PA128-4-FY-SO:
Observation Skills and Reflective Practice
2015/16
Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies
Southend Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
30
-
Requisites for this module
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(none)
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This module aims to provide students with a theoretical and practice based understanding of psychodynamic observation and the skill and qualities involved. In addition students will be developing professional skills involved in assessment and case presentation. Students will be asked to undertake their own observations in the community and later in their placement, to write these up and present them in seminars.
They will learn to apply their growing grasp of psychodynamic theory to everyday events and encounters and to develop their appreciation of the role of unconscious and emotional communication in ordinary life. This will enable them to become perceptive in terms of detail and more subtle in their understanding of the meaning of what they observe and what they themselves bring to the learning experience. It will enable them to reflect on their own process in observations and in groups and to become more self aware. They will become more alert to first, the conscious and unconscious ways in which their capacity to observe and participate in learning is influenced by their experiences, and second, the way their own self awareness affects their capacity to provide therapeutic care to others.
Alongside their observation seminars, which have an experiential element, students are also developing a psychodynamic approach to reflective practice. Reflective practice is represented by the following components.
Attending reflective groups, maintaining a reflective journal and, as a specific end of year assignment, writing a reflective report. These activities encourage and support the conscious use of self, self awareness, in social and professional relationships, the experience of learning from action and a recognition of oneself as a participant observer in different contexts. The reflective components bring the theoretical learning into the personhood of the student and thus more effectively into actual practice.
Aims
To develop a keener eye for the detail of human behaviour and interaction .
To increase awareness of the role of emotional communication and the unconscious in everyday events and encounters.
To understand the application of psychodynamic concepts and insights to all aspects of human experience.
To lay the foundations for psychodynamic observation as a key skill in psychodynamic practice.
To develop employability skills related to psychodynamic assessment, case presentation and reflective practice.
To establish a reflective space for acknowledging and processing the emotional and psychological implications of the material studied on this course.
To develop the capacity for self reflection and an awareness of the influence of ones own processes and personal experiences.
Learning Outcomes
Familiarity with the application of key psychodynamic concepts to observed individuals and relationships.
Greater ability to observe detail and to perceive subtle indications of emotional and unconscious dynamics.
Familiarity with the role of conscious and unconscious mechanisms in relationships.
Awareness of the use of psychodynamic observation in work with clients.
The capacity to apply psychodynamic thinking to everyday situations.
The capacity to reflect on ones own process in the observing and in the learning contexts.
To be increasingly reflective and recognise the relationship between self-awareness and therapeutic care.
No information available.
No information available.
No additional information available.
Students will be asked to undertake their own observations in the community and in the workplace, to write these up and present them in seminars. In some weeks there will be some teaching followed by discussions of students own observations. Thereafter seminars will solely concentrate on the discussion of observation presentations.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Assessed Presentation |
|
20% |
| Coursework |
Observation Commentary |
|
20% |
| Coursework |
Reflective Report |
|
55% |
| Practical |
Participation |
|
5% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
cpsugrad@essex.ac.uk 01206 874969
No
No
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No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
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