Workshops

Breakout events

There will be over 70 breakout events at the conference dealing with the widest range of issues around the teaching of psychology. There will be

• mini talks that give updates on recent developments in psychology

• workshops on specific teaching issues such as how to run a psychology department or how to manage large classes

• Awarding Body led events that provide information and support to teachers

• practice events where teachers share good practice

and new for this year,

• short presentations by teachers on particular aspects of practice or their research

The conference provides the full CPD package by giving teachers access to a range of professional and research inputs as well as giving opportunities to review new resources and share good practice.

This year’s conference is being supported by the Psychology Department at Keele University who have a long history of researching and writing about issues in the teaching of psychology.

The programme for the breakout events will be developed through the spring and published in April. As an indication of the events we anticipate promoting we include some examples of the breakout events from last year’s conference at Exeter.

Breakout events from last year’s conference

MINI TALKS

Beyond the glass ceiling: The precariousness of the glass cliff
Michelle Ryan, University of Exeter
While the ‘glass ceiling’ remains a barrier to women’s progress in the workplace, recent research has uncovered an additional, largely invisible, hurdle that women need to overcome. Extending the glass ceiling metaphor, we argue that women are more likely to find themselves on a ‘glass cliff’, such that their positions of leadership tend to be more risky or precarious than that of their male counterparts. A program of research conducted using multiple methodologies will be presented to illustrate the glass cliff phenomenon archival research, experimental studies, and qualitative research. Taken together the research provides strong evidence for the robustness of the glass cliff and sheds light on the psychological processes underpinning the phenomenon.

Body in the Brain
Fay Short, University of Bangor
Body representation research is a new and exciting branch of cognitive psychology focusing on how the brain understands the physical body. My presentation will explore this fascinating topic by introducing some of the cutting-edge research currently in progress to further understand how our brain can represent, or misrepresent, our body. I will demonstrate how your brain can be tricked into believing that an external object is part of your physical body, including the amazing rubber hand illusion in which a person can mistake a rubber hand for their real hand. I will also present interesting case studies to highlight errors in body representation, including the extraordinary case of the patient who rejected her own arm and insisted it was not part of her body! My talk will also explore the problems associated with negative body image and explain how virtual reality techniques can encourage body acceptance in patients suffering with eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder.

The Psychology of Terrorism
Trevor Dunn, The Leys, Cambridge
In the wake of the September 11 attacks and subsequent events in Afghanistan and elsewhere, the world’s attention has turned to the question of how best to tackle terrorism. While an agreed definition is probably as far off as ever, in what is both a difficult and sometimes dangerous topic to investigate, this talk will address some of the issues surrounding one of the most challenging problems facing the modern world and psychology

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE SESSIONS

Writer’s workshop (for teachers and students): writing articles and books
Matt Jarvis, University of Keele
Many teachers want to write, and publishers are always on the lookout for new talent. Often though the two just don’t come together. This workshop will explore what publishers and readers want from a book and take a look at the practicalities of proposing, contracting and writing a psychology textbook.

Writer’s workshop (for academic writing), plus Action Research in your school
Paul Sander, Tim Jones,  BPS Division of Teachers and Researchers in Psychology
Ever wondered about carrying out some small-scale research at your school? Paul Sander and Tim Jones will explore how you can set up projects and prepare them for publication. Paul is Editor of Psychology Teaching Review.

Partners in Crime
Mark Souter
The aim of this workshop is to generate power points for the 19 ’suggested’ studies in OCR G543. Mark Souter will lead the session and he will bring a copy of as many original papers as possible. The plan is to divide them up among people in the workshop; illustrate a ‘model’ style and  try to generate as many as possible in the workshop (student centred learning!) – possibly set homework for the rest …

TEACHING & LEARNING

Having fun with OCR AS
Linda Sherry, Guernsey Grammar School and OCR
How do we get our students to remember all those details? Here are some ideas to make the studies stick, like “Kanzi the musical”. Participation desirable, good singing not a requirement!

