Skills and Attributes Developed by Psychology Undergraduates: Ratings by Undergraduates,Postgraduates,Academic Psychologists and Professional Practitioners

Abstract

The question of graduate skills and attributes is increasingly central in higher education. In addition, the specification of both subject-specific and generic skills for each discipline was part of Quality Assurance Agency's (QAA) benchmarking exercise. This paper reports what skills and attributes are well developed in a psychology degree, through the ratings of four pertinent groups. Fifty student skills and attributes (derived from the QAA Graduate Standards Programme) were rated on a five-point scale by undergraduates (n = 30), postgraduates (n = 42), academic psychologists (n = 20) and professional practitioners (n = 18). Each person was asked to rate how well a psychology degree promoted the development of each skill/attribute. Factor analysis yielded three higher order groupings which were labelled: (i) thinking skills (including interpreting and evaluating information, testing hypotheses, critical reasoning); (ii) self-management skills (including time management, self-discipline, organising,); and (iii) corporate management skills (including managing people and resources, negotiating, networking). Analysis of variance showed that thinking skills were rated highest across all groups, followed by self-management skills. Corporate-management skills were rated as least well developed. However, skill development in general was considered just above average (rated 3.54 on a 5 point scale). For the most part, academics and practitioners rated skill development lower than the student groups. Academics rated thinking skills and professional practitioners rated self-management skills significantly lower than the student groups. All groups agreed that ‘corporate-management skills’ were least well developed in psychology undergraduate courses. The implications of these results for curriculum development, for developing awareness of skills and attributes and for communication between the different groups are discussed.

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