Division of Academics, Researchers, and Teachers in Psychology

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The purpose of this guidance is to:

• Promote discussions between prospective trainees, mentors and providers about high-quality Initial Teacher Education (ITE) of psychology teachers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• Clarify the distinction between the role of a psychology teacher and other roles in relation to pastoral duties, safeguarding, and mental health.
• Inform the role of a psychology ITE subject lead 
• Provide a quality checklist or audit tool for psychology trainers to review their provision.

The content has been derived from a range of sources including the Teacher Standards, Carter review and the Munday framework. It reflects the commitment of the British
Psychological Society to ensuring that high quality Initial Teacher Education in psychology is available throughout the UK.

Download the Initial Teacher Education document

The competition aims to:

• provide national recognition and reward for commitment to psychology teaching for individuals in the UK higher and pre-tertiary education sectors.
• raise the status of teaching in psychology as a scholarly activity
• support individuals in reflecting upon and enhancing their professional practice in support of student learning
• develop case studies of effective and/or innovative student learning and disseminate these nationally to enhance psychology student learning experiences across the UK

The competition is open to all psychology teachers in UK higher education and pre-university teachers, with early- to mid-career academics strongly encouraged to apply.

The applicant should be currently employed by a UK educational institution on a part-time or full-time, fixed term or permanent basis.

DARTP members are strongly encouraged to apply.

Please note: members of the DARTP committee cannot apply whilst on the committee, or until the next annual cycle once they have stepped down.

How to apply

Step 1: Identify Your Contributions

Please use the correct form to identify your contribution to teaching and student learning, ensuring that you address the four criteria as these will be used to shortlist candidates for the second round.

Evidence should be included throughout the application (e.g., pedagogic research, feedback from students/peers, analysis of performance metrics). References are not included in the 500-word limit.

• Download the HEPTOTY application form
• Download the PEPTOTY application form

Completed forms are to be submitted via email to [email protected] by noon on 25 October 2024.

For more information and frequently asked questions please download the HEPTOTY/PEPTOTY guidance document.

Step 2: Case study submission

If shortlisted for HEPTOTY please complete your case study using the HEPTOTY case study template.

• Example Case Study - HEPTOTY 2023

If shortlisted for PEPTOTY please complete your case study using the PEPTOTY case study template.

• Example Case Study - PEPTOTY 2023

Process overview

1. Deadline for applications (noon on 25 October 2024) - submit to [email protected]
2. Scoring of applications complete 15 November – This involves scoring each applicant on the 3 criteria in the form.  We then choose the 2-3 highest scoring applicants.  
3. Shortlisted applicants contacted- 22 November 2024
4. Case study submission deadline – 10 January 2025
5. WB 10 Feb Case study presentations 4-6pm (Networking event online) 15 minutes per applicant (including time for questions). 

Interviews (online- 15 mins pp) with the panel w/b 10th Feb- to be confirmed.

Value of award

• £100

Conference Presentation

Winners will be invited to present their research at the next DART-P conference in 2025.

The award will cover the conference ticket, travel, and accommodation expenses.

Certification

Framed certification presented at the conference.

Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Originality and innovation of the research
• Rigor and appropriateness of the research methods
• Clarity and coherence of the results and discussion
• Potential impact and significance of the findings for the field of psychology education
• Overall quality and presentation of the submission

• 1,000-word project report including a rationale, methods, ethics, results, discussion along with clear implications of study findings
• A cover letter (maximum 1 page) summarising the key contributions and significance of the research
• Contact details of supervisor for reference check
• A completed submission form, including contact details and a declaration of the student's consent to submit their work for the award

Make a submission now

Dr Patrick Rosenkranz (CPsychol, AFBPsS, SFHEA) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Newcastle University, specializing in teaching. He has served on the DART-P committee since 2018 and has been chair of DART-P since 2022. Patrick also has been a member of the Undergraduate Education Committee of the BPS since 2018.

With over 20 years of experience as an educator, Patrick has taught at various educational levels, from pre-tertiary to tertiary. Throughout his career, he has primarily focused on higher education, gaining expertise in programme leadership, curriculum and assessment design, peer-mentoring, entrepreneurial learning, employability, and student mental health support.

His current pedagogical focus is on integrating reflective practice into teaching to enhance and cultivate the psychological literacy and cultural competence of his students.

Patrick strongly believes in research-led teaching: His own research interests heavily influence his modules, particularly exploring psychological perspectives on spirituality, religion, and mythology. Since 2008, he has been teaching a module dedicated to the Psychology of Religion.

