national standards for psychological literacy and global citizenship

(derived from the science of psychology) and research (the methods of science)—thus, to
push psychological knowledge and research-related skills up to the level of application (i.e.,
scientific literacy), should not be too large a step to take. This more cautious approach
should not take away from the goodwill conveyed by psychology educators to integrate
psychological literacy and global citizenship into their curricula, and of course, some are
doing just that (e.g., Griffith University, UNSW). Moreover, other disciplines (e.g., law) and
transdisciplinary programs (e.g., the UNSW Diploma of Professional Practice [DPP]) are
utilising the concept of psychological literacy. Finally, it should be noted that well-developed
psychological literacy naturally includes global citizenship (Cranney & Dunn, 2011a), and this
is how the concept of global citizenship is being used in this outcome. Global citizenship is
discussed further in Chapter 5.
It should be noted in this section that both an aim and a strategy of this Fellowship was to
allow psychology educators the opportunity to re-examine the aims of UG psychology
education. In the first APEN meeting, our assertion that ‘a large number of psychology
major students do not go on to become professional psychologists and psychological
scientists’ was challenged, so we started to collect data, which indicated that on average,
fewer than half of psychology majors are admitted to Honours/Year Four (the requisite step
to further PG professional psychology training). Moreover, less than half of Year Four
graduates gain entry to the restricted number of PG professional psychology training places
(a high proportion would be eligible). Some of those who do not gain entry to PG programs
take the supervision/apprenticeship route; however, this pathway has become increasingly
difficult with the recent changes enacted by PsyBA. Thus, our situation is similar to that in
Britain and the USA, where there is an increasingly louder cry from graduates and the
public, “What use is a psychology major?”, which also includes concerns regarding
employability (e.g., Trapp et al., 2011). One answer is the liberal arts and sciences argument
(McGovern et al., 2010), but the employability outcomes need to be made more explicit.
Another answer is to explicitly allow the students to tie the psychology major to other
minors or majors (e.g., marketing, counselling) which increase employability (e.g., Bryan et
al., 2012). Still another, more controversial, answer is to consider the potential for the
development of a lower-level professional role, such as the psychology assistant/associate
(e.g., as is implemented now in the Australian Armed Forces). Such an outcome may also
allow psychology major graduates to compete with graduates of the Vocational Education
and Training (VET) sector mental health programs. A proposal that takes these ideas into
account is presented in the recent Green Paper by Cranney and Botwood (2012; see Figure
6), which was distributed widely in mid-June 2012, and will be discussed in upcoming
national meetings.
Evidence for outcome attainment:
Positive ratings of intention to integrate psychological literacy into the curriculum (see
Table 2);
Creation of a website (www.psychologicalliteracy.com) to promote psychological
literacy more generally and globally;
Serious uptake of the concept of psychological literacy and curriculum innovation in
psychology at Australian universities (e.g., Griffith, Monash, UniSA, USQ), internationally
(e.g., Trapp et al., 2011) and in transdisciplinary contexts (e.g., DPP, law)
Contributions to four departmental reviews where psychological literacy has been
NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERACY AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP 14