Subject · GCSE and A level
Psychology
Which schools in England make Psychology a big part of the curriculum, and where results are strongest. Entries and grades from the 2025 performance tables.
What the data says
Psychology GCSE was taken in 643 schools in England in 2025, with 18,581 entries — about 3% of the Year 11 cohort.
Nationally 22% of entries achieved grade 7 or above. The tables below show the schools where the largest share of pupils take the subject, and where grades are highest (schools with at least 20 entries).
At De Salis Studio College (Hillingdon) 62% of the year group took Psychology.
At A level, Psychology was offered in 2,334 schools and colleges, with 70,175 entries — roughly 23% of A level students.
GCSE: schools with the highest share of grades 7–9
Schools with at least 20 entries. England: 22% of entries graded 7–9. High grades often reflect who is admitted (selective and independent schools) as much as teaching.
A level: schools and colleges where the largest share of students take Psychology
Entries as a share of A level students (at least 30 A level students and 10 entries). England: 23% of A level students.
What pupils learn in Psychology, stage by stage
England has no national year-by-year syllabus: exam boards and schools set the order within each stage. These are the statutory blocks from the Department for Education, so a parent can see what a child meets in Years 7–9, what every GCSE candidate must cover, and what waits in the sixth form.
Years 7–9Key Stage 3
not offered as a separate subjectYears 10–11GCSE
79learning outcomes · statutory GCSE subject content; Higher-tier-only outcomes are markedYear 12A level, typically first year
11learning outcomes · content also examined at ASYear 13A level, second year
10learning outcomes · A level-only contentWhat GCSE Psychology teaches · Years 10–11
79 learning outcomes from the Department for Education’s statutory subject content, grouped by topic. Each outcome belongs to one of twelve fields of knowledge used across startfrom.today: Natural Sciences (30), Social & Cultural Skills (25), Mathematics & Statistics (17), Health & Safety (7). Exam boards add detail on top of these; the outcomes themselves are the same whichever board a school uses.
Knowledge, understanding and skills11
- explain how neuroscience and genetics contribute to behaviour — behaviour, genetics, neuroscience
- explain how thought, information and mental processing contribute to behaviour — behaviour, cognition, information processing
- explain the impact of social and environmental factors on behaviour — behaviour, environmental factors, social factors
- explain how nature and nurture affect development throughout life — development, nature, nurture
- explain why individuals differ in behaviour and experience — behaviour, individual differences
- evaluate the nature-nurture debate in psychology — nature-nurture debate
- evaluate the reductionism-holism debate in psychology — holism, reductionism
- explain how psychological knowledge and ideas change over time — history of psychology, scientific knowledge
- explain the contribution of psychology to individual, social and cultural diversity — cultural diversity, individual diversity, social diversity
- connect the core areas of psychology to explain a behaviour — behaviour, core areas of psychology
- relate a psychological study to its associated theory — study, theory
Compulsory topics: Development5
- describe stages of cognitive and brain development — brain development, cognitive development
- explain Piaget's stages of cognitive development, including assimilation and accommodation — accommodation, assimilation, piaget, stages of development
- evaluate the role of education and intelligence in development — development, education, intelligence
- explain Dweck's Mindset Theory of the effects of learning on development — dweck, learning, mindset theory
- explain Willingham's Learning Theory of the effects of learning on development — learning theory, willingham
Compulsory topics: Memory4
- describe the Theory of Reconstructive Memory — reconstructive memory theory
- describe the Multi-store Model of Memory — memory, multi-store model
- compare the duration and capacity of short-term and long-term memory — capacity, duration, long-term memory, short-term memory
- explain how different types of memory are encoded and stored — encoding, memory types, storage
Compulsory topics: Psychological problems6
- explain how the incidence of mental health problems changes over time — incidence, mental health
- explain the effects of mental health problems on individuals and society — individual, mental health, society
- describe the characteristics of a mental disorder according to the ICD — icd classification, mental disorder
- explain a biological explanation of a mental disorder — biological explanation, mental disorder
- explain a psychological explanation of a mental disorder — mental disorder, psychological explanation
- evaluate interventions and therapies for a mental disorder — intervention, mental disorder, therapy
Compulsory topics: Social Influence3
- explain conformity to majority influence — conformity, majority influence
- explain the behaviour of crowds and collective behaviour — collective behaviour, crowd behaviour, pro-social behaviour
- explain obedience to the orders of authority figures — authority, obedience
Compulsory topics: The Brain and Neuropsychology4
- describe the structure and functions of the brain — brain function, brain structure
- explain how neurons and synapses interact in the nervous system — nervous system, neuron, synapse
