Designing and Implementing Subject-specific Employability Skills – The Psychology Graduate Stream

In 2019-20, three new blocks on academic skills and one block on employability in Psychology were introduced in the Psychology UG Programme. These blocks were created, designed and delivered in partnership with colleagues from the Library, ASK, and the PDC. The Psychology Graduate Stream is split in two parts – academic skills and employability skills. This session will focus on the employability skills. These skills are tailored to our students – their educational background, the needs of the programme (British Psychological Society-accredited), the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, and the wide variety of jobs they might get into. It includes employability-enhancing activities which, at the moment, take place outside the teaching calendar and provide students with specific employability skills that will make them work-ready. The Graduate Stream also includes a ‘work experience’ opportunity and a ‘volunteering experience’ opportunity to put these skills into a professional context before they graduate. And if this isn’t enough, this all links to an award – the Graduate Stream in Psychology Award! Fancy, hey? Everything that students have done as part of the Psychology Graduate Stream will be added to their transcript and form a separate certificate – with Bronze, Silver and Gold categories. This is something that should be happening in every single programme – undergraduate or postgraduate – across all subjects, disciplines and Higher Education institutions. So, what will you do to increase the employability of your students?

Presented by: Dr Pauldy Otermans, Lecturer (Education) in Psychology, Deputy Division Lead for Psychology, Employability Lead for Psychology & Dr Sofia Barbosa Bouças, Reader (Education) in Psychology, former Psychology UG Programme Lead

Aims & Objectives