Psychology Learning and Teaching (PLAT) is an international peer-reviewed journal devoted to enhancing knowledge of how to improve learning and teaching of psychology.
Results from a survey conducted by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations Board of Educational Affairs are reported. A total of 227 psychology graduates from across Europe responded to an online survey. Participants were presented with a set of psychology subject-specific competencies and a set of general competencies and asked to rate the extent to which (a) their Bachelor studies supported the development of these competencies and (b) these competencies were relevant for employment as well as to comment on the value of a Psychology Bachelor degree.(...)
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COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas of our lives including education. In the time of designing this study most schools, colleges, and universities across Europe were closed and psychology educators were expected to change their teaching methods rather quickly. This study investigates how they coped with this situation, which technology and methods they used to teach psychology distantly, and which barriers and outcomes they found in this situation. Participants were N = 660 secondary school and university teachers from 28 European countries. The results showed that the participants across Europe face similar challenges in adopting distance teaching methods, which were technical and organizational rather than pedagogical. Despite the fact they found distance teaching of specific psychological contents challenging, psychology teachers also described positive aspects of distance teaching, examples of good practice and lessons learned that could be generally implemented in the teaching of psychology beyond the pandemic situation.
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This paper argues that teaching psychology for non-psychologists influences psychology's public image and the basis of collaboration between psychologists and non-psychologists. Therefore, designing psychology curricula for non-psychology students and professionals is an important task of psychology departments that deserves attention. For guiding the design process, we propose considering five criteria. Curricula for non-psychologists should be (a) specific to the profession of the target group, (b) specific to the needs and (c) work processes of the target group and (d) limited to the professional field of the target group. Although psychology curricula for non-psychology students need to be limited regarding its breadth, they should (e) maintain the depth and multi-perspectivity required for understanding psychological phenomena. Discussing these criteria should help raise awareness for the role of teaching psychology to students of academic disciplines and professions other than psychology.
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Colleagues from different parts of the world, working in different contexts, with different teaching experience and academic backgrounds, took the time to consider the proposals we outlined in our target article “Psychology curricula for non-psychologists? A framework recommended by the EFPA Board of Educational Affairs.” (...)
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