An Employability-Boosting Placement Module for Final Year Psychology Students Speakers: Alex Barr and Lucy Crook Co-Authors: Eunice Atkins, Sarah Vick and Joanne Milne Enhancement Themes conference, Thursday 9 June 2016 John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh

Context Transitions – Leaving University – Exploring career paths – Entering world of work or further education

About the Module Introduced for 2015/6 final year students Embedded in final year Psychology programme which incorporates Psychologically Literate Citizenship – “Applying psychological principals to personal, social, organisational issues in work, relationships and the broader community” – Cranney & Dunn 2011 Workshops

Placement Module Student perspective – application via CV and covering letter Students matched with a range of placements which covered many different aspects of psychology such as – social media, learning difficulties, animal welfare, mental health and career development

Content Series of workshops on employability skills – reflective practice, talks from careers, talks on ethics. Skills Audit- analysed personal skills and growth Talking Mats - help with communication: for review at middle of module Synectics - a method of creative problem solving: for review towards end of module

Content- Talking Mats “It was very helpful to review and reflect on the placement” “Talking mats were fun and informative.” “Made me realise where I am in terms of my skills/aspects. More positive than expected.” “It was useful to focus on each individual topic one at a time”

Content- Synectics Asked students to talk about placement in terms of: Expectations: “Hands on practical experiences” Awareness of Workplace: “being able to identify key skills and awareness of consequences of actions” Changed knowledge of personal practice: “Development of interpersonal-skills and confidence”

Challenges overcome by Students Communication “I’m more confident in my writing abilities and my communication with academics” Understanding the Code of Ethics and Conduct set out by the British Psychological Society (BPS) “I have now seen real-life examples of the importance of confidentiality in this line of work”

Challenges overcome by Students Responsibility “…it was highlighted how important the individual responsibilities of each team member are to the success of the project” Time-management “It is very important that I develop and maintain my time management skills. I am therefore colour coordinating my calendar diary from now”

Challenges overcome by Students And most importantly confidence: “This placement has also given me a skill that is very difficult to achieve; confidence. I began this placement self-conscious and anxious about my abilities in an academic setting”

Skill Enhancement

Self-efficacy, self-esteem, communication, confidence, awareness of ethics, learn from challenges, ‘University bubble’, comfort zone CV skills, improvements in inter-personal communication Skills Audit supported reflective practice Work experience, competencies, career awareness

Discussion Overall students appear to have built employability skills Talking Mats and Synectics Students have grown in confidence in real-job and academic situations Takes students out of the ‘University Bubble’ Gives students the opportunity to try an area of psychology which can influence future career plans

Acknowledgements Careers Development Centre (CDC) at The University of Stirling The Division of Psychology Placement Hosts Psychology class of 2016

Thanks for Listening! Any Questions? References: Cranney & Dunn (2011) The Psychologically Literate Citizen (Library)