Should I bother myself with accreditation?
By: The British Psychological Society, September 2010
It’s a fair question! There are lots of reasons why we think Society accreditation
of your programme(s) is worth your investment of time and money:
● it is a valuable
marker of quality
that prospective students and employers
understand and
value;
●it gives your
graduates the
opportunity to gain Graduate and/or
Chartered Membership
of the Society;
●it keeps open the
widest range of training,
development and
employment opportunities for graduates;
●it is a high-quality
benchmarking
process that is defined by psychologists,
and delivered in
partnership with psychologists;
● it is aimed at
getting the best out
of programmes, through promoting psychology
as a
science, facilitating quality enhancement
and providing
solution-focused support; and
● it provides a direct
opportunity
for you to influence the Society, its
support for education
providers and students, and its policies
for the future.
The accreditation process will look at:
1. The ways in which quality management mechanisms
incorporate regular periodic self-review against the standards published by the
Society that are relevant to the
institution’s provision.
2. The philosophy underpinning the provision of psychology education and/or
training, and the strategy for its future development. This should include explicit
consideration of:
institution’s provision.
2. The philosophy underpinning the provision of psychology education and/or
training, and the strategy for its future development. This should include explicit
consideration of:
● attracting a diverse range of people to psychology;
● underpinning teaching and learning opportunities with high quality research;
● maximising efficiency in the use of resources to the benefit of the discipline;
● supporting students in developing as psychologists, appropriate to their level of study; and
● encouraging students’ access to a range of careers in psychology and related fields,
appropriate to the provision being offered.
● underpinning teaching and learning opportunities with high quality research;
● maximising efficiency in the use of resources to the benefit of the discipline;
● supporting students in developing as psychologists, appropriate to their level of study; and
● encouraging students’ access to a range of careers in psychology and related fields,
appropriate to the provision being offered.
Promoting Psychology as a Science
The
Society believes that teaching and research are symbiotic, and recognises the
value of
both activities for the other. Teaching is research led; and excellent research
depends upon
high quality teaching.
In
disciplines such as psychology, development of research skills is a fundamental
part of learning,
and a pre-requisite for professional training. To be taught as a science, psychology
requires intensive laboratory courses, IT literacy, and extensive training in a range
of research methods.
In
all accredited programmes, each student or trainee will undertake
an individually supervised research project that takes up many contact hours with
a member of staff with established research skills and training who is
responsible for
that
student, and for their progress and development as a researcher. This
affords a thorough scientific education based on experimental approaches,
practical scientific
teaching, and the associated transferable skills.
Background and principles
After
initial consultation with stakeholders in
2008,
The British Psychological Society reviewed
its
accreditation function and worked with
members
to develop a new approach, which has
become
known as accreditation through partnership. Following
further consultation in 2009, and
evaluated
trials in 2010, the enhanced approach
is
now our adopted model.
Accreditation through partnership is the process by which The British Psychological Society works with education providers to ensure that quality standards in psychology education and training are met by all programmes on an ongoing basis.
This will lead to a better quality of dialogue with programmes and Departments about the nature of the relationship they wish to have with the Society.
The process also avoids duplication with the Health Professions Council (HPC) and other internal or external agencies by offering education providers the opportunity to
hold concurrent events.
It
aims to facilitate quality enhancement and to promote a
constructive dialogue that allows
space
for both exploration and development. It
focuses
on working collaboratively with education
providers
and their stakeholders, and includes
an
interactive approach to planning visit
agendas.
It
is an approach based on partnership rather
than
on policing, and with this in mind we work
hard
to reduce the administrative burden
associated
with the process, through a greater
emphasis
on streamlining, and by relying
explicitly
upon existing documentation and
education
providers’ established internal
monitoring
processes.
Accreditation
through partnership is an approach that focuses
on promoting psychology as a science, and
on
the development of transferable skills to
enhance
graduate employability. It promotes a
spirit
of supportive enquiry, rather than
prescribing
a particular approach to student
development
or programme delivery.
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