Some interesting active ways of teaching psychology- PGCE styley
Karen Duffy & Psychology PGCE students, Manchester Metropolitan University
2 trainee teachers from MMU Psychology PGCE will be delivering a session on 4/5 ways of delivering aspects of psychology specifications

Running a psychology department
Lesley McHenry, Bilborough College, Nottingham
Courage and cake – a few ideas on how to deal with the recent explosion in student numbers. Balancing the needs of your team with the demands of senior management

Effective learning
Vicky Newham, Wimbledon High School
Vicky Newham teaches at Wimbledon High School and has a special interest in effective learning. In this session she will look at what effective learning is, and how it can be promoted in Psychology. Other questions which she will look at include, what the benefits are of promoting effective learning, and how to use Assessment for Learning to promote effective learning in Psychology. Vicky will also provide some practical ideas for learning activities in Psychology which promote effective learning and also some ideas on how to overcome the barriers to effective learning.

EXTRA-CURRICULA

Psychology Teacher’s Toolkit. An update!
Michael Griffin, The Arthur Terry School
The aim of this session is to provide fresh ideas for delivering psychological content. For those of you that have already downloaded the ‘Psychology Teacher’s Toolkit’ from psychexchange.com, the session will feature new teaching strategies and an updated version of the toolkit, which includes an additional 20 pages of activity ideas! There will also be a focus on strategies to structure group work, creating opportunities for peer and self assessment, as well as some new generic starters and plenaries. Delegates will be encouraged to try these ideas for themselves throughout the session, evaluate their use and consider how they might be adapted for their own lessons.

CBT: an evaluation from the therapist’s perspective
Stuart Rose, CBT therapist, counsellor and trainer
A particularly a hot issue at the moment in the therapeutic world with what is currently happening within the NHS. The government is investing in what is called IAPT ( Improved Access to Psychological Therapies). Considerable changes are being made within Mental Health provision at Primary and Secondary Care levels with  NICE         ( National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) often favoring CBT as the preferred therapeutic intervention. This has produced quite some debates among therapists from other approaches.  As a member of several psychotherapeutic organisations ( BABCP, BACP, UKCP, BPS Counselling Division) it has put me in the position of hearing the arguments from different sides of the fence.

Confronting our own death: Exploring the true nature of grief
Richard Gross, Author and Teacher
While grief is usually defined as the response to the loss of a loved one, behind the grief reaction may lie the terror of one’s own death. The workshop considers how attachment theory may be used to reveal this relationship between actual loss of another and potential loss of self.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Equality & Diversity for new teachers of Psychology- Enthusiasm wins out
Emma Shakespeare, Laura Rudd, ATP Committee
This will be presented in an open forum setting with Laura Rudd and Emma Shakespeare. Laura will present from the view of an NQT in her first year of teaching and Emma will present from the perspective of 3 years down the line as a head of department. The workshop look at the practicalities of integrating issues of diversity into teaching such as how to record the activity and finding the best training opportunities. There will also be some top tips such as, how to learning to say no and how to recognise your limits. There will also be an opportunity to share good practice and the look at some useful resources.

Teaching issues of diversity
Patrick Hylton, University of Lincoln
This talk will consider diversity in psychology.  It will provide some examples of the lack of diversity.  It will argue that psychology needs to take seriously the conflicting identities that impact on people’s behaviours, thoughts and feelings.  The talk will highlight that not only does psychology need to look at difference that might exist between national borders, but also psychology needs to consider differences within borders.  Finally, it will present a tentative view of the motives that might explain the absence of diversity within psychology.

Exploring Diversities
Andrew Fox, Exploring Diversities
An awareness raising session aimed at stimulating debate in the classroom and enhancing AO2 skills in the exam through the study of ‘gender’/'ethnicity’ and ’sexuality’. Although, perhaps more social constructionist in its approach, a common theme centres around the potential for diversities within rather than between these ‘identities’.

The Conference Committee reserve the right to change the programme if necessary.

The conference is being organised by Phil Banyard and a team of helpers. If you would like to offer some support, present a workshop or generally be involved then email Phil.