insight Conferences for more details.

Posted in Uncategorized by Mark Holah | No Comments »

ATP Conference 2008 - University of Lincoln

If you are going to the ATP conference at the University of Lincoln next month, you will probably want to check out the recently updated list of workshops. The keynote speakers have also been finalised and there is further information about timings, accommodation and travel available on the web site www.atpconference.org.uk

If you have not booked yet I have been told that there are still a few places available.

I am looking forward to it.

Posted in Uncategorized by Mark Holah | No Comments »

Win a Bozo doll

The OCR web site is running a psychology free prize draw.

The prize is a Bozo doll, similar to the original Bobo doll used in the Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) core study.

All you have to do to win one of the 25 inflatable dolls is to fill in a form by clicking on Bozo the clown below.

Good luck.

Posted in ocr by Mark Holah | 2 Comments »

Psychology exam papers stolen

AQA is having to re-set Psychology exam papers due to be sat on the 16th May.

Following a theft of a Parcel Force van containing exam papers AQA has re-set a number of its GCE and GCSE exam papers. The Parcel Force van was stolen in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, on 15 April.

The van was later found with some parcels still inside and some nearby. Some of the exam papers were recovered, but a number were missing.

AQA said that the loss of just one exam paper from a set could mean the exam was compromised so it took the decision to replace the papers nationally.

Among the exam papers were the AS psychology papers PYA1, PYA2 and PYA3.

Stolen AQA exam papers included GCE Business Studies, Biology Specification A, Computing, French, Modern Hebrew, History of Art, ICT, Law, Media Studies, Psychology Specification A, Sociology and Spanish.

Furthermore GCSE English Specification A and English Literature Specification A were stolen.

Here is the letter sent out to all centres from AQA

In their statement AQA noted that “incidents like this are extremely rare” although they fail to mention that a similar incident did occur fairly recently in April 2004 (see BBC 2004). Perhaps the days of sending exam papers via Parcel Force vans are numbered.

Posted in BBC, aqa by Mark Holah | 10 Comments »

Psychology video sharing site - PsychClips

PsychClips is a great new web site for psychology teachers to share video and audio clips that are hosted on youtube-type sites.

There are already almost 100 video clips on PsychClips and with other psychology teachers help this should grow considerably. Some of the videos are the better-known ones such as the Milgram and Zimbardo clips but there are already some lesser-known ones that psychology teachers may not have seen before embedded on the site.

The site is free although you do have to register. Teachers who have already registered for PsychExchange can use their existing user name and password to access PsychClips.

Possibly the best feature of PsychClips is the book-marking facility. Teachers can add clips to their own profile so that they have instant access to these psychology clips when they log on. This is so useful for teachers who have access to networked interactive white-boards in their classroom – like me.

For a list of youtube-type video sharing sites check out yube.co.uk

Posted in Links, Podcasts, PsychExchange, Psychclips, Resources, dvds, video by Mark Holah | No Comments »

Exploring Crime Conference

Insight Conferences have announced details of their forthcoming Exploring Crime Conference at the University of Leicester on 10 - 11 July 2008.

The aim of the conference is to give those students attending an insight into specialised areas within crime and help to enrich their studies and pursue future careers.

The cost for the conference is £95.00, which includes all conference presentations and materials, overnight accommodation, a full English breakfast and an evening meal. Refreshments will also be provided throughout the day for the students and teachers.

The conference should be an excellent opportunity for students to experience university life and explore areas within the world of crime relating to Psychology, Science, Sociology and Law along with meeting peers from across the country who share similar interests and aspirations.

Insight Conferences are now taking bookings and are able to hold provisional places for 10 working days for any students/schools interested in attending. They can be contacted via or email or phone (01509) 550832 to make your booking provisionally.

More details and their email address can be found on www.insightconferences.co.uk

Posted in Conferences, Insight Conferences by Mark Holah | No Comments »

More free stuff

Jamie is giving away a free copy of the newish Banyard and Grayson book to celebrate psychblog.co.uk being a year old. (I refuse to call it a Birthday though Jamie) To have a chance of winning this excellent book all you have to do is go over to his site and register.

Posted in Books, Resources, ocr by Mark Holah | No Comments »

Dates for last re-sits of the current psychology AS and A level

For psychology, candidates currently working towards their AS exams in May, and A2 exams in July there will still be a number of opportunities for re-sits.

AS re-sits will be available in January 2009 and then the following May 2009. No more re-sits of the current AS psychology exams will be available after May 2009.

A2 re-sits will be available in January 2009, June 2009, January 2010 and June 2010.

Of course, only those units that are normally offered in January will be available in January.

For those psychology candidates studying the new specifications, the A2 units will not be available for examination until 2010, which means that candidates cannot complete the full A level in the first year of the new specifications.

Furthermore, the units from the current (legacy) specifications cannot be combined with units from the new specifications.

Posted in Specifications, WJEC, aqa, edexcel, ocr by Mark Holah | No Comments »

2009 GCSE Psychology Drafts

The draft 2009 psychology GCSE specifications from OCR and AQA have been published.

The drafts have to be submitted to the regulators in April 2008 and the specifications will be available from September 2008, with first teaching from September 2009.

Edexcel and WJEC have announced that they will offer GCSE psychology from 2009 but have not yet published their drafts.

The OCR GCSE draft psychology specifications are here

The AQA GCSE draft psychology specifications are here

Update - here is the link to Edexcel draft GCSE specifications

Update - here is the link to WJEC draft GCSE specifications

Posted in GCSE, WJEC, aqa, edexcel, ocr by Mark Holah | No Comments »