In this article, the author gives an autobiographical account of his learning experiences and the lessons he learned from his lecturers. The author learned what he subsequently found is supported by experience and research, that the informal is as necessary as the formal. He also learned that teachers and students need to interact spontaneously,…

The education of nurses, midwives and allied health care professionals in the UK is guided by professional bodies and the over arching Health Professionals Council (HPC)/Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Each of these professional bodies provides regulatory frameworks and guidance notes on the educational content of the degree level programmes…

In responding to Upton's discourse arguing for reform of undergraduate health profession curricula to maximise the inclusion of health psychology, it is first important to concede the enormity of the task. After all, psychologists are inherently biased towards their subject, quite simply due to their immersion within it which convinces them of its…

The aim of this paper is two-fold. The first aim is to discuss some observations gained from teaching psychology to computing students, highlighting both the wide range of areas where psychology is relevant to computing education and the topics that are relevant at different stages of students' education. The second aim is to consider findings…

This paper argues that psychology has an important role for practicing teachers. Firstly, it is important that they keep their knowledge of best teaching and learning practices updated; psychology is a continually evolving field of research and whilst some traditional aspects may remain compelling even today, others are no longer seen as valid,…

In 1996, Graham Richards published "Putting Psychology in its Place: An introduction from a critical historical perspective." Here, I seek to consider what is or should be the "place" of Psychology in education, more particularly Higher Education, and not just from a historical perspective. This raises issues about several contexts in which…

Universities are encouraged to widen access to a broad range of applicants, including mature students taking Access qualifications. Admissions tutors can find it difficult to compare and choose between Access and A-level applications, and Access applicants for popular courses may be disadvantaged relative to students with good A-levels. In this…

In this study we report the findings that we obtained when we repeated a study conducted approximately 10 years ago. In the initial study we found that mature students did as well as traditional-entry ones in first-year essays and examinations. However, they did less well initially when writing laboratory reports. In this replication study these…

Having just completed a BSc (Hons) Psychology degree, this author feels well placed to offer a student's perspective on John Radford's provocative article, "Psychology in its place". Although Radford discussed a number of relevant areas regarding psychology in higher education, Cartmell aims to discuss one main issue that many psychology…

John Radford's stimulating article on psychology within higher education includes a paragraph on the context of psychology taught as a degree subject. He suggests that while statistics has an established presence on programmes and the discipline is increasingly informed by genetics, "approaches to human behaviour such as anthropology, history,…

In his article "Psychology in its Place," Radford (2008) argues that psychology as a discipline, subject, and profession needs to be debated to ensure one is not disadvantaging students, society, and the professions themselves in focusing on elements, systems, or content that are outdated or irrelevant now or in the future. In this article, the…

Early in his paper, Radford discusses the origins of Western universities and argues that they were designed to provide a "very practical preparation for life and particularly for the professions, specifically law, medicine and theology." Radford then mentions how a core part of such education was grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic. Radford's…

In this article, the author comments on John Radford's article "Psychology in its Place," which is a provocative and thoughtful piece on the state of psychology as a discipline in higher education. In his article, Radford introduces evidence that psychology graduates are attractive to employers for their numeracy and literacy skills and…

Radford argues that psychology needs to be of greater value to psychology students, regardless of whether they intend to enter professional practice. He also suggests that psychology should be part of everybody's education, on the basis that human behaviour lies at the heart of the most serious problems facing humanity. This author agrees very…

This paper argues for community psychology to be included within the discipline boundaries of psychology. In doing this, it will enable psychology to begin to address some of the large scale social issues affecting people's well-being. It will be necessary, however, to incorporate aspects of other disciplines, make explicit the political…