Students of the Dutch bachelor’s programme, see Interpersoonlijke Beroepsvaardigheden
Entry requirements
None
Description
This course centres on the psychologist in training as a professional. In order to function adequately as a professional in the field, you need to be aware of your own motivations, your skills (conversational and other) and competences, your personal effectiveness, your own unique talents and pitfalls, your self-sabotaging patterns, your decision-making process and your reflective skills. It is important to be able to reflect on your own behaviour and the response it evokes in others. Another component of the learning process is learning to reflect on group dynamics, i.e. the context in which a given behaviour occurs.
Course objectives
At the end of the course, the student can:
adequately observe and perceive persons, situations and relationships;
adequately use basic interview techniques and conversation skills
use these skills with flexibility in various contexts
reflect on their own behaviour and that of others
describe theoretical models on interpersonal communication, and link this theoretical knowledge to learning experiences for professional development.
Exemption
Exemptions from the Interpersonal Professional Skills course are only granted to students who already teach social skills and/or communication skills at a professional education/university level, and who have relevant work experience of at least 2 years, representing at least 0.5 FTE. No exemption from the course will be granted on the basis of other work experience and prior education. If you are of the opinion that you qualify for an exemption from the Professional Interpersonal Skills course, submit your application to the Student Services Centre (SSC) no later than 1 November.
Timetable
For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable
Check the Brightspace page for this course for an orderly timetable.
Registration
Education
Students must register themselves for all course components (lectures, tutorials and practicals) they wish to follow. You can register up to 14 days prior to the start of the course. The exception here is that first-year bachelor students are assigned and registered for all components in the first semester or academic year by the administration of their bachelor programme. The programme will communicate to these students for which course components and for which period the registration applies.
Exams
You must register for each exam in My Studymap at least 10 days before the exam date. Don’t forget! For more information, see the enrolment procedure.
You cannot take an exam without a valid registration in My Studymap.
Carefully read all information about the procedures and deadlines for registering for courses and exams.
Students who take this course as part of a LDE minor or a premaster programme, exchange students and external guest students will be informed by the education administration about the current registration procedure.
Mode of instruction
This course is taught twice in the course of the second semester (Block 3 and Block 4), and consists of the following:
5 2-hour lectures
10 3-hour work group sessions
This course covers a period of 7 weeks and work group attendance is compulsory for all participants. The course may also include additional evening sessions. This schedule may be subject to some modifications due to holidays and free days. For details, see the timetable overview above.
Professional skills are taught using a combination of teaching methods:
Lectures, that focus on the theoretical background of the weekly themes and information on how to use these in real professional situations;
Work group sessions, that offer the opportunity to actively practise the various skills in a group;
Reflection and integration assignments, in which observations and experiences (Kolb’s experimental learning cycle) are linked to the theory;
Study of the literature with the goal of actively linking knowledge and learning experiences;
An interim evaluation interview, that focuses on the student’s professional development;
The inclusion of 2 diagnostic interviews to allow the student to monitor and reflect on his or her own progress in acquiring interview skills;
Role plays aimed at practising interview skills and giving and receiving feedback;
Role plays focused on decision-making and leadership; and
A written meta-reflection and a final oral evaluation: the final interview.
The time frame of the course is as follows: The entire course covers 7 weeks. Weeks 1 to 5 consist of a weekly lecture and two active workgroup sessions of 3 hours each. Every week, students are assigned compulsory reading materials and required to complete written reflection and integration assignments. In Week 1 and Week 4, students record a diagnostic interview in order to monitor their progress in developing interview skills. Half-way through the course, an individual interim evaluation interview takes place with the student’s own workgroup lecturer(s). After Week 5, students are required to write a meta-reflection, and to hand it in before the final interview which takes place with the student’s own workgroup lecturer(s) in the last week (Week 6 or Week 7).
Assessment method
Contrary to other second-year courses, the final grade for this course is determined on the basis of the assessment of the following 3 skills: interview skills, reflective skills and professional development. Students are required to have a satisfactory score for all 3. Half-way through the course, students are issued with an interim assessment. Unsatisfactory functioning in one or more of these 3 areas can only be improved within the time frame of the block in question so as to achieve a positive final assessment. There are no resits available in the event of an unsatisfactory final assessment, because the learning process requires a group context and the group in question no longer exists at this time. This means that students are required to repeat the course in its entirety. They have to re-enrol for the course in the following academic year. Satisfactory partial grades are no longer valid in the following academic year.
The Institute of Psychology uses fixed rules for grade calculation and compulsory attendance. It also follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. All students are required to take and pass the Scientific Integrity Test with a score of 100% in order to learn about the practice of integrity in scientific writing. Students are given access to the quiz via a module on Brightspace. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of these three policies.
Brightspace
The following can be found on Brightspace: extensive information about the course and assessment, as well as some reading materials, lecture slides, exercises covered in the workgroup sessions, weekly integration assignments, video links, online tests, etc. The education service centre is responsible for enrolling students for Brightspace (students cannot register themselves).
Reading list
Remmerswaal, J. Group Dynamics, an introduction (2015), ISBN: 9789024403707
Molen, H. T., Lang, G., Trower, P., & Look, R. (2020). Psychological communication (2nd edition). Boom Uitgevers Amsterdam. ISBN : 9789024429318
Contact information
Linda de Voogd (general coordinator, logistics and group assignment, student affairs such as exemptions and attendance) l.d.de.voogd@fsw.leidenuniv.nl