ED20495: Psychology and educational policy: a critical perspective
[Page last updated: 05 August 2021]
| Academic Year: | 2021/2 |
| Owning Department/School: | Department of Education |
| Credits: | 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits] |
| Notional Study Hours: | 120 |
| Level: | Intermediate (FHEQ level 5) |
| Period: |
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| Assessment Summary: | CW 100% |
| Assessment Detail: |
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| Supplementary Assessment: |
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| Requisites: | |
| Aims: | The intention of this unit is to:
* Enable students to develop a critical appreciation of the relationship between educational policy and psychology. * Develop students' awareness of the ways in which educational policy can be seen to shape both people's lives and what happens in the field of psychology. * Recognise and critique how what happens in the field of psychology shapes educational policy. * Explore the need for psychology to develop a critical appreciation of the ways in which it interacts with and considers educational policy. |
| Learning Outcomes: | In completing this unit students would be expected to:
* Critically evaluate the nature of the educational policy landscape in the contemporary western world (e.g., understanding the neoliberal educational turn and the ways in which this has shaped educational policy). * Be critically aware of key policy movements that form the cornerstones of contemporary western education (e.g. high stakes testing, accountability measures, league tables, quality assurance, the rise of metrics-based concerns, teacher accountability, centralisation, managerialism) * Utilise psychological knowledge and theory to explore the ways in which contemporary educational policy shapes (and has shaped) people in a psychological sense. * Critically evaluate psychology's contribution to current trends in educational policy. * Understand the need for a critical psychological approach to educational policy and the implications of this for future research and practice in educational psychology and policy. |
| Skills: | * Accommodate new ideas, question concepts and provide conclusions relating to the relationship between psychology and educational policy (T/F/A) * Use psychological knowledge, theory, and ideas to explore the ways in which particular features of contemporary educational policies are implicitly connected to psychology (T/F/A) * Construct and communicate arguments to specialist and non-specialist audiences (T/F/A) * Make effective use of technology (T/F/A) |
| Content: | The following topics will be included:
* Introduction to contemporary educational policies * The neoliberal educational landscape * An introduction to critical psychology * Taking a critical approach in order to explore contemporary educational policy in relation to psychological knowledge, theory, and research (in key areas such as human motivation, psychological wellbeing, human attachment, and autonomy) * Critiquing psychological research in these key areas - in relation to its contribution to educational policy. * Key conclusions. |
| Programme availability: |
ED20495 is Compulsory on the following programmes:Department of Education
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Notes:
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