To employability and beyond! – introducing psychological literacy

1. To employability and beyond! – introducing psychological literacy • Discipline Lead for Psychology, the Higher Education Academy, UK • Dr Julie Hulme

2. Aims • To introduce the concept of psychological literacy and the psychologically literate citizen; • To consider where psychological literacy fits within psychology education; • To explore current issues and academic practice around psychological literacy.

3. What is psychological literacy? • Skills and knowledge acquired by students studying Psychology (McGovern et al., 2010, p11): • vocabulary and knowledge of the critical subject matter of Psychology; • scientific thinking, disciplined analysis of information to evaluate alternative courses of action; • creative and ‘amiable skeptic’ approach to problem solving; • applying psychological principles to personal, social and organizational issues in work, relationships and the broader community; • acting ethically; • competent in using and evaluating information and technology; • communicating effectively in different modes and with many different audiences; • recognising, understanding and fostering respect for diversity; • insightful and reflective about one’s own and others’ behaviour and mental processes.

4. What is psychologically literate citizenship? “Today’s students must prepare themselves for a world in which knowledge is accumulating at a rapidly accelerating rate and in which old problems such as poverty, racism, and pollution join new problems such as global terrorism, a health crisis created by alarming increases in obesity, and the growing gap between the poor and the very rich. All of these problems require psychological skills, knowledge and values for their solution.” (Halpern, 2010, p. 162)

5. A personal perspective

6. Developing psychological literacy “Promoting psychological literacy entails reorienting what and how we teach students in a way that emphasizes Psychology’s relevance”. Dunn et al. (2011, p. 16).

7. How and where? • Analysis of scientific reports in the media (UEL, Sussex); • Research methodology and related skills (Stirling); • Independent learning and final year projects; • Psychology in the workplace (GCU, Huddersfield); • Internationalisation (Liverpool); • Ethics; • Everyday life examples and applications of theoretical concepts – learning and cognition, metacognition, individual differences, behaviour change (health, environment), social psychology – all of psychology?

8. What are the issues? • To develop psychological literacy in our students, we need to model it as academics, for example: • Learning and teaching using psychological principles; • Problem solving; • Interactions with students; • Inclusivity. • (McGovern, 2011).

9. The student voice 9 “They are scientists, but don’t appreciate the knowledge they have that explains my behaviour, and how they can help. A lecturer that specialises in reading, and in dyslexia and reading, doesn’t apply what she teaches when she knows she has students that match the case studies that she presents. It’s very frustrating”. (Craig and Zinckiewicz, 2010).

10. Academic psychological literacy • To what extent are academic psychologists ‘fluent’ in their psychological literacy? • How can we develop our own psychological literacy? • What good practice already exists in embedding psychological literacy in the psychology curriculum? • Psychological literacy guide from HEA (Mair and Taylor, in press); • Using assessment to develop psychological literacy (Watt, in press); • Awareness raising is required…what else?