With another school year over I'm already thinking ahead towards September and devising new ways to educate and inspire the new cohort of A-level psychology students.

I already know that I'll spend the first week or so dispelling the many myths that surround my discipline and, as a result, at least a few of my new students will realise that psychology isn't really what they thought it was and will decide to go and study something else.

Ask many people to name a famous psychologist and they will invariably say Sigmund Freud. This perhaps exemplifies some of the main problems with psychology today, in that the public has been raised on a sugary diet of pop psychology and self-help manuals.

Students begin A-level psychology with similar ideas about what psychology is and, despite attempts to explain to them the nature of psychology prior to the start of their studies, many of these misconceptions remain.

It comes as little surprise that once they begin the arduous task of data interpretation and statistical analysis they start to regret their choice.

Many students expect to learn how to read people and interpret body language or profile a serial killer. This might sound naïve to some, but it's not just the 16 year olds who think like this.

Studies have found that the general public hold psychology in high regard while simultaneously understanding little about what it actually is. This has perhaps led some in the media to label A-level psychology as soft and easy (try telling that to the multitude of students who fail the exam every year).

This public fascination represents somewhat of a double-edged sword; while its popularity is to be celebrated (psychology is now the fourth most popular A-level in the country) the manner in which it's presented to the public remains a matter of some concern.

This is perhaps a problem with the psychological community itself, where non-psychologists (or at least those with few recognised psychological qualifications) are often more likely to act as representatives for the discipline instead of the professionals themselves.

The profession (in the guise of the British Psychological Society) has also shown reluctance to confer protected status on the title of psychologist, leaving the field open to those who don't necessarily speak for the profession as a whole.

While the BPS has the power to confer chartered status on its members, the public and the media rarely recognise the difference between a psychologist and a Chartered Psychologist (or a psychologist, psychotherapist or counsellor for that matter).

This is perhaps one of the reasons why people conjure up an image of Sigmund Freud when they think of psychology - and why our students get so confused.

In 2008 A-level psychology was re-classified as a science and was brought into line with the likes of biology, physics and chemistry by following the How Science Works core thread which links all national curriculum science subjects.

A-level psychology contains more biology than many may assume with students looking at neurotransmitters and hormones and the way in which they influence conditions from stress and sleep to schizophrenia and depression.

It expands on GCSE biology by investigating different explanations of memory and how such models fit with what neuroscientists understand about the physical structure of the brain. It also looks at the nature of science in a highly critical manner as well as looking at a number of ways to conduct experiments and analyse data. All of this is perhaps some distance away from what many think of as psychology.

So what about Freud? First of all many in the profession would dispute and even reject outright his psychological credentials – he was a psychoanalyst (which isn't the same as a psychologist).

Second, he wasn't really a scientist because he didn't gather and analyse evidence in an objective or scientific manner (most of his theories were based on a small sample of middle-class Austrian women).

Finally, if you choose to study psychology you may perhaps only catch a glimpse of Freud - and even then perhaps only in order to compare his unscientific methods to those of the more evidence based cognitive and biological ones.

Now, think of a famous psychologist? With Freud out of the way, it's a more difficult question.

• Marc Smith teaches A-level psychology at a secondary school in North Yorkshire. Marc is a chartered psychologist and an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Sign up to the Guardian Teacher Network to get access nearly 100,000 pages of teaching resources and join our growing community. Looking for your next role? See our Schools jobs site for thousands of the latest teaching, leadership and support jobs

Could you be one of our bloggers?

Do you have something you want to share with colleagues – a resource of your own and why it works well with your students, or perhaps a brilliant piece of good practice in teaching or whole school activity that you know about it? If so please get in touch. If you would like to blog on the Guardian Teacher Network please email emma.drury@guardian.co.uk and please don't be shy about commenting on blogs on this page.