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 to advise teachers , 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 motivation and intelligence. 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
Upon completion of this course, students will:
have a clear understanding of key concepts regarding the development of learning and cognition within a school context;
be able to written and orally inform, convince, and give recommendations to a public of scientists, teachers, school boards and parents concerning topics on cognitive development in the school context based on a critical interpretation of the scientific literature; and
be able to critically read, discuss, and reflect on the recent scientific developmental literature as well as on the work of peers.
Timetable
For the timetables of your lectures, workgroups, and exams, select your study programme.
Psychology timetables
Lectures
Work group sessions
Exams
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.
The lectures are concerned with the development of different scholastic abilities and cognition. During the workgroups, these topics are discussed in the school context from a school psychologist perspective. For the work group sessions 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. Furthermore, students are asked to develop learning instruction based on the knowledge acquired during lectures on learning principles and cognitive development to support teachers.
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
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). Participation in all work group sessions is mandatory.
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].
Additional scientific articles
Contact information
- Dr. Kiki Zanolie
c.k.k.zanolie@fsw.leidenuniv.nl