Introducing a compendium of psychological literacy case studies: reflections on psychological literacy in practice

Abstract

This article introduces a set of case studies that were submitted to us following requests in psychology learning and teaching conferences and publications, and through professional networks at the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA). The full versions of the case studies make up the first version of a Psychological Literacy Compendium of Practice that has been available since September 2015 online at www.psychologicalliteracy.com. The first part of this article presents a very brief synopsis of each case study and categorises the case studies to allow those considering introducing activities to develop psychological literacy to easily compare and contrast the different approaches. Categories used include: when the activity takes place in the psychology curriculum / degree; whether it is a core or elective unit or optional activity, and assessment strategies. In the second section, we describe and evaluate each case study in terms of which of the nine psychological attributes identified by McGovern et al (2010) each case study illustrates. This information can be used to assist curriculum design and quality assurance procedures, and also highlights the need to define the attributes of psychological literacy that activities are designed to address. Finally, we conclude with a discussion and some suggestions for future work and activities. This article aims to highlight practical ideas to develop psychological literacy and to encourage academics and practitioners to use the Compendium to develop activities to embed psychological literacy within the Psychology curriculum.