Dr Emma McDonald is a Chartered Psychologist with a passion for Psychology and Education.

Emma is a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University in the Cardiff School of Education and Social Policy, and the programme leader of the MSc Psychology in Education.

Emma's teaching focus is on MSc Psychology in Education and BA (Hons) Education, Psychology and Special Educational Needs.

Emma is a module leader for a number of psychology Modules. She has a passion for teaching and researching the teaching of Statistics.

In addition, Emma is an external examiner for Oxford Brooks University and the University of Buckingham. Emma also works closely with the British Psychological Society.

Prior to Cardiff Met Emma was a senior lecturer at Birmingham City University (BCU), where she was the course director for the BPS accredited BSc Psychology course.

Before BCU Emma held teaching posts in psychology at Oxford Brooks University, Open University, University of Plymouth and Cardiff University.

Emma completed her PhD in Memory and Dyslexia at the School of Psychology at Cardiff University.

Before starting her PhD Emma lectured on the psychology modules of the Welfare Studies Diploma alongside GCSE Psychology at a further education college in South Wales.

Emma's first degree was the BPS accredited BSc (Hons) in Psychology at the University of Plymouth which was completed in 2003 where she researched dyslexia and syllogistic reasoning strategies.

Dr. Mark Sergeant is a Chartered Psychologist, Fellow of the BPS and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

He is the Acting Chair of the Standing Conference Committee, serves on the BPS committees of the Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers of Psychology (DARTP) and is a member of the Research Board.

Mark is a Principal Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. He currently works as the Learning and Teaching Manager for the School of Social Sciences and is the Academic Integrity Coordinator at both a Departmental and School level.

His research interests are in pedagogy, with a particular focus on Academic Integrity.

Dr Anna Law is a Chartered Psychologist and Lecturer in Psychology at the University of the West of Scotland.

Anna has a wide range of teaching experience within HE, and has previously acted as Programme Leader for a large undergraduate Psychology programme.

Her focus within education is the development of students' academic skills early in their university experience.

Her research focuses on the cognitive demands of multitasking and media-multitasking, and the impact of students' media use on learning.

Claire Barker is a Chartered Psychologist and an elected member of the DART-P Committee since November 2018.

Claire is currently Head of Department at Queen's College Taunton, a co-education independent boarding school.

She has taught A-level Psychology for over 14 years with a keen interest on student mental health and well being.

She is also the Pastoral Tutor Coordinator for her school, responsible for developing tutoring materials which are underpinned by psychological theory for delivery by non-specialists.

Dr Jacky Chan is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Jacky is an Assistant Professor (Education) at Durham University, where he teaches mainly statistics and research methods.

Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Lancaster University, where he investigated complex sentence processing in young children.

His research interests in pedagogy pertain to student engagement and outcomes, especially in relation to the teaching of statistics, and diversifying and decolonising the curriculum.

He is also interested in early child development, in particular language acquisition and bilingualism.

Dr Gillian Hendry (C. Psychol., FHEA) is a Lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, leading on qualitative research skills teaching across both the undergraduate and Masters curriculum. She is the Psychology Teaching Review book editor, and serves as the Scottish Representative on the DARTP committee. Her PhD work was focused on student group interaction, and more recent research interests are focused on inclusion practices: (e.g. deaf students in education, hidden disability in society) and 'education' broadly: (e.g. the impact of Covid on teachers and teaching, student perspectives of graduate attributes, teachers' use of research, problem based learning).

Dr Karen Hagan is a Senior Lecturer and Staff Tutor in the School of Psychology and Counselling at The Open University.

Within the University her main focus is on delivering courses and qualifications in Ireland and the UK, working on module teams and with Student Support Teams.

She is a qualitative researcher, applying mainly a critical discursive psychological approach to topics around autism assessment processes and practices of bullying, manipulation, coercion and abuse.

She is sits on the Committee of the Northern Ireland Branch of the British Psychological Society and was co-opted as the Northern Ireland Representative onto the DARTP committee.

I am a Chartered Psychologist, Chair of the British Psychological Society's Standing Committee on Psychology Education in Schools and Colleges, a member of the Association for the Teaching of Psychology committee, and the Association for the Teaching of Psychology Representative on the British Psychological Society London and Home Counties Committee.

