Prospectus

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School Psychology

Course
2015-2016

Entry requirements

  • First-year examination in Psychology.

  • Students are strongly advised to first follow the Developmental Psychopathology course.

Description

School psychologists are becoming increasingly important in a wide variety of settings, not only in schools. Through their unique expertise in mental health, learning, behavior and education they help children and youth succeed academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally. School psychologists work closely with families, teachers, school teams and other professionals to support the students´ ability to learn and a teachers ability to teach, by creating a safe and supportive learning environment.
In this specialisation course students will study the development of scholastic abilities and cognition such as reading, math, thinking, problem-solving, metacognition, memory, creativity and executive functions. Students also study how motivation influences the learning process. The focus of this course lies on the normal cognitive development of children and adolescents within a school context. The course also touches on subjects such as learning disabilities and the developing brain, setting the stage for a successful entry to several courses within the Master’s programme in School Psychology, such as Educational Neuroscience.

Course objectives

Students will:

  • Have a clear understanding of key concepts regarding the development of learning and cognition within a school context;

  • Be able to critically read and discuss the recent developmental literature based on scientific (peer-reviewed) articles;

  • Be able to explore and critically reflect on a given topic in-depth by preparing a scientific report, suitable to inform teachers and school boards;

  • Be able to give recommendations to a scientific as well as a broader public (e.g. teachers and parents); and

  • Be able to give an oral presentation on an in-depth assignment during work group sessions. For this assignment students will develop their own learning instruction based on knowledge acquired during lectures on learning principles and cognitive development. Not only will students reflect on their own work, but they will also be expected to review the work of peer group members.
    The combination of lectures and work group sessions balances the acquirement of theoretical knowledge during lectures with actively using and integrating this knowledge during the work group sessions.

Timetable

For the timetables of your lectures, workgroups, and exams, select your study programme.
Psychology timetables

Registration

Course

Students need to register for lectures, workgroups and exams.
Instructions for registration in courses for the 2nd and 3rd year

For information on registration periods consult the bachelor course registration

Elective

Elective students have to enroll for each course separately. For admission requirements contact your study advisor.

Exchange/Study abroad

For admission requirements, please contact your exchange coordinator

Examination

Students are not automatically enrolled for an examination. They can register via uSis from 100 to 10 calendar days before the date; students who are not registered will not be permitted to take the examination.
Registering for exams

Mode of instruction

8 2-hour lectures and 8 2-hour work group sessions.
For the work group sessions students are asked to develop their own learning instruction based on the knowledge acquired during lectures on learning principles and cognitive development. Furthermore, students are required to explore and critically reflect on a topic from the lectures in more detail and write a scientific report on this topic. This report should be suitable for teachers and school boards. Students also present their critical reflection of their topic and assignment to the other members of the work group.
Lectures and work group sessions take up to a total of 120 hours, including the research and preparation of the assignments and lectures. In addition, students are expected to spend 160 hours preparing for the examination.

Assessment method

Participation in all work group sessions is mandatory. The final grade for School Pychology will be based on the following:

  • Grade for the examination (70%). The examination consists of 8 open-ended essay questions based on the literature (book and mandatory articles) and lectures.

  • Grade for work groups assignments (30%): mandatory (active) participation during group discussions; scientific report; final presentation of assignment).

Regulations on grade calculations.

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has instituted that instructors use a software programme for the systematic detection of plagiarism in students’ written work. In case of fraud disciplinary actions will be taken. Please see the information concerning fraud.

Reading list

Goswami, u. (2008). Cognitive development. The learning brain. (448 pags.). Hove: Psychology Press.. [ISBN 9781841695310].

Contact information