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Psychology is the second-most popular UK A-level subject (OFQUAL, 2025), the third-most popular UK degree subject, and is becoming increasingly taught in schools in many European countries, either as a secondary-level psychology qualification (for instance as a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE)), or in other subjects (such as health and social care). It is, however, non-compulsory, and is classified as a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subject for the Advanced Level qualification but not at GCSE level. This means that there are limited places on psychology university teacher training courses and a shortage of psychology graduates entering teaching in the UK. Consequently, many psychology courses are taught by non-specialists.

Moreover, psychology teachers do not have the same access to the wider support enjoyed by teachers of core subjects, such as mathematics (ESPLAT, 2021). In contrast, the American Psychological Association has dedicated a section of its organisation (division 2) to promoting effective pedagogy to support teachers of all levels, called the (STP). The STP offers a wide range of resources to support American psychology teachers of all levels, from curriculum and teaching materials to specific demonstrations of teaching techniques by master teachers. We felt that this was a missed opportunity in the UK that we could best take advantage of because of our unique position within the British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers of Psychology (DART-P) and our collaboration with the Association for the Teaching of Psychology (ATP).

Introducing the Teachers’ Toolkit

is a free online collection of BPS-endorsed resources to support UK pre-university psychology teachers and promote the value of psychology as a subject. We developed the toolkit in collaboration with the ATP and DART-P.

There are plenty of general themes and content which can be found in all specifications, so we have designed the resources in a way that will be useful to psychology teachers of all specifications and levels of pre-university psychology courses; the resources are as inclusive as possible and will not go out of date when specifications change.

We designed the toolkit on the basis of the findings of our . As expected, theses findings identified a huge variety of preferred topics and resources (we are working through the suggestions). However, the most popular topics were research methods, teaching emotional health and wellbeing, and ready-made activities.

Why psychology is important for teaching and wider society

Psychology is important for society because it increases understanding across all areas of our lives – memory, perception, mental health, education, crime, climate change, inclusion,  social change, and so on.

‘Psychology helps all teachers to understand how students learn and how to tailor lessons to meet their educational and emotional needs.’

Psychology also helps all teachers to understand how students learn and how to tailor lessons to meet their educational and emotional needs. It has also shaped educational policies, such as the UK government’s , and enabled teachers to develop evidence-based practice. For instance, is based upon cognitive psychological research (see for example Rawson & Dunlosky’s (2007) research on the importance of metacognition and Firth et al.’s (2017) research on retrieval practice).

How the toolkit can help bridge the gap in psychology education in the UK

Lave and Wenger’s (1991) Community of Practice model and the research by Ball et al. (2024) into the factors influencing the success of students’ transition to university have raised two interesting questions for the future development of the toolkit. First, what is the long-term effectiveness of the community of practice – unexpectedly formed as a result of the toolkit – on the professional development of psychology teachers across educational sectors? Second, how useful is the toolkit in developing two of the protective belief and behavioural factors (making students more informed about their university choices and whether the university experience matches their expectations) needed for students to successfully transition to university?

Conclusion

The positive feedback given for the toolkit (for instance: ‘I’d highly recommend it to anyone working internationally, especially those with few opportunities for CPD like me’), and the increased collaborations formed since its inception show that it is indeed an effective bridge across different psychology education sectors with mutual benefits for all members of the psychology community.

References

Ball, I., Banerjee, M., Holliman, A., & Tyndall, I. (2024). Investigating success in the transition to university: A systematic review of personal risk and protective factors influencing academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review, 36(2), article 52.

European Society for Psychology Learning and Teaching [ESPLAT]. (2021, January 6). What is EFPTA and why do we support teaching of psychology at pre-university level? [Blog post].

Firth, J., Smith, M., Harvard, B., & Boxer, A. (2017). Assessment as learning: The role of retrieval practice in the classroom. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Memory, and Cognition, 36(5), 1118–1133. Available at:

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.

Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation [OFQUAL]. (2025). Official Statistics Provisional entries for GCSE, AS and A level: Summer 2025 exam series.

Rawson, K. A., & Dunlosky, J. (2007). Improving students’ self-evaluation of learning for key concepts in textbook materials. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 19(4–5), 559–579.