national standards for psychological literacy and global citizenship

GAs (particularly those developed for UG Psychology), as Threshold (Student)
Learning Outcomes.
While the GAs developed for Psychology as part of the preceding Associate
Fellowship had been accepted and included in APAC standards as minimal or
Threshold Student Learning Outcomes, there is evidence from this Fellowship that,
particularly amongst Heads of School, full acceptance of the GAs beyond those
concerning discipline knowledge and research (or scientific literacy), is yet to be
achieved.
However, through the activities of this Fellowship, with its focus on a re-examination
of the aims of UG psychology education, the relevance of GAs to the development of
standards or Threshold Student Learning Outcomes for UG psychology programs
remains a keenly debated topic within the discipline.
Evidence for this can be found amongst the activities and discussion of the April 2012
UG Psychology Education Summit where one of the principal activities was a revision
of the current SLOs included in APAC’s Standards, and another was an attempt to
create “standards based assessment” statements for the Threshold Student Learning
Outcomes associated with each revised Graduate Attribute.
Further evidence for a growing acceptance of GAs (particularly those associated with
Psychological Literacy and Global Citizenship) as Threshold (Student) Learning
Outcomes in UG Psychology can be found in:
the positive ratings of the original GAs by the 2010 APEN Meeting participants
Refinement of GA assessment requirements for APAC accreditation
the outcomes of the 2012 Summit, where it was recommended that the revised
list of GAs and their associated Threshold Student Learning Outcomes be
submitted to the APAC Standards Review to determine if they should be adopted
as part of their developing standards framework.
Finding: The available evidence suggests that DO4 has been achieved, despite
the fact that there remains stronger support from disciplinary leaders involved in
setting the standards for UG Psychology Education than from Heads of School and
others responsible for their implementation.
5.1.5 Desired Outcome 5: Greater acceptance of Psychological Literacy and
Global Citizenship as key outcomes of UG psychology education and
of trans-disciplinary education
Achievements:
One of the main achievements of this Fellowship has been the development and
adoption of the new concept of “Psychological Literacy” and its relationship to
“Global Citizenship”. As two of the key GAs defined for UG Psychology education, a
shared understanding of these terms and the relationships between them is required
as a basis upon which to develop SLOs and assessment standards.
It is clear from the available evidence that the Fellowship has played a major role in
the development, dissemination, acceptance and adoption of these terms within and
beyond the discipline of psychology. Some of the evidence that supports this finding
includes:
the hit rate on psychological literacy website www.psychologicalliteracy.com which
NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERACY AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP 62