- explain how brain structure and function relate to cognition and behaviour — behaviour, cognition, neuropsychology
- explain the impact of neurological damage on behaviour using an example — behaviour, neurological damage
Optional topics: Criminal Psychology4
- explain the Social Learning Theory of criminal behaviour — criminal behaviour, social learning theory
- explain Eysenck's Criminal Personality Theory — criminal personality theory, eysenck
- evaluate the effects of punishment, including prison, on behaviour — criminal behaviour, imprisonment, punishment
- evaluate methods of rehabilitation for reducing criminal behaviour — criminal behaviour, pro-social behaviour, rehabilitation
Optional topics: Language, Thought and Communication4
- explain Piaget's Theory of the Relationship between Thought and Language — language, piaget, thought
- explain how language and thought affect our view of the world — language, thought, view of the world
- compare human communication with communication in animals — animal communication, communication
- explain non-verbal communication using the Evolutionary Theory — evolutionary theory, non-verbal communication
Optional topics: Perception4
- explain the Direct Theory of Perception developed by Gibson — direct theory of perception, gibson
- explain the Constructivist Theory of Perception developed by Gregory — constructivist theory of perception, gregory
- describe monocular and binocular depth cues, visual illusions and visual constancies — depth cues, visual constancies, visual illusions
- explain the effects of motivation, expectation, emotion and culture on perceptual set — emotion, expectation, motivation, perceptual set
Optional topics: Sleep and Dreaming4
- describe the functions, features and benefits of sleep — sleep benefits, sleep functions
- explain internal and external influences on sleep and the causes of sleep disorders — sleep disorders, sleep influences
- explain the Freudian theory of dreaming — dreaming, freudian theory
- explain Activation Synthesis Theory of dreaming — activation synthesis theory, dreaming
Optional topics: The Self4
- define the self, self-concept, identity and free will — free will, identity, self, self-concept
- explain the Humanistic Theory of Self and the development of self-esteem — humanistic theory, personality, self-esteem
- explain the role of temperament and experience in personality development — experience, personality development, temperament
- explain the Trait Theory of Self in measuring personality — personality types, trait theory
Research methods12
- formulate a hypothesis, including null and alternative, for a psychological investigation — alternative hypothesis, hypothesis, null hypothesis
- identify independent, dependent and extraneous variables in an investigation — dependent variable, extraneous variable, independent variable
- explain how to control extraneous variables in an investigation — control, extraneous variable
- describe target populations, samples and sampling methods — population, sample, sampling method
- evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a sampling method — sampling method, strengths and weaknesses
- design a psychological investigation using quantitative and qualitative methods — qualitative method, quantitative method, research design
- compare the strengths and weaknesses of experimental and non-experimental research methods — experimental method, non-experimental method, research design
- select an appropriate research method for a research objective — research method, research objective
- interpret numerical and graphical data from psychological research — graphical data, numerical data
- evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of independent and repeated measures designs — independent measures design, repeated measures design
- evaluate the reliability and validity of sampling methods and experimental designs — reliability, sampling method, validity
- evaluate ethical issues in psychological research and ways of addressing them — ethical guidelines, ethical issue
Appendix A: Arithmetic and numerical computation3
- use expressions in decimal and standard form — decimal form, standard form
- use ratios, fractions and percentages to interpret psychological data — fraction, percentage, ratio
- estimate results from numerical data — estimation, numerical data
Appendix A: Handling data11
- use an appropriate number of significant figures in a calculation — significant figures
- calculate the arithmetic mean of a data set — arithmetic mean
- construct and interpret frequency tables, bar charts and histograms — bar chart, frequency table, histogram
- calculate the mean, median and mode of a data set — mean, median, mode
- use a scatter diagram to identify a correlation between two variables — correlation, scatter diagram
- describe the characteristics of a normal distribution — normal distribution
- explain range as a measure of dispersion — dispersion, range
- distinguish qualitative data from quantitative data — qualitative data, quantitative data
- distinguish primary data from secondary data — primary data, secondary data
- translate information between graphical and numerical forms — graphical form, numerical form
- plot and interpret a graph from experimental data — experimental data, graph
Source: DfE GCSE psychology subject content (2015), Open Government Licence v3.0. Outcomes are split into single actions and rewritten only where the original bundled several; wording otherwise follows the DfE text. Methodology.
