In the first two weeks of the course we aim to introduce our students to the three themes which basically underpin everything they do on the course. These three themes are methodology, perspectives and issues and ethics.

This might seem like an ambitious plan of action for the average 16 year old who has little prior knowledge of psychology, but we find these first two weeks invaluable in terms of introducing our students to the structure and content of their course, as well as allaying any fears they might have. In fact, students who miss these two weeks often find it difficult settling in.

We provide our students with an induction pack based on the three themes. This contains :

* the strengths and weaknesses of all the methods covered in the course

* a summary of the ethical guidelines that should structure psychological research, as well as an evaluation of how these guidelines have been applied

* the general strengths and weaknesses of the 5 approaches in psychology (previously 8), we have found that a criteria based approach works well here, eg. usefulness, use of the scientific method, is the approach reductionist, determinist etc.

* an outline, with examples of what is meant by reductionism, determinism, and the nature/nurture debate. We will be broadening this out from September to include new themes and perspectives which we have not covered before such as reinforcement , social control and the social, moral and cultural context of psychology. The themes and pespectives are more fully described in the new syllabus, 14 are identified, as well as the approaches.

This pack will be used extensively in the first two weeks and we encourage our students to keep referring to it as we progress through the key studies.

The secret of the first two weeks is to engage the students interest in what is to follow, and we find a useful starting point is the student's own experience, and opinions which we encourage them to express. An important lesson which we hope our students learn during their induction is that psychology is meant to be discussed, and classroom passivity is not acceptable, they will be asked to contribute !

Our induction is therefore not just about having the pack, it's also about how the material is used. So for example, we might ask the students to read an article about homosexuality and consider whether it is inherited or learned through experience. Similarily we might ask them to consider the nature nurture debate in terms of abnormal behaviour such as schizophrenia or eating disorders. Concrete examples really do help students understanding of complex issues and, so for example, when talking about say reductionism we might talk about explanations for phantom limb pain, or a person 'in love'.

It can be profitable to be topical when considering themes and issues, and for example pick up on media interest in a behaviour, for example, the number of world class athletes who are black.

Thankfully, the OCR has decided to reduce the number of core studies on the specification from 24 to 20, which makes delivering the first year much more manageable. Up until now, the order in which we have delivered the core studies has been governed by what we thought the students would find interesting and accessible to start with, as well as homeworks that we wanted to get done early in the course. However, from September we propose to teach all 4 core studies consecutively within the context of the 5 approaches they represent, in order to give greater coherence and identity to the approaches.

We spend one week on each of the core studies. A typical week might involve any of the following activities

* Teacher explanation of the background/context to the study; information in the study, methods used, analysis/presentation of results; conclusions; general issues.

* Group work/paired work on presentations

* Question and answer sessions which take the students sequentially through a study

* Discussion of evaluation, themes and perspectives

* Watching a video, and answering questions on it

* Completing Section A short answer questions, as an individual/ group

* Completing Section B Questions as an individual/group

* Completion of an Evaluation Sheet

P.S. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

The evaluation sheet has been designed to ensure that our students focus on the key elements of a core study, and provides a structure for their thinking. Basically, it covers 4 sides of A4 and has headings, as well as sections for writing notes on topics such as background, aims/hypotheses, approach, method, methodological strengths and weaknesses, procedure, results, practical, theoretical implications, ethics, reliability, validity, sampling bias. However, we envisage that the E sheet will need to be revised in the light of the new syllabus.

A well completed E sheet will provide the student with a comprehensive set of revision notes, as they have reduced all the facts about a core study down to manageable proportions.

In the department we follow a common scheme of work and assignment schedule. This means that all students who do psychology will be set the same homeworks, at roughly the same time.

All our students will have completed every Section A past question on a core study, and have been provided with a markscheme to check their answers. Last year we also aimed to have our students complete 6 section B/C questions. Some of which will have been done as homeworks, some as test essays.

Students need lots of help with their essay writing throughout the course, but particularly at the beginning, and consequently we help them to plan and structure their answers in order to maximise their marks, since marks are easily lost. (Please see attached Section B - on ecological validity and the experimental method, Section C Essay Planner 2) We ask our students to complete these planning documents and submit them with their essay. These documents will need modifying in the light of the new syllabus.

It is also useful to use an essay planner when asking students to mark other student's essays in class, it helps them to identify what the candidate has done well, or perhaps badly.

This part of the new specification replaces coursework folder 1. The students are required to complete 4 practical work activities which should be recorded in a practical folder which is to be taken into the examination. Students will also be expected to know about, but not record methodological, ethical and perspectives issues raised by their practical activities.

We are currently preparing two booklets for our students. One of which they will be able to take into the exam. The syllabus, and support materials provide comprehensive details of what is required here.

We envisage taking a week to teach each of these practical activities, and plan to integrate them in the scheme of work wherever there is an appropriate core study.

All first year students receive 3 or 4 textbooks, although this is under review:

Our students are always daunted by the amount they have to revise for their first year examination, and anything we can do to help motivate them, and raise their confidence is always gratefully received. We think that students need activities to help them revise, they need to be doing something with their notes, not just reading through them. Many of our students respond well to a structured approach, where we provide them with a framework for thinking about the core studies. We often photocopy these frameworks onto A3 paper.

For example, this year we have focused our students on the 'problems' that psychologists have when they try to investigate.... (A1 Section C Essay Planner 3) Consequently we have asked our students to identify 4 or 5 major problems raised by the core studies and to provide examples of how this problem manifests itself in each of the core studies.

In a similarily structured way, we have advised our students to consider several 'what if' questions in preparation for Section B questions. In the example given (A1 Revision 2000) the focus is on measurements used, but we also advise them to consider methods, samples, procedure etc.