Psychology and Education: Integrating Theory and Practice

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Ana da Cunha Lewin
• Assessment: a 2000-word essay (40%), 2500-word reflective commentary (50%) and class participation (10%)

This module focuses on linking psychological theory with education practice and affords you an opportunity to critically reflect on your own development as a student and as a practitioner throughout the degree, within the context of the personal development learning outcomes for the programme as a whole.

Indicative module content

• Understanding reflective practice: you will be introduced to critically reflective practice - what it is and what it is not, the ways in which it can be utilised as a mechanism for development both as a student and as a practitioner. We will consider theories of reflective practice as well as the cognitive, affective and values dimensions of reflection.
• Becoming an effective and reflective student: focuses on supporting you to evaluate your skills and establish how best to develop the skills you require but have not yet attained. You will be provided with a wide range of support (for example, planning, critical reading, note taking, and writing, critical thinking and presentation skills) which you will be encouraged to access as appropriate.
• Becoming an effective and reflective practitioner: building on the understanding gained in the first parts of the module, we will consider the strategies and techniques that can support reflective practice and consider the barriers to reflective practice that are often encountered. We will consider how we can integrate the theories which underpin critically reflective practice with the actual use of critical reflection. Finally, we will explore the differences between ‘public’ and ‘personal’ theories and the ways those influence our understandings and practices.

By the end of this module, you will:

• be able to assess your study skills objectively and utilise this understanding to develop, monitor and review an action plan to develop these skills further, including for example, your planning, critical reading, critical writing, presentation and revision skills
• reflect on your own learning experiences and use these reflections to develop strategies to further enhance your learning
• have further developed your capacity to use the Library for study and research including the accessing of online resources such as e-journals
• have further developed your capacity to carry out research on the web with the critical skills necessary to analyse, compare and evaluate source material
• have further developed your critical reading skills
• have further developed the critical skills necessary to analyse, compare and evaluate written materials
• have further developed an appreciation of the issues concerned with authorship and plagiarism including the ability to properly reference your own work
• have critically evaluated research evidence and to use this as part of presenting your own argument
• have further developed your critical writing skills
• have identified and reflected on the differences between ‘public’ and ‘personal’ theories and the ways those influence our understandings and practices
• have adopted a self-reflective stance towards own beliefs, assumptions, predispositions and biases and the ways these may influence the understanding of education and own field of everyday practice
• be able to connect theory and experience in your professional practice
• have reflected on and demonstrably improved your skills as a reflective practitioner
• have developed a personal plan for your professional development beyond this module including the production of an appropriate CV
• have produced a portfolio of work showcasing your development to date and evaluating progress towards your academic, work and personal goals.