De-centring the psychology curriculum: Diversity, social justice, and psychological knowledge

Abstract

The psychology curriculum has close ties to the histories and cultural traditions of industrialised societies’ white middle-class populations, so it is unclear how it may reflect the interests and values of students from a variety of ethnic, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds in contemporary higher education settings. To address this question, we established an innovative research project of de-centring the psychology curriculum, so that BA students from diverse backgrounds could familiarise themselves with cultural-historical, postcolonial, feminist, and other critical psychological approaches as well as reflect on the histories, contexts, and epistemologies of classic developmental psychological theories and research. We conducted focus group discussions with the students to explore their views on the introduced contents and approaches. The findings of our research form the basis for critical reflection on the possibilities and challenges of de-centring the psychology curriculum in contemporary university settings.

Principles of socially responsive shared governance: Applying an ethics lens to systems of governance in professional psychology training.

“…Trainees often join systems that they are initially excited to be a part of, but may quickly see the inequalities and injustices of that system of people (Kontopodis & Jackowska, 2019). This experience can foster distrust and skepticism.…”

Qualitative Research Methods in the Living Lab: Reflecting upon a Learning and Teaching Approach for Promoting Psychological Literacy

“…In a world of multiple and intertwined crises, preparing undergraduate students to address societal challenges should be a requirement for any course. Psychology has a key role to play in addressing the critical issues the world is currently facing (Kontopodis & Jackowska, 2019; Rosales & Majzler, 2023). For students, understanding and trialling how psychology can be applied to global and local challenges is vital to the development of psychological literacy (e.g., Cranney et al, 2022), and there is a need for innovative approaches that help prepare them to work with others in finding solutions for current and future societal challenges.…”

“Hybrid psychology agent”: Overcoming the about/for dichotomy from praxis

“…In each of its stages, science is crafted by specific people in specific spaces. Hybrid science means allowing procedures, practices, dialects, and wisdoms from “others” and “other worldviews” to permeate all phases of the (until recently) monocolour science (Kontopodis & Jackowska, 2019) led by White, middle-class, Western men. This would involve, among other things, facilitating and encouraging the participation of people from diverse backgrounds in psychology science and practice, that is, having the other in ourselves (or ourselves in the other ), sharing the same research activity and practice, setting joint goals and motives.…”