I have a broad experience of teaching accredited and non-accredited psychology courses from OCN level 1 to degree level to students from diverse backgrounds in a variety of sixth form and Further Education settings since 2002. I am also a former A-Level Psychology Examiner for AQA and a former GCSE Psychology Examiner for OCR.

Contact Dr Louise Taylor.

Contact Dr Wendy Sims-Schouten.

The categories of papers accepted to PTR are explained below.  Submissions which do not obviously fall into one of the categories should be discussed with the Editors.

1. Research Articles reporting empirical studies up to 6000 words, presenting primary qualitative or quantitative data.
2. Evidence-Based Practice Evaluations reporting innovative teaching practice, whether pre-tertiary, undergraduate or postgraduate, up to 4000 words. Such contributions should outline the nature of the activity with an evidence-based rationale for its development and present a small-scale evaluation of its effectiveness. Where possible, sufficient detail and/or resources should be provided to enable the teaching practice to be replicated by other educators. We recognise that pre-tertiary educators or educators working outside of university settings may not have access to processes and resources that would enable them to conduct formal research evaluations of teaching (e.g. in relation to obtaining ethical approval). We would encourage you to get in touch with the editorial team who will be able to discuss ways forward.
3. Review Articles reporting the findings of literature reviews or systematic reviews pertaining to the scholarship of learning and teaching of psychology, up to 6000 words. While literature reviews provide a summary of (what the authors believe are) the best and most relevant prior publications, systematic reviews are centred on an objective list of criteria/themes.
4. Reports of up to 2000 words presenting thought-provoking or controversial topics designed to inform and stimulate current pedagogical debate. Articles may focus on personal reflections of current teaching and learning practice, ethical issues in the teaching of psychology, controversies or points to debate in psychology pedagogy, calls for changes to current practice and further research, or political issues in relation to education and teaching in psychology. Such reports may be philosophical or reflective and need not necessarily contain primary research/data.
5. Current and significant abstracts related to the teaching and learning of psychology may be selected and presented.
6. Book reviews of up to 1000 words should offer fair and valid criticisms of the text, and avoid being defamatory. All authors of reviewed books have the right of reply.

All submissions should be emailed as a word document to the Editors at [email protected].

An abstract of no more than 150 words should be provided along with a list of keywords describing the content of the submission. The title should indicate accurately but briefly the subject of the submission. A running head title should be given.

A policy of blind reviewing will be instated, so authors are requested not to put any personal information on the manuscript. In the first instance, the Editor will read each manuscript to see if it is appropriate to be considered for publication in PTR.

If it is not, the author will be contacted and feedback given. If it is considered appropriate, the manuscript will be independently refereed by two reviewers wherever possible. In the light of the reports received, the Editor will decide whether or not to recommend the article for publication. All papers will be evaluated by the Editor and refereed in terms of academic merit, readability and interest.

Please use double spacing with wide margins.

Footnotes should be avoided.

Please use page numbers.

Tables and Figures should be inserted at the relevant place in the manuscript. Each should have a self-explanatory title and should be comprehensible without reference to the text. They should be referred to in the text by Arabic numerals. They should add new information to the article and should not duplicate information given elsewhere in a different form.

Bibliographical references in the text should quote the author's name and the date of publication thus: Entwistle (2002).

They should be listed alphabetically by author at the end of the article according to APA style. For details, please consult APA Style Manual, but an example of four common sources is given here:

For Journal Articles: Banyard, P. & Duffy, K. (2014). Student representations of psychology in the UK, Psychology Teaching Review, 20(2), 110-120.

For books: Richardson, J.T.E. (2000). Researching student learning. Approaches to studying in campus-based and distance education. SRHE & Open University Press.

For chapters: Norton, L., Kahn, P, Van Arendsen, J. & Waiters, D. (2001). Reflective thinking about the study of psychology, mathematics and music at degree level: Does it change over the first year? In C. Rust (Ed.), Improving student learning strategically (pp.120-131). The Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.

Particular care should be taken to ensure that references are accurate and complete.

For Internet Articles: Reddy, P., Lantz, C. & Hulme, J. (2013). Employability in Psychology: a guide for departments. Accessed at https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/resources/employability-guide-final.pdf

Language

Authors should abide by the BPS Guidelines for the Use of Non-Sexist Language which are contained in the BPS Style Guide.

Please note that all contributions must be provided in English.

Production

Proofs are sent to authors for the correction of print but not for the introduction of new or different material.

Proofs are sent to authors for the correction of print but not for the introduction of new or different material. A final PDF of the full issue and an individual PDF of their contribution will be sent to authors.