BSc Educational Psychology

This unit takes an exploratory case approach by ‘walking through’ the many experiences of an individual in relation to social-psychological processes, with a focus on educational settings. The unit builds upon each session to paint an increasingly complex picture of social psychology, considering the individual, how the individual relates to others, how groups inter-relate, and the wider system in which various interactions reside. We consider what schools do (and could or should do) with in respect to Social psychological theory.

The assignment asks students to create a poster suitable for education audiences, to hang in school staffroom. Students chose and apply a key theory of social psychology and explain how this can be applied in practice.

The unit aims:

• To provide coverage of the BPS core area of ‘Social Psychology’ in respect to its application to educational contexts.
• To develop knowledge of the social psychological processes that impact on learning and teaching
• Develop students’ synthesis, translational skills necessary for applying social psychological theory and research to context of education. 

Students will be able to:

This unit takes an exploratory case approach by ‘walking through’ the many experiences of a individual in relation to social-psychological processes.  The unit builds upon each session to paint an increasingly complex picture of social psychological in relation to:  

• Perception of self
• Perception of others
• Interrelationships between pupils and teachers
• Group processes and conformity
• Group processes, friends and enemies (including bullying and cyber bullying)
• The role of the school

The penultimate week involves an exploration of contemporary education material in order practice identifying psychological perspective in applied material.  

Assignment support is provided with an explicit examination of the assignment and it’s brief, drawing on previous years feedback to help inform successful engagement with the task.   

The unit uses a blended learning approach to maximise learning within the classroom. Students will engage in asynchronous pre-sessional lecture materials (2 hours a week), weekly activities through case/scenario-based learning and classroom discussion (1.5 hours) and post-sessional activities (2-3 hours).

Pre-Sessional content: Each week, ahead of scheduled contact time, specific pre-session activities are indicated, with the expectation for students to access and complete this ahead of the live session. These typically involve short, key readings, brief audio-visual presentations (bespoke presentations from unit staff and/or YouTube material), and/or brief activities with responses and answers to be discussed during the live session.

Lecture & discussion: Live session time covers key content required to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the intended learning objectives of the session. This includes group and class-based discussion.  Often, learning is through practical activities, with students working collaboratively to apply learning to specific cases or examples.  Padlet is often within lectures to support class-wide feedback on points.

Post-sessional activities: A range of guided reading and activity are signposted at the end of each week, designed to help consolidate and further learning from the live session.  Activities take the form of self-assessed ‘quizlets’, multimedia presentations and plenary Padlet boards allowing of sharing ideas across the cohort.

Further student directed and supplementary e-learning processes support the unit through the use of a class padlet. Students post questions or discussion points to facilitate asynchronous discussion of points arising.

• Describe the role and relevance intra-personal processes, inter-personal processes and/or wider socio-cultural influences in educational settings and processes
• Critique the relevance and rigour of key social psychological theory in it’s application to educational settings and processes

• Apply relevant knowledge of key social psychological theory to educational settings and processes

Present key social psychology theory and research to non-academic audiences through both visual and written information

• Find, make use of, and reference relevant, high-quality academic literature in supporting the production of a staffroom poster  
• Use productively software including; text editing, presentation software and image editing to support the production of a staffroom poster

BSc Educational Psychology is externally accredited by the British Psychological Society.

Formative Assessment - Optional self-assessment ‘quizlets’ are provided on Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Assessment - Students are to create a poster, suitable for school audiences and supported by academic texts applying one key theory of social psychology to the context of the school and/or class environment (100%, 1,500 words). Example topics are given below.

• Self-concept (e.g. self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control, social comparison theory)  
• Motivation (e.g. self-determination, attribution theory)  
• Friendships (e.g. risk-taking, conformity, group homogeneity)  
• Student-teacher relationships (e.g. gender stereotypes, teacher's pet, self-fulfilling prophecy)  
• Bullying (e.g. interpersonal conflict, prejudice)    
• School Transitions (e.g. self-esteem, self-efficacy, risk and resilience, stage-environmental fit)

Formative Assessment - Automated

Assessment - Criterion-referenced peer assessment (10% of final mark) and criterion-based grading from lecturers (90% of final mark*)

*We reserve the right to switch to 100% lecturer grading in instances whereby peer review is impractical. For instance, the Easter break preventing sufficient time for student to submit and grade work. The decision to include or omit peer marking is made prior to the first teaching week of the unit and communicated clearly through the VLE and in class.

 Babad, E. (2010). The social psychology of the classroom. Oxon: Routledge.

Hewstone, M., Stroebe, W. & Jonas, K. (eds.) (2015).An introduction to social psychology (6^th Edition)., West Sussex: Wiley.

Hogg, M.A. & Vaughan, G.M. (2010). Essentials of social psychology. Essex: Pearson

Nier, J.A. ( 2012) Taking sides: Clashing views in social psychology (4th Edition). New York: McGraw Hill

Expected Outcomes

The module forms part of the BSc Educational Psychology programme and conforms to the QAA discipline benchmark for Psychology required for accreditation by the relevant PSRB (BPS). There is a focus on teaching the skills needed for post graduate work in the field of applied psychology, including, but not limited to:

• Professional standards in communication
• Demonstration of reasoning and analysis skills
• Application of knowledge and critical thinking skills to create novel and original solutions in applied contexts
• Demonstration of digital literacy
• High level skills in retrieval, organisation and synthesis of complex material
• Autonomy and ownership of tasks, including effective personal planning and project management skills

Within the teaching processes, there are substantive learnt opportunities to practice and develop a range of interpersonal skills including inclusive and collaborative working, reaching consensus, verbal communication and acting sensitively to the needs and expectations of others.

Core knowledge is comparable to other Psychology degrees and therefore underpins further training for careers in the areas of applied psychology (e.g. Educational Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist, Health Psychologist, Occupational Psychologist, Counselling Psychologist etc). The content is specifically related to educational settings and as such immediately applicable to careers outside of the subject discipline (e.g. teaching, teaching assistants; SENCo; support workers).

The formative assessment provides students with the opportunity to reflect on their own learning (ILO KU1) to further their academic development. The summative assessment provides students with the opportunity to engage in an authentic professional task by considering the application of a psychological theory in an educational context. This assessment will also provide students with an opportunity to share their work within educational contexts (i.e., schools) to create an open resource for schools based on their learning throughout the module.