24610 - Professional Stage

Learning outcomes

The student, at the end of the professional stage, will be able to: - identify key aspects in an organizational contexts - to apply competencies to conduct situational assessments and psychological interventions - to develop professional interactions with clients and other practitioners in an organization.

Course contents

The main goal of this activity is to familiarise the student with a professional setting and to promote the development of professional skills and competences, which are complementary to knowledge and skills developed during the study period. This means the opportunity to face specific professional problems in a real context, practicing someone of the Europsy competences: situational awareness, diagnosis, design, intervention, evaluation, reporting and documenting the experiences.

Contents of this educational activity depend from the organization where the student will run the stage. More concretely, each student will agree with the professional tutor a “program of activities” to be conducted during the stage. This program consists of individual projects in which the student will be involved.

The student is responsible of the choice of the firm where to have the stage. The stage is typically run in the second semester of the second year. The use of the English or Italian language during the stage depends from the workplace. Thus international students have to consider this aspect when applying to specific organizations.

The two alternatives in which the stage can be conducted are:

a) stage –practicum: It is a period in a workplace selected by the student. A list of workplaces having a cooperation agreement with the University of Bologna and/or the School of Psychology for the stage is available on the website pages of the stage. The student may propose a new workplace not in the list; in this case, the International Relation and Stage office of the Campus di Cesena must be contacted some months before the start of the stage.

b) stage – internship: It is a period in a Department, or research center, of the University of Bologna related to the program, under the supervision of one professor of the Master program. Activities will concern research and applied projects agreed with the professor, and conducted under his/her responsibility. This stage will not include research activities related to the master thesis which the student is working upon.

Readings/Bibliography

- Bartram, D., Roe, R.A (2005), Definition and assessment of competences in the context of the European Diploma in Psychology, European Psychologist,, 2, 93-102

- Roe, R.A. (2002), What makes a competent psychologist? European Psychologist, 7 (3), 221-225.

Teaching methods

This activity requires student’s individual commitment to the frequency of the organization where the stage is run and the accurate execution of the tasks attributed by the organization and/or the professional tutor. Stage is under the personal responsibility of the student and has to be defined and managed using a working plan. Consequently, to be authorised to run the professional stage, the student has to submit the individual project of the stage using the University online website. During the stage, in order to reflect on the experience, and to get feedback on skills’ acquisition, supervision moments with the professional and the academic tutor, have to be agreed, conducted and reported.

The stage ends with a final report written by the student.

Assessment methods

The student has to prepare and deliver, by the end of the internship period, an Internship report. Below the characteristics of this report. 

The report is assessed by the Academic tutor, with a score from 1 to 30.

Structure of the Internship Report

1. Organizational context: describe the organization (e.g., number of employees, mission, vision, branches, units/departments, schedules, roles and hierarchical structure, turnover rates); describe the organizational structure, procedures and practices. Describe the organizational culture or climate (e.g., related to health, safety or innovation).
2. Task and Activities: describe the tasks and the activities you carried out, critically analysing the tools and the methods you used. Include tables and figures to clarify.
3. Conceptual framework and scientific evidences: analyse the conceptual framework and the scientific evidences related to the tasks/activities you performed; mention any constructs or theoretical models on which activities (research, interventions, training, etc.) were based. Students are asked to pay attention to the operational and applied aspects of the theories. Include tables and figures to clarify.
4. Relationship with the tutors: describe the interaction with the “organizational tutor” (in the organisation” and the University tutor (in the WOP-P teaching staff); mention the types of supervisions and feedbacks you received and any other interactions you had with other staff within the organization.
5. Competences: describe of the type of competences you acquired during the internship specifically referring to the Europsy classification; self-evaluate your level of achievement of the competences. Europsy classification referred to two main categories of competences: the primary (that are specific for the psychological profession, with a particular reference to their contents and the knowledge and skills required for the performance) and the enabling ones (not only for the psychological profession but shared with other professions and suppliers of services).
6. References: create a coherent and updated reference list following the APA style.

Information for the frontpage. The frontpage should include the following title: “Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Work, Organizational, and Personnel Psychology – Final Internship Report for the Professional Internship II year”.

The frontpage should include: Name and Surname of the student; ID student number; Name and Surname of the University Tutor; Name and Surname of the Organizational Tutor; Internship Period; Organization; Length of the report (characters, including spaces).

Length of the report: from 40.000 to 70.000 characters, including spaces.

Due dates: Please send the Internship Report by email to your University Tutor by June 15^th.

More information on the stage and the template for the stage report are available on the website of the Master Course, pages on the Studying\Internship (https://corsi.unibo.it/2cycle/OrganizationalPsychology/studying )

(Internship abroad – Curricular Internship))

Teaching tools

Reports, guided discussions, examination of psychological tests that are in the Department library

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Zappalà