What A level Psychology teaches · Years 12–13
21 learning outcomes from the Department for Education’s statutory subject content, grouped by topic. Each outcome belongs to one of twelve fields of knowledge used across startfrom.today: Natural Sciences (14), Social & Cultural Skills (4), Mathematics & Statistics (2), Health & Safety (1). Exam boards add detail on top of these; the outcomes themselves are the same whichever board a school uses.
Core areas of psychology4
- explain core concepts and theories in cognitive and biological psychologyYear 12 · AS — biological psychology, cognitive psychology
- explain core concepts and theories in social and developmental psychologyYear 12 · AS — developmental psychology, social psychology
- explain core concepts and theories of individual differences in psychologyYear 12 · AS — atypical behaviour, individual differences
- study at least two core areas of psychology in greater depth than at ASYear 13 — core areas of psychology, depth of study
Research methods3
- describe methods used to collect quantitative and qualitative psychological dataYear 12 · AS — qualitative data, quantitative data, research method
- explain experimental designs including independent measures and repeated measuresYear 12 · AS — experimental design, independent measures, repeated measures
- calculate and present descriptive statistics including central tendency and dispersionYear 12 · AS — central tendency, descriptive statistics, dispersion
Knowledge and understanding5
- use specialist psychological vocabulary and terminologyYear 12 · AS — psychological terminology
- apply psychological theories, concepts and studies to explain behaviourYear 12 · AS — application of theory, psychological theory
- evaluate ethical issues in psychological researchYear 12 · AS — research ethics
- analyse the strengths and weaknesses of psychological research methodsYear 12 · AS — methodological evaluation, research method
- explain how psychology contributes to understanding social and cultural diversityYear 12 · AS — cultural diversity, individual diversity
Approaches and application9
- compare cognitive, biological, behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches to psychologyYear 13 — behaviourist approach, biological approach, cognitive approach, psychodynamic approach
- explain the applications and implications of psychology to social and contemporary issuesYear 13 — application of psychology, contemporary issue
- explain the interrelationship between different areas of psychologyYear 13 — interrelationship of approaches
- evaluate the scientific status of psychology as a disciplineYear 13 — psychology as science
- apply psychological theories, concepts and approaches to solve real-world problemsYear 13 — application of theory, problem solving
- design and report psychological investigations, drawing valid conclusionsYear 13 — research design, valid conclusion
- analyse quantitative and qualitative psychological data using inferential statisticsYear 13 — inferential statistics, qualitative data, quantitative data
- apply psychological principles and perspectives to explain real-world issuesYear 13 — perspective, psychological principle
- evaluate issues and debates in psychology such as nature versus nurtureYear 13 — nature and nurture, psychological debate
Source: DfE GCE AS and A level science subject content (2014), Open Government Licence v3.0. Outcomes are split into single actions and rewritten only where the original bundled several; wording otherwise follows the DfE text. Methodology.