2069 - TEACHING PSYCHOLOGY IN ITALY: A STATE-OF-THE-ART ANALYSIS OF MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMS

Session: D05S029 - Classroom management and teaching 2
AUTHORS:
Delbosq Stefano (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Dipartimento di Psicologia ~ Milano ~ Italy) , Branda Marta (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Dipartimento di Psicologia ~ Milano ~ Italy) , Bertolini Hélène (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Dipartimento di Psicologia ~ Milano ~ Italy) , Velati Emma (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Dipartimento di Psicologia ~ Milano ~ Italy) , Picco Eleonora (Aalto University ~ Espoo ~ Finland) , Vecchio Luca (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Dipartimento di Psicologia ~ Milano ~ Italy)
Abstract text:
Introduction
Universities constitute the main providers of education for psychologists. However, recent data indicates that Italian psychologists complain about a low value of university education. It is therefore crucial to investigate the implementation of degree programs, to understand what is taught and how.
Furthermore, as psychology is a rather varied and segmented science, its teaching could be operationalized in different ways. An overview of university education in Italy could provide insights about different ways of teaching psychology, tailoring programs to the needs of professionals, and activate reflective processes.


Purpose
The purpose of the study is providing an overview of all Master degree programs in Psychology taught in Italy, describing their characteristics (public or private, on-site or online, language of the programs, number of curricula, number of ECTS, etc.) and their didactical activities (courses, workshops, and other activities and their contents).


Method
The list of programs was retrieved from the website "Universitaly", managed by the Ministry of University and Research. Specifically, we selected the programs starting in the academic year 2023-2024, which was also the first cohort to introduce the "qualifying degree" in Italy. For each program, the list of didactical activities was retrieved by consulting the "teaching plan" and/or the "course regulation document".


Results
Information was retrieved with respect to 91 Master degree programs in 42 Universities. A total of 2570 didactical activities were retrieved; 63% of which included courses related to the 8 psychological "scientific sectors" recognized in Italy. More information, on a quantitative and qualitative level, will be provided and discussed.


Conclusion
This is the first comprehensive overview of all master's degree courses in psychology in Italy, providing a factual picture of the entire range of courses that is on offer and allowing readers to understand their content in terms of prevalence, variability, and emerging themes.